Well, that was one hell of a baseball game last night.
We had controversial umpiring calls (a late-inning overturned safe call at second). Controversial managerial calls (Pat Murphy declining to bring in his best pitcher to get three outs in the 12th). Defensive gems (the Chandler Simpson catch, everything Brice Turang did). Defensive boners (an errant throw to lead off the bottom of the 12th). And huge clutch hits.
And, oh yeah, we had actual extra innings!
For as controversial as the new extra innings
rule was when it was first announced, I think most fans (and certainly most players and team personnel) now agree that it’s been a perfectly fine innovation. Do I miss those delightfully weird 16 inning games that ended with only a few thousand people in the ballpark on a Tuesday night in August? Yes, I do. Do I still maintain that the Manfred Man shouldn’t come on until the 11th instead of the 10th? Yes — I find the current shift from the normal 9th to the chaotic 10th a bit abrupt and would like a buffer inning.
But for all the handwringing that accompanied the implementation of that rule, it was always hard for me to overlook on particular data point: if a game was tied after nine innings under the old rules, thousands of fans would immediately leave the ballpark before extra innings even began. This was something you never saw at the beginning of overtime periods in football, basketball, or hockey. So, ultimately, baseball fans made things pretty clear by voting with their feet: the old way of doing things wasn’t working. And given that the new rules also save bullpens and keep players fresh over a long season, it’s a win in my book.
But it sure was nice to have that old extra innings feeling last night, wasn’t it? Not knowing when the game would end, game-planning out pitcher usage, the ebb and flow of excitement that the start of each inning brought — it was great, all of it.
And let’s just say it. While the comparisons to the 2004 Red Sox may be made a bit too liberally by the media every time a team goes down 3-0 in a series — and while I certainly don’t want any team to ever replicate that comeback and, thus, somewhat dilute the most incredible moment in North American sports history — last night’s game felt a little bit Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS-y, didn’t it? Just as in 2004, Game 3 was a blowout. Just as in 2004, the team up 3-0 was three outs away from ending it the very next night. Just as in 2004, Game 4 went all the way to the 12th. And Ben Williamson’s game-winning chopper through the infield looked more than a little like Bill Mueller’s game-tying hit 22 years ago, didn’t it? History — even baseball history — has a tendency to rhyme. That’s where the poetry comes in.
Talk about last night’s game, the 2004 ALCS, and whatever else you want in this space and, as always, be good to one another.
