Friday, October 28, 2011
Welcome to the End
I can't imagine the fan bases in Texas and St. Louis slept a wink last night. It's now the morning after one of the greatest, if not the greatest, World Series games in history. It was sloppy, competitive, offensive heavy, dramatic, and beautiful. It was a game that saw the Cardinals trailing by two in the ninth, down to their final strike. It was a game that found the Cardinals again trailing by two in the tenth, again down to their final strike. In both cases, the Cardinals stood in there, continued to fight, and tied the game. Which of course led to the redemption of all redemption. David Freese's walk-off game six home run will be forever remembered with some of the most famous World Series home runs. Maybe more so because he also dropped a pop-up on the in-field earlier in the game.
No one knows for certain who will win Game Seven tonight, but one thing is certain; the season will come to an end tonight. Perhaps these two teams will continue to pitch and slug and field their way to the longest Game Seven in history. Maybe they will play through the night and finish Game Seven in the wee hours of Saturday morning. I wouldn't put any of this past these two teams. It's fitting that we have been given this great World Series after the last day of the season provided the greatest single day of baseball's regular season. It's also sad that it has to end.
This is not a season recap. This is just a reminder of how great baseball can be. I was reminded by someone that had last night's game been a football game, the trailing team never would have had a shot to come back. In football, the leading team would take a few knees and run out the clock. Baseball's lack of a game clock makes it great. No other sport allows for the momentum swings as quickly as baseball. After the Cardinals tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, it would have been easy for the Rangers to get lost in momentum of the Cardinals. But they didn't. Josh Hamilton stepped to the plate and hit a two-run home run that would have been his crowning achievement and the moment that would make his story the perfect movie. Momentum swing, Rangers. Then, the Cardinals again came back and tied the game in the bottom of the tenth.
There will be more to write once the season ends tonight. One team will have a magical end to a season-long story straight from a fairytale. One team will come up shorts after making an improbable run. No matter the case, the World Series Champion this season will be a team no one really saw coming.
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