Wild Way to Finish the MLB season

Coming into the final day of the season, both Wild Card races were in a dead heat.  The Braves who dominated the Wild Card race in August and early September had a meltdown and the hot Cardinals ended up with a tie with the Braves coming in the final day.  Likewise, in the American League Wild Card race, the Red Sox had a lofty lead and it appeared FOX would be happy with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies in the playoffs, but the Red Sox had a massive collapse down the stretch as they dropped 4 of 6 to the cellar dweller Orioles in September (similar to how the Mets were getting manhandled by the Nats in 2007).  In addition, a lot of people were predicting a Phillies-Red Sox World Series, but now that won’t happen.  Note how one time Boston residents were eliminated in the winning teams last at bat (the Braves used to play in Boston).  Also both the games with the AL teams fighting for the Wild Card were both walk off decisions.  I’ll go through each game with all of the possible Wild Card participants just to summarize what went through on the Wacky Wednesday.

Cardinals at Astros: Out of the bunch, this game was the most crisp.  The Cardinals jumped former Phillie Brett Myers in the 1st inning as he allowed 5 runs on 7 hits and the Astros were down 3-0 before an out was recorded.  Chris Carpenter silenced the young Astros team by pitching a 2 hit shutout while walking only 1 and struck out 11 and only needed 2 hours 20 minutes to do so.  The Cardinals will face the Phillies in the first round while the second seed Brewers will play the D’Backs.

Red Sox at Orioles: The Red Sox scored single runs in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings to take a 3-2 lead, but then the rains came and halted play.  The Sox were still up 3-2 in the 9th and their closer Jonathan Papelbon was on the hill to send the Red Sox to a 1 game playoff at Saint Petersburg at worst.  However, like the Braves Craig Kimbrel, he experienced a 9th inning meltdown.  With 2 outs, Chris Davis doubled then Nolan Reimold hit a ground rule double to tie the game.  Robert Andino singled in the winning run to send the Red Sox home.

Yankees at Rays: Going into the 8th inning, the Yankees were up 7-0, but the Rays cut their lead to 1 when former Nat Luis Ayala issued a walk with the bases loaded with no outs then hits the next batter Sean Rodriguez.  1 out later, B.J. Upton hit a sac fly to make it 7-3, then Evan Longeria homered to bring the Rays to within 1.  With 2 outs in the 9th and the Yankees clinging to a 7-6 lead, Dan Johnson tied the game with a homer off Cory Wade.  Longeria won it in the 12 inning with a homer and sent the Rays to the playoffs.  The Rays will face the Rangers in the ALDS while the Tigers take on the Yankees.