I love fall. During my favorite weeks of fall, on the right nights when the weather is perfect, I can hear the distant voice of Joe Buck calling post-season baseball games.
Yes, finally fall is back and with it is the glorious traditional October Gauntlet. For the duration of the month, teams who survived the brutal 162-game season earn the right to soldier on for one more month of baseball, as is tradition.
Rivalries are forged.
Cheers are cried, and tears fall.
Crushing defeat equalized by glorious victory.
I’m sorry, I take post-season baseball too seriously, but that’s only because it’s the best post-season in any sport.
I’m not putting down any other sports’ respective playoffs, but they just don’t compare to baseball. Sure, everyone loves a good Super Bowl, as television ratings show, and the Stanley Cup Finals are thrilling. However, other sports just lack (to borrow a phrase from the Yankees) a certain “mystique and aura."
In baseball, every out is earned. There’s no running out the clock; there’s no clock at all, really. This means that for a team to win, they need to get 27 batters or base-runners out, while having the lead. There are no ties in baseball, in theory the game would go on for eternity if there’s no winner.
It’s grueling, and it leads to a drama other sports can’t match.
In 2011, the Texas Rangers were literally one strike away from winning the World Series. Leading the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5, the Rangers allowed a triple which tied the game 7-7, and sent it to extra innings.
In the bottom of the tenth, the Rangers again were one strike away from victory, only to have it spoiled by a harmless looking single, tying the game and helping the Cardinals to win Game 6.
They went on to win the World Series, while Rangers fans are still haunted by “one strike away." If you tried to write that movie script, it’d be rejected because it’d be too unbelievable.
The 2003 American League Championship series was a bloodbath between bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The series went seven games, with the Red Sox hoping to break a decades-old curse.
Their hopes were dashed, though, when Aaron Boone blasted a home run in the bottom of the ninth, sending the Yankees to the World Series instead.
Keegan Moran, a 25-year-old Valley resident and baseball fanatic, loves the post-season. Although his beloved Red Sox are already out of contention, he still watches.
"Even if your team has been eliminated, you can find a storyline the resonates with you and gets you excited. For instance, even though Boston has been eliminated I am loving watching Chicago at the chance of recapturing some of the same exhilaration I felt when they broke their drought," Moran said.
Just think about it.
This year, the World Series is being played by two teams, the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians, who each have not won a championship in at least 50 years, with the Cubs streak being an infamously long 108 years.
This is the first time the Chicago Cubs are playing in a integrated World Series. An entire generation was born and has died since the last time they won a championship.
Again, if you tried to sell this script, it would be unbelievable and you’d still be serving tables in Los Angeles waiting for your “big break."
The Super Bowl is played in February. The NBA Finals seem to last an eternity in the spring and summer.
However, October is the baseball post-season. It’s almost like it could be a separate name on the calendar, like, Baseball-tober, or something.
Reach the columnist at cjwood3@asu.edu or follow @chriswood_311 on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
Want to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
