The collapses of the Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves are unprecedented. No team in MLB history has blown a 9-game lead in the month of September, and on September 28, 2011 TWO teams did just that. Now, it's no secret that I am a diehard Yankees fan to the maximum, you won't find a bigger fan. So needless to say, I wanted to the Red Sox to lose. In fact, I found myself in the interesting position of very badly wanting the Yankees to lose (if Mark Teixeira doesn't hit in the ALDS, I might lose my mind). But this is beyond just my own personal satisfaction with the epic demise of my least favorite team in sports. Objectively, as a baseball fan, this was the best night of baseball I have ever watched.The Rays were down 7-0 and I'm thinking, the Orioles have to come back or the Sox are the AL Wild Card. As much as I wanted the Rays to come back, I didn't even consider that to be possible. Allow me to go on a tangent, but the Yankees by no means surrendered this game-- I WISH THEY DID! The criticism I've heard about the Yankees not playing their starters into extra-innings two days before the ALDS is simply unfair. The Yankees had a 7-0 lead in a game that meant nothing to them and were starting the playoffs two days later, not to mention they hadn't had a day off in two weeks. Girardi brought in two relievers, Luis Ayala and Cory Wade, with sub-2.00 ERA's going into last night's game, two relievers that will be on the postseason roster, and it was those two relievers who gave up the runs that put the Rays back in the game. So as much as the Yankees may dislike the Red Sox, this game was by no means thrown.
I can only imagine how the Red Sox felt, watching the Rays comeback just minutes before taking the field again after a rain delay in Baltimore, with a 3-2 Sox lead in the 7th inning. The rest goes something like this: Papelbon struck out the first two batters, followed by two doubles to tie the game, and a single by Robert Andino that Boston's $142 million dollar left fielder Carl Crawford couldn't come up with. Just minutes later the Red Sox, in their clubhouse, watched Evan Longoria's second home run of the game hook inside the left-field foul pole for the walk-off win that ended the Red Sox 2011 season and completed arguably the worst collapse in baseball history.
My final point of all this: MLB is seeking to add a second wild card to each league. With this addition, this night would have never happened. The Red Sox, Rays, Braves, and Cardinals would be lining their players up in preparation for a one-game playoff and the incredible 162nd games of the 2011 season would have been absolutely meaningless.
POSTSEASON BASEBALL HERE WE COME!
