The bases are loaded and there are two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series. It's a fantasy many of us baseball fans acted out on the sandlots as children.

But say it isn't a fantasy. Say it's the real thing and it's your team out there on the field. If you could choose any pitcher to be the one to throw that next pitch or any batter to be the one stepping into the batter's box, who would you choose?

We agonized over this one ourselves and think that any of the following 10 pitchers and 10 batters would be the perfect choice for that perfect October celebration.

The Batters

10. Pepper Martin

Pepper Martin batted .500 with 12 hits, including four doubles and a home run in the 1931 World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals. He also stole five bases, scored five runs and batted in five in the series.

His best game in that series came in Game 5, when he went 3-for-4 with four RBI, two of them coming on a two-run homer in the sixth.

The Cardinals won the title that year and also went on to win the 1934 World Series with help from Martin. His career postseason batting average (.418) ranks tops among all-time leaders with 50 or more plate appearances.

9. Lou Gehrig

The Iron Horse lived up to his reputation in October, hitting a lifetime .361 in 34 World Series games with 10 home runs and 35 RBIs. The Yankees won six World Series while losing just one over his career.

Over the two Yankees' titles in 1928 and 1932, Gehrig was unstoppable. In the 1928 four-game victory over Cardinals, he hit .544 and slugged 1.727 with four homers and nine RBIs.

He was almost better in the four-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs four years later, again hitting for more than .500 and slugging for 1.118 while belting three home runs and collecting eight RBI.

8. Derek Jeter

His 2007 ALDS performance against the Cleveland Indians aside, Jeter has come through in the postseason. Entering the 2007 postseason, Jeter had hit for .314 over 119 postseason games over his career with the Yankees. He has helped the Yankees to four World Series titles in six appearances, hitting three home runs in those 32 World Series games.

He was named the MVP of the 2000 World Series victory over the cross-town rival Mets, when he hit .409 with two doubles, a triple and two home runs in the five-game series.

Overall he's hit 17 postseason home runs and stolen 16 postseason bases.

7. Kirby Puckett

Minnesota Twins centerfielder Kirby Puckett nearly makes this list on the strengths of two plays in the 1991 World Series, both in Game 6 at the Metrodome. He robbed Ron Gant of an extra base hit in the third inning, saving a run for the Twins, and sent the series to a Game 7 with an 11th-inning shot off Braves reliever Charlie Liebrandt.

The home run was one of three hits Puckett had in that game, driving in three of the four runs the team would score.

Puckett was a clutch postseason hitter in both 1987 and 1991 for the Twins. Although those were the only two years he made the playoffs, his team won titles both times and Puckett finished with a .309 average, three doubles, two triples, five home runs, 15 RBIs and three stolen bases in 24 postseason games.

6. Lou Brock

Although Brock never won a World Series MVP award, he had an outstanding World Series career for the St. Louis Cardinals. He hit for a .300 average and drove in five runs in a seven-game victory over the Yankees in 1964, but it was in 1967 win over the Red Sox and a 1968 loss to the Tigers that he really came to life.

Over the 14 games in those two series, Brock collected 25 hits, scored 14 runs, hit two triples and stole 14 bases, a World Series mark that he shares with second baseman Eddie Collins to this day.

Brock finished with a career postseason batting average of .391 along with a slugging percentage of .655 and four home runs.

5. George Brett

Brett only won one championship in his career, but it wasn't for his lack of trying. Over two World Series appearances, a loss in 1980 and a title in 1985, he hit .373 with a home run, a triple and two stolen bases for the Kansas City Royals.

In what he would later call the best game of his life, he willed the Royals to a Game 3 ALCS victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in 1985. He collected four hits, including a double and two homers, driving in three runs and scoring four times himself to keep the Royals from being eliminated. The team went on to win the series in seven games and Brett was named ALCS MVP.

He is the career postseason leader in the majors in triples with five and hit 10 home runs overall in the playoffs. His nine career home runs and .728 slugging average are also LCS records.

