Plano, Texas — Brad Pitt delivered a memorable line from the movie 'Moneyball' that has stuck with me from the time I saw the advanced screening last week in Kansas City, Mo.
Playing the role of general manager Billy Beane, Pitt said, "It's easy to be romantic about baseball."
After a script of sorts that played out Wednesday night in the final MLB games of the regular season, that line held even more significance when I sat back and thought about what had just happened around the league. ESPN baseball analyst/historian Tim Kurkjian called it the craziest day of regular-season baseball in the sport's lengthy history.
Tough to argue with that statement, as bold as it is. Wednesday night, wild card matchups had yet to be decided in the American and National leagues, home field advantage was still up for grabs and playoff hopes and dreams were either going to be clinched with feelings of euphoria, or crushed with feelings of hopelessness.
I was home in Plano Wednesday night and had the opportunity to watch a slew of games with my mom.
Texas began the night one game ahead of Detroit for the second-best record in the American League. To secure home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs, the Rangers had to beat the Angels in Anaheim, or, in the event of a loss, hope for a Detroit loss against Cleveland.
Mom and I ate dinner (one of the most delicious meals I've had recently: grilled salmon from Sea Breeze in Plano, with broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes/pumpkin spice topping and frozen yogurt; basically, a victory meal) before the Rangers game at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, Detroit and Cleveland had their first pitch at 6 p.m. The solution: We watched the Rangers game in HD on TV, while I brought my computer downstairs to pull up Tigers-Indians on mlb.tv.
So many games were going on at once with serious postseason implications. This is one of the many reasons baseball is my favorite sport. It's such a precise game that stresses numerous elements of statistics, geometry, psychology, superstition, tradition, history, fans, timing, teamwork and, sometimes, a gut feeling. Despite a 162-game regular season, some teams were forced to play their final game before they knew whether they were heading to the postseason, or heading home. Now that's exciting.
The breakdown:
• Boston and Tampa Bay entered Wednesday night tied for the AL wild-card lead at 90-71.
• St. Louis and Atlanta entered play tied for the NL wild-card lead at 89-72.
• Texas (95-66) and Detroit (94-67) were still battling for the second seed in the AL and home-field advantage in the ALDS.
None of these teams played each other on Wednesday night, making the landscape of baseball feel like March Madness in September. I was combining our television watching with mlb.tv and online box scores. It was sheer craziness in the best way.
Detroit beat Cleveland, 5-4, putting pressure on the Rangers to win in Anaheim to secure home field in the ALDS. At the time Detroit won, Texas and Anaheim were tied at 1-1 in the seventh inning.
In a development that was too Disney-like to realistically fathom, Rangers catcher Mike Napoli blasted a two-run moonshot of a home run in the ninth inning to put Texas ahead, 3-1. Mom and I were jumping around and screaming like 14-year-old girls at a Justin Beiber concert, a vivid and fuzzy 15-second moment in time that I won't be forgetting any time soon.
How fitting was it that Napoli belted the game-winning blast? Before the season, Anaheim traded the catcher to Toronto as part of the Vernon Wells deal. The Rangers, shortly after Napoli arrived in Toronto, dealt Frank Francisco to the Blue Jays for Napoli. Another brilliant move by Texas general manager Jon Daniels. Napoli finished the season hitting .320 with 30 home runs, 75 RBIs and a .414 on-base percentage. All that in only 369 at-bats.
The victory clinched home field in the first round for the Rangers and represented the best single-season mark in team history at 96-66.
Next was finding out who the Rangers would face at 4 p.m. on Friday in Arlington. By this point, we knew Detroit would travel to New York. The Rangers' opponent came down to either Boston or Tampa Bay, the two wild-card contenders.
This is when stuff really got whacky. Boston led Baltimore, 3-2, in the seventh inning when a rain delay pushed the game back an hour or so.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay was in the midst of producing one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history. Trailing by seven runs in the eighth inning, the Rays rallied for six runs (highlighted by a three-run homer by Evan Longoria) in the eighth and one in the ninth — a solo home run by Dan Johnson to tie the game at 7.
Since the Rangers game was over by this point, I was flipping back and forth between Boston-Baltimore and New York-Tampa Bay.
In the bottom of the 12th inning, around 11:05 p.m. central time, Longoria ripped a liner of a home run over the left-field wall to complete the miracle comeback and send the Rays to an 8-7 victory.
At the same time, Boston was in the bottom of the ninth at Baltimore, protecting a 3-2 lead. Had the Red Sox won, they would have faced the Rays the next day in an extra game to decide who faced the Rangers in the ALDS. And it appeared it would end up that way when Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon had no problem securing two quick outs in the ninth inning. Boston was one strike away from a victory when Papelbon faced former Rangers/current Orioles first baseman Chris Davis. But Boston, which went 7-19 in September and couldn't hold onto a nine-game wild-card lead on Sept. 3, couldn't protect the lead. Papelbon gave up two doubles and a single, and the Orioles shocked the Red Sox in most improbable fashion, 4-3.
Suddenly, the Rays were in the postseason and coming to Arlington for the ALDS, while the Red Sox, who made mammoth offseason moves in acquiring Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, were going home. It was completely surreal, and I just sat upstairs, shaking my head in disbelief as the drama unfolded.
Longoria's home run came about three minutes after the Orioles' game-winning hit.
I didn't even mention the National League side of things, which saw St. Louis clinch the wild card with a victory and an Atlanta loss.
So now, you have postseason participants in St. Louis (10.5 games behind Atlanta in the wild-card race on Aug. 26) and Tampa Bay (nine games behind Boston on Sept. 3).
Yes, it was quite possibly the most fascinating night of regular-season baseball in the sport's history. I'm just glad I could watch it.
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