Not possible, but the Yankees and Red Sox BOTH won.

Only fanatical baseball fans (ahem) will sit at a sports bar all night watching their team try to clinch the division that it couldn’t possibly lose because it had a five-game lead with five games to play. But some baseball fans will do such a silly thing (ahem).

All the Boston Red Sox needed was one victory or one loss by the Toronto Blue Jays to clinch the American League East. And the Sox were well on their way on a rainy, wind-swept night at Yankee Stadium by leading 3-0 in the eighth inning while allowing the Bombers one hit, an infield roller.

Going to the Yankees ninth, the scoreboard flashed the final from Toronto – Orioles 3, Blue Jays 2. The Red Sox were then and there champions of their division, as their fans began celebrating all over New England. Now for the cherry on top, get three more outs on the Yankees, who couldn’t hit the ball out of the infield all night.

Guess what? Boston closer Craig Kimbrel gave up a single and walked three straight batters to force in a run. And then he showed displeasure when his manager came out to bring in a closer for the closer. Kimbrel looked surprised that he was yanked, so to speak. Dude, you just walked three straight guys and left the bases loaded with no outs.

The next closer, Joe Kelly, quickly got two outs and it indeed looked like the Sox would survive. Then Kelly grooved a fastball to Mark Teixeira, who blasted it through the wind and rain over the right field wall for a grand-slam home run and a 5-3 walk-off win. Such things can only happen in a Red Sox-Yankees game.

In a way, it was an apropos ending. All the hype has been for Sox slugger David “Big Papi” Ortiz, who is retiring at 40 while putting up numbers like a man half his age. Teixeira, who has had a stellar career, has struggled through his announced final season. So while Papi has gone hitless in the series so far, nice-guy Teixeira gets his moment of glory in what turned out to be a meaningless game to everyone but fanatical Yankee fans. Sox fans took it in stride (ahem).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
Chansky's Notebook: To Vax Or Not
Can athletes go unvaccinated and still be team players? This question has raged since COVID hit this country and eventually everyone had the choice to be vaccinated or not. For individuals, it is their absolute right to choose, although some organizations require it for them to keep working. The various professional players associations seem to […]
Chansky's Notebook: If They Could See 'Em Now
I still wonder if my parents have been watching the last 15 years. The Boston Red Sox have now won four World Series since 2003, posting a record of 16-3 in those titles. They swept the Cardinals in 2004 and the Colorado Rockies in 2007, beat the Cards four games to two in 2013 and just polished […]
Chansky's Notebook: Coming Up Empty
The Cubs and Yankees went 0 for 7 over the weekend. The two teams that some people think will meet in the World Series this October did not look like pennant contenders this weekend after having gotten their acts back together. The Cubs, who had beaten the Dodgers two out of three last week and […]
›