Major League Baseball is divided into two leagues the National League (NL) and the American League (AL). Each league is then divided into three divisions: the west division, central division, and east division. In order for qualify for the playoffs, there is two things a team can do, win their division or win their league's wild card position.
On Wednesday, the division winners were already finalized, but the wild-card spots were open for the taking. In the American League the team's vying for wild card were the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In the National League the wild card sport was between the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Now, let's backtrack about one month so we can understand why Wednesday was historic. On Sept. 3rd, the playoffs looked to be set. The Red Sox led the Devil Rays by 9 games for the AL wild card and the Braves led the Cardinals by 7.5 games. Considering there was only 27 games left in the regular season this was a monumental lead. Why is this a monumental lead?
In baseball, the lead a team has can change under specific conditions. Here is how a lead changes.
- If the leader (Red Sox, Braves) lose, and the chaser (Devil Rays, Cardinals) win, the lead is decreased by one game.
- If the leader wins and the chaser loses, the lead is increased by one game.
- If the leader doesn't have a game, and the chaser wins, the lead is decreased by a half of a game. If the leader doesn't have a game, and the the chaser loses, the lead is increased by half of a game.
- If the leader wins and the chaser is idle, the lead is increased by a half of a game. IF the leader loses and the chaser is idle, the lead is decreased by half of a game.
And that's exactly what happened. The Devil Rays had a 17-9 record in Sept. while the Red Sox sank with a record of 7-20. In the National League the Cardinals went 18-8 and the Braves limped to the finish line with a record of 9-18. The finish to this season's playoff push is historic because of the fact that there haven't many collapses of any teams like the Red Sox and Braves, let alone has two teams broke apart -- in one season. Additionally, the wild card races weretied going into the last day of the season, Wednesday, Sept. 28th.
As the final games progressed, it appeared that the Red Sox and Braves would live to fight another day despite their finish. The Red Sox were leading the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 in the 7th inning, while in Tampa, the Devil Rays were being murdered by the New York Yankees 7-0 in the 7th inning. In the NL, the Cardinals shut out the Astros 8-0, but the Braves were leading the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 in the final inning. All the Braves had to do was finish the game, which would have forced a single game playoff between the Cardinals and Braves to determine which team moved on.
The Devil Rays wouldn't fold, and fought back and tied the game with two outs when pinch hitter Dan Johnson, former A's player, belted a home run. Meanwhile in Baltimore, rain delayed the game for awhile, but when play restarted, the Orioles were determined to ruin the Red Sox's season. Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, the Orioles strung together some two out hits and won 4-3. Back in Tampa the game was moving along, but when the Red Sox lost was announced to the stadium, the fans went wild and eight minutes later, Evan Longoria won the game with a walk-off home run.
In Philly, the the Braves failed to wrap the game up, and by doing so, failed to wrap their season up. They gave up a run in the ninth which forced extra innings. The Phillies squeezed by and won 4-3.
By losing their games, the Red Sox and Braves completed their collapse of epic proportions and the Devil Rays and Cardinals march on to the playoffs riding a wave of momentum. Whoever has to play these teams -- beware.
Geez, this is really long. Two things. I apologize for making this really long, but this really was historic. Secondly, Congrats for reading this.
Hi Eric,
ReplyDeleteI agree this is really long, but good description/explanation though. Maybe you can add some pictures to your blog so it won't see like a bunch of words? Or maybe add some videos? But keep it up, I like your details.
This is very detailed, but very informative. I didn't know that that was such a momentous day ! As Wendy said, some videos or pictures would be nice.
ReplyDeleteHey Eric,
ReplyDeleteFor those people like myself who know virtually nothing about baseball, would you mind discussing the difference between the National League and the American League?
Eric,
ReplyDeleteAs others have said before me, this post is quite informative! Especially for someone who has never delved into the world of sports! You should certainly write a post about tips on how to start getting into sports as a spectator. I have always wanted to watch sports for fun, but have always been intimidated at what I should be watching or who I should be rooting for.