4. Mickey Mantle

Mantle may only own a .257 career postseason batting average, but it was his power in leading the Yankees to seven titles in 12 World Series appearances over his career that makes him stand out.

He holds career records for most home runs (18), runs scored (42) and RBI (40) in World Series play.

His best October performance came in the 1960 seven-game loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In that series he went 10-for-25 with one double, three homers and 11 RBI.

3. Paul Molitor

Molitor was great in the 1982 World Series for the Milwaukee Brewers, including becoming the first player to collect five hits in a World Series game, but it was his red-hot hitting in the 1993 World Series for the Toronto Blue Jays that really sets him apart.

Molitor hit .500 (12-for-24) in the six-game series, including two homers, 10 runs scored, eight RBI, three walks and a stolen base on his way to being the first DH to be named MVP of a World Series.

Molitor's career postseason numbers are just as impressive: .368 BA, .435 OBP, 28 runs in 29 games, 22 RBI, five doubles, three triples, six homers, 12 walks and three stolen bases.

2. Reggie Jackson

Jackson wasn't nicknamed “Mr. October” for nothing. Although he only hit .262 for his career, in his five World Series he only hit less than .310 once. He won four titles, two with Oakland and two with the Yankees.

What everybody remembers about Jackson is the dramatic home runs that propelled his teams to victory. He hit 18 postseason home runs in his career, 10 of those in the World Series. The most memorable three came in one game, when he nearly single-handedly clinched the title for the Yankees in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series.

Jackson, who owns a .357 World Series batting average, is the only non-pitcher to have been named a World Series MVP twice, once in 1973 and again in 1977.

1. Babe Ruth

The Bambino was such a clutch postseason performer that even the Boston Red Sox won three titles with him on board. Over his 10 World Series he batted .326, slugged .744 and hit 15 home runs. Besides the three titles he helped the Red Sox win, he led the Yankees to four more titles.

Ruth twice hit three homers in a World Series game, but perhaps his most memorable World Series home run was the infamous "called shot" at Wrigley Field in Chicago in 1932.

Of course, he also could hurl the ball a bit. He went 3-0 with an 0.87 ERA as a starting pitcher in three World Series pitching appearances, all for the Boston Red Sox.

Ruth also holds the record for the longest complete-game victory in World Series history, going 14 innings in 1916 to defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Pitchers

10. Ken Holtzman

Holtzman may not be as well known to the casual baseball fan as some of the other names on this list, but there's little debate over his impact in the playoffs for the Oakland Athletics.

Holtzman joined Vida Blue and Catfish Hunter in a formidable starting rotation that led Oakland to three straight World Series titles in 1972-74. In the regular season, Holtzman won 17 or more games six times and pitched two no-hitters.

But it was in the postseason, and especially in the World Series, that he turned it on. He went 4-1 with a 2.54 ERA in eight World Series starts.

9. John Smoltz

Smoltz has pitched in 40 postseason games over his career, compiling a 15-4 record with a 2.65 ERA. He also earned four saves over that time and struck out 194 batters in 207 innings.

Perhaps Smoltz's best World Series appearance came in a memorable loss. He opposed Minnesota Twins pitcher Jack Morris in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, shutting out the Twins for 7 1/3 innings before the Twins won in 10 innings.

8. Dave Stewart

Over his career, Stewart started 18 games in the postseason, compiling a stellar 2.84 ERA and 10-6 record. He had a hand in two World Series titles, three if you count the 1.2 scoreless innings he pitched for the Dodgers when they won the title in 1981.

Oakland made three-straight World Series appearances in 1988-90 with him leading the way, winning the title in 1989. That year represented his best postseason, going 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA and being named the World Series MVP.

7. Jack Morris

He pitched the 1991 Minnesota Twins to a World Series title, starting three games in the series including possibly the best World Series game ever in Game 7, when he went 10 innings in the 1-0 victory. While he didn't pitch well for the World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays the following year, he did lead the 1984 Detroit Tigers to a title, going 3-0 over 25 postseason innings with a 1.8 ERA and two complete games in the World Series.

