The Magic of the Playoffs

What a wild night in baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals opened up an early lead on the Houston Astros by scoring five runs in the top of the first inning. Chris Carpenter was on the hill for the Cards so the outcome of the game was never really in question. They came out firing and never looked back, they wanted to be in the playoffs. That came was the first to end of the four, so they just got to sit back and watch the action unfold like the rest of America. The Braves gave themselves a 3 - 1 lead in the 3rd inning, but scores in the 7th, 9th, and 13th for the Phillies dashed playoff hopes for the Braves. To make sure we all get that straight, the Cardinals are in the playoffs, and the Braves are out.
The real action of the night was in the American League wild card race. All of the action happened within 10 minutes of each other. At the beginning of the night, the Red Sox took a 3 - 2 lead in the fifth. Meanwhile, in Tampa Bay, the Rays dug themselves a 7 - 0 hole by the fifth inning. Four of those runs came off the bat of Mark Teixeira in the form of a grand slam. Then there came a rain delay in Baltimore. It occured in the bottom of the 7th innning and lasted for 1 hour and 25 minutes. Back in Tampa, the begin to mount a furious comeback scoring six in the 8th inning. Including a two run home run by Evan Longoria for the final two runs of that inning. Heading back to Baltimore now, once the rain passed, the Red Sox brought in Jonathan Papelbon to shut the door on the Orioles. He retired Adam Jones and Mark Reynolds without issue. At the same time, Dan Johnson steps up to the plate as a pinch hitter for the Rays in the bottom of the 9th inning. He had two strikes on him, down to what could be the last pitch in the season for the Rays. Instead of it being the last pitch, Johnson ripped a homerun off of New York Yankees pitcher Cory Wade. The score was now tied 7 - 7, heading into extra innings. Right after Johnson hit the home run, Papelbon allowed two hits and allowed one run by that point. Robert Andino was next up to bat for the O's. All the Red Sox outfielders were playing shallow to prevent the ball from going over there heads to take away any chance of throwing a runner out at home. Andino hit a ball to left field at Carl Crawford, he dove for the ball, and it simply bounced out of his mitt allowing the O's to beat them.
Evan Longoria steps back up to bat for the Rays in the 12th inning facing Scott Proctor. A chance to send them to the playoffs because of Boston losing just minutes before. Longoria hits a home run, 8 - 7 Rays. The Rays won. Down 7 - 0, they mount a miraculous comeback to win 8 - 7 in extra innings. That is what baseball is all about, no matter how far out you are, or however small the odds, anything is possible and the Rays proved that. A magical night in baseball.

Playoff Match-ups:
New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers.
Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays.
Milwaukee Brewers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks.
Philadelphia Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals.

Race for the Pennant

The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays came into today with identical records: 89 - 71. There are two games left on the schedule for these teams. The Red Sox are only 2 - 8 in their last 10 games and only 6 - 19 for the month of September. The Rays meanwhile are 6 - 4 in their last 10 games and 15 - 10 during September. It will be a very interesting two games to decide who gets the American League wild card spot. In the National League, the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals are fighting for the NL wild card. The Braves are 3 - 7 in their last 10 and the Cardinals have gone 6 - 4. The Cardinals record is 88 - 72 while the Braves are 89 - 71. These two have two games to go as well, another tight race. Many people, including myself, feel like the Red Sox are the better team, but the Rays are playing good baseball and deserve a spot in the playoffs. In the National League, I feel like the Braves would fair better than the Cardinals. Regardless of opinions, the hunt for October is on.