I just witnessed one of the most stunning and exciting nights of baseball so far in my lifetime.
The title quote comes from Tim Kurkjian, quoted again here:
“That [has] to be the greatest games played in one regular season night in the history of baseball. We played 200,000 games in the history of this sport and there cannot have been a regular season night quite like tonight.” -Tim Kurkjian, ESPN
Baseball is a lot about stats. They track everything. But when you’re in the moment and on the spot, stats have little importance. The only thing that does matter is what’s in front of you and what’s about to happen. That is the marvel of baseball. I just witnessed a sub-.200 hitter hit a home run to tie the game in the team’s potential final strike of the season. I just witnessed a team come back 7-0 to win their most important game of the season and win in extras.
That sounds like a life lesson. But what do I know?
To share the words of Karl Revech from Baseball Tonight on ESPN, “After play Sept 3, Boston had a half-game back of the Yankees, they were 9 [games] up in the wild card over the Rays. At that point, Baseball Prospectus gave [the Red Sox] a 100% chance of making the playoffs; and the Rays a 0.1% chance. Tampa’s going. Boston’s not.”
And if you don’t think that every game matters in the 162-game long season that they play in MLB, just ask the Red Sox how they feel.
I chose a previously unpublished photo of mine from my trip to Turner Field in Atlanta, GA, home of the Braves. Ironically, the Braves and Cardinals were tied for the National League wild card spot, with the Braves tanking a nine-game lead in September. Though, the Braves lost their game today and the Cardinals won, in a not-as-dramatic fashion.
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The Rays and Red Sox are both tied for the American League Wild Card spot in the playoffs on the last game of the season. Being a Rays fan, I’m rooting for the Rays to win and Boston to lose, as they’re not playing each other. Though, if both games end up with the same result, they will play a final playoff game tomorrow night.
But that’s not the case. In dramatic fashion, the Orioles beat the Red Sox in the bottom of the 9th on a walk-off hit towards ex-Rays player, Carl Crawford who just couldn’t come up with a touch catch. So, the Red Sox lose their final game.
Literally three minutes later, Evan Longoria, star third baseman of the Rays, hits a walk-off solo homer down the left field line in the bottom of the 12th inning. All of this comes after the Rays were down 7-0 in the 8th inning. And not overshadow Dan Johnson’s pinch-hit solo home run in the bottom of the 9th, with two outs and two strikes, to tie the game at seven.
ESPN’s write-up is posted here.
This post took a minor turn in content compared to others, but baseball is an important part of my life, as are my photographs.
Tags: baseball, ESPN, hipstamatic, mlb, Rays, Red Sox, sports