The fair and unfair last days of Major League Baseball.
The regular season went down to the last weekend, with both leagues having games that mattered until the 27th out of each.
Since the wildcard was expanded to two teams from both the American & National Leagues, fans have been thirsting for two-way, three-way and possible four-way ties, just to get into the playoffs.
The most chaos was 16 different scenarios involving the Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays and Mariners. All were in the playoff picture going into their 162nd games of the season, with strong possibilities there would have to be a play-in to get to the wild card play-in game.
That looked like a certainty before the seventh inning of the Boston-Washington interleague series. The lowly Nationals had been barely beaten Friday and Saturday by the Red Sox, and they broke out to a 5-1 lead in the Sunday finale. The Sox tied the game in the seventh inning and won it in the ninth on Raffy Devers’ second home run bomb of the day to centerfield.
Boston Red Sox’ Rafael Devers celebrates his two-run home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021, in Washington. The Red Sox won 7-5. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Meanwhile, the Yankees had to avoid being swept by the Rays to earn an outright wild card berth for sure and walked it off in the bottom of the ninth, 1-0, in New York. The teams left out were Seattle and Toronto, after the Mariners and Blue Jays made strong runs and played the best ball over the second half of the season.
Three- and four-way ties were avoided when the Mariners lost their last game to the Angels. The Blue Jays swept the Orioles but finished one game behind the Red Sox and Yankees, who will meet in the American League wildcard game Tuesday night in Boston.
In the National League West, the two best teams in baseball had to determine a division winner on the last day. The Cinderella Giants held on to finish first with their 107th victory of the season, and the Dodgers won their seventh straight, and 106th, game but still must play in the wildcard Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals, the hottest team in the game over the last month.
It was baseball playoff madness like we’ve never seen before.
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