Rays And Cards In, Braves And Red Sox Out
In one of the most historic collapses in Major League Baseball history, the Boston Red Sox season is over. After a terrible start to the season for Boston, the playoffs seemed like a reach. However, just a few weeks ago they had one of the more comfortable leads in baseball. Atlanta too, has been atop the wild card race for most of the season, only to lose that lead on the last day of the regular season. Props to Tampa Bay and St. Louis who never gave up and made up monumental ground in such a short period of time.
As the Rays and Yankees were stuck in a tie ballgame, Jonathan Papelbon allowed two runs to cross the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles for the 4-3 loss. Boston led the entire night.
Three minutes later, Evan Longoria blasted a walk-off missile into the night to propel his team into the history books and 2011 postseason. It will be a tough blown save for Boston and Papelbon to recover from, but what a magical end to the night and season for the Rays.
Evan Longoria may be the most clutch player in all of baseball. His heroics Wednesday night will be relived for decades. After trailing 7-0 to New York heading to the bottom of the eighth inning, the Rays made one of the greatest comebacks in MLB history, considering the ramifications of the outcome. Tampa scored six in the eighth inning, including Longoria’s three-run shot. Then, pinch-hitter Dan Johnson stepped to the plate and bashed a two-out, two-strike homer to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. That would set the stage for Tampa Bay. Evan Longoria’s 12th inning walk-off blast propels his team into the postseason. The Rays enter the 2011 playoffs as the hottest team in baseball.
The Braves collapse was not nearly as publicized as the Red Sox, but it was nearly as epic a meltdown. The surefire Rookie of the Year, Craig Kimbrel, blew his eighth save of the season and it couldn’t of come at a worse time. Picked by some to be better then the Phillies this season, Philadelphia demonstrated exactly why the Braves did not finish ahead of them, coming back to beat Atlanta after trailing 3-2 entering the ninth.
After a rousing win by the Cards against a terrible Houston team, St. Louis is now steamrolling into the playoffs. Albert Pujols will now have a proper way to say goodbye to St. Louis forever, as he tries for his second title with the team.
The playoffs are now set and fans couldn’t of asked for a better ending to the 162-game grind of a season. New players emerge daily in these clutch situations. However, it is players like Evan Longoria who go from superstar status to “legend” status. Watch out for the two wild cards in the 2011 postseason.
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What a night in baseball. How does this compare to some of the other last minute runs/chokes in regular season? (go crazy folks!)
Jeff L, thanks for the input. I couldn’t of said it better myself. These choke jobs were actually the two worst MLB collapses in the month of September in the history of the game. On September 1st the Red Sox led the Rays by 9 games and the Braves led by 8 1/2 games. For this to happen, and to come on the final game of the regular season makes this one of the most improbable runs in sports history. What a huge night of games, compounded by the fact that four teams were fighting for their season after 161 games already played. Great day to be a Rays or Cards fan. I wouldn’t get out of bed if I was a fan of the Braves or Red Sox. This may have brought baseball up a notch or two with the country last night. Thanks again Jeff L