It's true his overall postseason stats aren't fantastic at 7-4 with a 3.80 ERA, but the teams that he pitched for in the playoffs won six of the seven series they played in and he was a big part of that.

6. Curt Schilling

The bloody sock in Game 2 of the 2004 World Series may still be fresh on baseball fans' minds, but don't forget Schilling also lead the Arizona Diamondbacks, along with Randy Johnson, to a World Series title in 2001.

All Schilling did to kick off the 2001 postseason was pitch three-straight complete games, two in the NLDS win over the Cardinals and one in Game 3 of the NLCS against Atlanta, allowing only two runs and striking out 30 over those 27 innings. Then in the World Series against the Yankees he posts a 1.69 ERA over three games and strikes out 26. Not to mention he holds the Yankees to two runs on six hits over 7 1/3 innings in Game 7, which the Diamondbacks eventually won to take the series.

5. Mariano Rivera

Rivera has pitched in 73 postseason games, far and away the most in major league history. And it's not just quantity, it's quality when it comes to the Yankees' closer.

He helped the Yanks win a title in 1996 as a middle reliever and by 1998 he was the team's closer. Between that season and 2000, the Yanks won titles all three years, with Rivera racking up 18 saves over those three postseasons and earning the 1999 World Series MVP.

Entering the 2007 postseason, his career postseason numbers sit at 8-1 with 34 saves and a 0.80 ERA. Even Yankee haters have to give Rivera his due with those kind of numbers.

4. Josh Beckett

Before this year's playoffs, Josh Beckett, 27, likely would have only commanded a spot on the honorable mention list. He's done more than enough to cement his place on this list with his 2007 postseason performance.

All he did to open the playoffs was pitch his third postseason shutout in a 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels in Game 1 of the ALDS. That put him in rare company, equaling the postseason shutout totals of Whitey Ford and Mordecai Brown. Only Christy Mathewson has thrown four postseason shutouts.

Beckett also ran his postseason scoreless streak to 18 innings, with the previous start coming when he blanked the New York Yankees to clinch to the 2003 World Series for Florida and was named the World Series MVP.

Although a first-inning bases-empty home run in Game 1 of the 2007 ALCS broke that scoreless streak, he allowed only one more run over six innings and struck out seven in the 10-3 win over Cleveland. He then followed that up by allowing only one run, on a ground ball double play, and striking out 11 over eight innings in a 7-1 win over the Indians in Game 5.

3. Sandy Koufax

Koufax pitched in four World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the team winning three championships. While his record over those four series was only 4-3, his ERA was a spectacular 0.95.

He was named the World Series MVP in 1963 and 1965. In the World Series opener on Oct. 2, 1963, Koufax fanned the first five Yankee batters en route to a then-World Series record 15 strikeouts.

In 1965 he went 2-1, allowing one run and striking out 29 batters over 24 innings. He capped off the series with a complete game, three-hit shutout in Game 7.

2. Whitey Ford

Let's start with the fact that Ford is the owner of six World Series titles, all with the New York Yankees. He is one of only three major league pitchers to throw three postseason shutouts and he had a 2.71 postseason ERA and pitched seven complete games in 11 World Series between 1950 and 1964.

How good was he? In 1960 and 1961 he won all 4 games he pitched, three of them complete games, not allowing a run in any of them and pitching 32 innings. He earned the World Series MVP trophy in 1961, when the Yankees beat the Reds, to go along with the Cy Young award he also won that year when his regular season record was 25-1.

1. Bob Gibson

Gibson appeared in three World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals, starting three games each in 1964 and 1967-68, all but one of them a complete game. Gibson's overall postseason record is 7-2 with an 1.89 ERA and striking out 92 batters in 81 innings.

Twice he was named Most Valuable Player of the World Series, and he is the only pitcher to win Game 7 and hit a home run in the same game, which he did in 1967.

In Game 1 of the 1968 World Series, he was simply masterful – fanning 17 Tigers – a Series record that still stands.