Baseball in Rocktober

It's shaping up to one of the most exciting seasons in baseball history.  It seems that every post-season threat to the Yankees' success is conspiring against them, making them look like a deer in the headlights out on the field.  When the Philadelphia Phillies reacquired pitching ace Cliff Lee in December everyone knew they'd be the power house of the National League.  Not only did Lee spurn the Yankees, the team he burned in last year's playoffs with the Rangers, by rejecting their offer and joining the Phillies for less money, but he seemingly spit in their face when he joined a team that faced them in the 2009 World Series, and lost.  Lee was on that team too, and he was the only starting pitcher to defeat the Yankees; he did it twice before the Yankees won the series in 6 games.  Nice try New York, but you can't buy off the best talent this time.  Cliff Lee has their number, and if we get a rematch of the 2009 World Series this year things will be interesting indeed.  Predictably the Phillies won over a 100 games this year, securing the best record in the league (they could have won 105-110 games if they hadn't layed an egg and rested guys during the last few weeks of the season- they lost 8 straight games and they still had the best record!).  New York finished with the best record in the American League, winning 97 games.  The Rangers, who defeated them in last year's playoffs, were a game behind them with 96 wins, and could definitely face them again if they can get passed the incredibly dramatic Tampa Bay Rays, the team they defeated in the first round last year. 

Tampa Bay's improbable rise to success this year could only have been possible with Boston's epic collapse.  Boston had led the Rays by 9 games in the first days of September before their nose-dive; 20 losses in 27 games during the final weeks, a collapse that is worthy among the greatest in baseball history.  On the last day of the season the Red Sox needed either a win or a Tampa Bay loss to secure the American League Wild Card.  The Red Sox were in the lead against the Orioles 3-2 while the Rays were trailing the (you guessed it) Yankees by a seemingly insurmountable margin of 7-0, both in the 8th inning of their respective games.  Tampa Bay came back to score 6 runs in the 8th, then 1 run in the 9th to send that game into extra innings.  Then, in the bottom of the 12th the man of the hour, Evan Longoria, stepped up to the plate just as Boston had squandered their 3-2 lead in bottom of the ninth.  You can imagine that when the Red Sox had a golden opportunity and lost it, they looked at the scoreboard and saw that Rays had come back to tie the Yankees and thought that destiny was not on their side this season.  Shortly after their loss, Evan blasted a line drive home run that sent the city into pandemonium.  Tampa Bay had completed one of the most unlikely comebacks in league history, made even more glorious by the fact that it was both in the game and in the standings.  Watch a classic reaction from Rays fans taping the game here.  Many people are already calling it the greatest night in baseball history... eh, I might agree if we're only talking about the regular season. 

The Red Sox weren't the only team that painfully collapsed in September.  The Atlanta Braves led the National League Wild Card race by 8 games on September 5th.  In fact, looking at the standings on September 1 it's beyond painful to see Boston 30 games over .500 and leading the American League with the best record, while at the same time Atlanta was threatening Philly with the #2 record in the National League at 81-55.  The St. Louis Cardinals were the team that got hot at the right moment, and both teams had 89 wins going into the last game of the season.  The Braves faced (you guess it) the Phillies, and blew a 3-2 lead before finally losing in 13 innings.  Obviously the Cardinals won their game, shockingly without dramatics, and are now poised to face the Phillies in the playoffs. 

Paradoxical similarities abound between these two exciting games, making it one of the spookiest nights in league history.  Both games went extra innings and both games featured comebacks.  Both games also featured the teams with the two best records- the two teams that were in the 2009 World Series, while the other two teams were fighting for the WIld Card in their respective leagues.  But the paradox is clear too; in one game the heavyweight won to put away a collapsing giant, while in the other a heavyweight got knocked out by a rising star.  It's all just unfathomable and it doesn't seem like it really happened.  Evan Longoria himself said that it was more like a dream come true.  If the playoffs are anything like the last day of the season then I wish I still had a television so I could witness this monumental season in live action.