On the Beat

No other sport can offer the drama that was last night's games, and these races in their final weeks. What an amazing season of baseball! Well written, John!

What a great night of baseball. A sub chapter should be included that games were played by the Rangers and Brewers that had to be won to clinch home fields for the ALDS. Therefore, four other games (including those being played by the Diamondbacks and Tigers) were also meaningful. Eight games that meant something to the playoff alignment on the last day of the season. Wow.

Who needs a second wild card team in each league to manufacture more drama? And thank goodness this day was on a stage by itself - no football competition at any level.

Now, on to the analysis of why it wasn't Mo Rivera pitching to Dan Johnson, or why the Yankees were playing the C-Team in a meaningful game, etc. Would love to hear Mr. Goldman's Yankee-centric analysis on what appeared to be a three game Yankee effort to stick it to the Red Sox.

Unbelievable. The Red Sox and Braves join the 1964 Phillies among the ultimate folders of all time, and, in fact, may well have surpassed them. It's a shame Gene Mauch didn't live to see this.

I wouldn't have believed that both teams would, or could, choke that terribly. One, maybe, but both? I would have lost a fortune on that bet.

On the one hand, it was really exciting baseball. On the other hand, watching two famed franchises both choke and flush their seasons down the toilet was really hard to watch.

But congratulations to the Cards and the Rays, who earned their playoff spots by bearing down and playing baseball when they needed to play baseball. Unlike their competition.

And if there were a 2nd wild card team, none of it would have mattered. Can anyone explain why this change needs to happen?

Hard to believe about a month ago everyone was mourning the lack of close races in this year's season and proposing radical ideas such as expanding the playoffs (actually that wouldn't address the problem but Bud Lightweight shamelessly used it to sell the idea so the league could cash another batch of broadcast rights checks) And then we get not one, but two chokes/comebacks rivaling the '69 Mets.

As a baseball fan I enjoyed it but as a Tigers fan, I wish the Sox would have held on because I would rather have faced their weakened pitching that the Rays, perhaps the only team in the AL the Tigers' won't have a pitching edge against. Of course my real disappointment was they finished one win short of being able to face the wildcard instead of the Yankees in the first round. (another interesting race that got buried by the wild wildcard races)

Three times in the last five seasons Adrian Gonzalez's teams have lost the last game of the season to miss the playoffs - in two of those games his team had the lead in the final inning. They might have to start calling it the Curse of Adrian Gonzalez.

A great climax to a long season. Worth the wait, imo. If this doesn't get people to start going to the games in Tampa, then that city does not deserve a team.

Sure, they were out of it, but I'm proud of how my O's played in September and last night.

Incredible night!

Last night was awesome to watch. That 5 minute stretch that started with epic fail from Boston and ended with Longoria's HR was great theater. 6 months and 162 games, and it all comes down to something like that. Amazing.

Every night I let the kids watch Disney or Nickelodeon for a while, off and on, and I follow the games intermittently on TV or the computer until they go to bed. Yesterday I took over at 6 CDT and said, "Sorry kids, big baseball night." Good decision, me. A couple hours later I found myself explaining to my seven-year old daughter - who just figured out last week which one was baseball and which one was football - how the white team in one game and the red team in another had to win or else they wouldn't get to play any more games. She was, um, fascinated.

Baseball, bringing families together.

Blame the Red Sox top of the 9th- they had 2 on no outs with Ortiz and Gonzalez due up next. Zero runs. No margin for error for the seriously overworked papelbon in the bottom of the frame.


Also, if the Wild-card rules become different, we will get an entirely different set of drama. The difference between 1st and 2nd place would become huge, and the race for the 5t slot could get intense and involve more than just 2 teams. Change can be healthy, dudes.

Who'd've thunk that this would be the best season for Mets fans since 06? Not one, but two historic collapses to eclipse (or rival) theirs in 07, and one of them being the hated Braves. It's a good day for schadenfreude.

As a Braves fan I am demolished, AS a baseball fan who gets grief from his family for the time spent watching baseball, it justified my devotion to the game. In LA many people claim that baseball is too slow and not interesting, not enough action. Insanity.

Not to be "that guy", but there's a difference between a "historical baseball collapse" (tagline for the photo) and a "historic baseball collapse"...

The best part of last night was the gaping looks of despair on Sox fans' faces at Camden Yards when Reimold scored. Especially that little kid about to break into tears. Awesome. Welcome to The Show, kid.

The only thing that could've been better was to be in a Boston sports bar 3 minutes later.

Thanks John, great article.

I'm a Red Sox fan - very brutal month, didn’t sleep last night. Totally unfathomable chain of events – I’ve never seen a team so talented play that poorly. The wheels came off completely. Even my friends that are Yankee fans aren’t bragging to me about it; they were shocked, I’ve been getting “sorry, you feeling okay?” messages from them all morning.

The media will be reminding us of this month for years to come.

It hurts now, but try to put it into context – in the last 9 years, we’ve made the playoffs 6 times, and won two World Series titles. There are franchises (like the O’s, Royals, and Pirates) whose fans have watched them lose over and over, and basically fall out of contention by late July, during that entire 9 year period. That, to me, is the definition of suffering. We’re pretty fortunate. And we’ll be back in the thick of it in 2012.

I think nbmehta79 has a refreshing point of view, especially compared to the loudest Sox fans, and it's one that has to be difficult to embrace in these circumstances. Someone minused him, so I guess maturity is still a minority stance in some circles.

I'm a Yankee fan and no fan of the Red Sox but, I would like to have seen Giradi bring in Robertson or Rivera for the ninth. I know Giradi was preparing the team for the playoffs but Charlie Manuel played his starters last night against the Braves. The appropriate ending would have been a one game playoff between Boston and Tampa Bay. I thought Boston was the team to beat this year in the American League with the Phillies were the best National league team. Sox nation is doing what it always does when their team falters-blame Francona and Epstein. Nevertheless, it was a great night of baseball.

As a Mets fan, the Red Sox and Braves reminded me of 2007. In the words of Bill Clinton, "I feel your pain."

The case for the Mets is that they didn't even play the Phillies when they crashed in 2007; they lost to the Marlins and Nationals. This September, the Cardinals swept the Braves 3-0, and TB took 6 of 7 against Boston.

The Mets also blew two playoff spots. When they were up 7 with 17 left against the Phillies, they were 4.5 up over the wild card leader at the time, and they were also up 7 against the Rockies, who eventually won the wild card.

Overshadowed by the TB homer dramatics was, to me, the contrast of the night. A third string CF making the league minimum makes a fantastic catch to prevent Chipper from knocking in Bourn to win in the 9th. An hour later, an LF making 20 million caps a terrible year by dropping a catchable ball to end Boston's season. Fascinating drama all around.

Every time one of New York Yankees and/or the Boston Red Sox don't make the playoffs with the over the top payrolls is a good day for the rest of the league, especially other AL East teams. Good job Tampa Bay!

Re Comment by "yankee" : One difference between the Yankees vs. Phillies playing their regulars is that the AL series start on Friday while the NL have an extra day till Saturday. It's totally off-the-wall to blame Girardi for not bringing in Rivera and Robertson. The Yankees took 3 0f 4 from Tampa Bay last week, and used their regular lineup to build a 7-0 lead yesterday. How much help do the "team to beat" Red Sox need? Why is an "appropriate" way to end the season a playoff between the Red Sox and Rays? The better team won. Thank the Lord we don't have to see any five-hour Yankee-Red Sox snoose-offs.