If you're a die-hard baseball fan, chances are you remember exactly where you were on the night of Sept. 29, 2011. Thanks to two historic collapse/comeback stories, MLB staged possibly the best night of regular-season baseball in the history of the sport. Four games in particular were of vast importance.
Cardinals at Astros
The Cardinals were 10 games back in the NL Central and also 10 1/2 back from the wild card on Aug. 24. At the time, the news surrounding the club was the likelihood that it would deal Lance Berkman and maybe another player or two in front of the waiver trade deadline of Aug. 31. The feeling was that it just wasn't gonna happen with this group.
And then the Cardinals got hot. Really hot. They would go 22-9 leading up to the final game of the season. They had a chance, as they were now tied with the Braves for the lone (at the time) wild card spot. They left no doubt on their end, pouncing on the hapless (at the time!) Astros with a five-run first inning. Chris Carpenter, perhaps with some foreshadowing for the postseason, threw a shutout, striking out 11. The Cardinals would win 8-0.
They finished before the other game that mattered to them and had to wait with the champagne on ice in the clubhouse.
Phillies at Braves
On Aug. 23, the Braves had the second-best record in the NL and a 9 1/2-game lead over the Giants for the NL wild card. Between then and the final day of the season, however, they went 11-20 and found themselves tied with the Cardinals for the wild card spot.
The Braves jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the third on a two-run Dan Uggla shot.
All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel would, however, blow the save in the ninth after a single, two walks and a sac fly.
The Phillies then scored in the top of the 13th and the Braves went quietly in the 13th. Just like that, their season was over after a 78-52 start.
Shots back in Houston showed the Cardinals celebrating a playoff berth that seemed unattainable just a few weeks before.
Red Sox at Orioles
The Red Sox closed August with the best record in the American League at 83-52. They had a 1 1/2-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East and were up nine games over the Rays, the next team not in playoff position. The playoff odds were nearly 100 percent.
And yet, the Red Sox were 7-19 in September heading into the final day of the season and now faced a tie with the Rays. The 68-win Orioles were on the schedule though, with the Rays dealing with the Yankees.
The Red Sox trailed early, but tied the game on a balk (!) in the fourth and took a 3-2 lead on a Dustin Pedroia home run in fifth.
All-Star closer Jonathan Papelbon, however, blew the save in the ninth and the Orioles walked it off. The Red Sox were done. That happened just minutes before the thrilling walk-off for the Rays.
Yankees at Rays
On July 27, the Rays were actually only three games over .500 at 53-50. They were 11 1/2 games behind the Red Sox, 8 1/2 behind the Yankees for the wild card spot and the Angels were a non-playoff team ahead of them by three games. Despite an 18-10 August, they still faced a 7 1/2-game deficit in the wild card entering the month of September. A few days later, the deficit was nine games.
From September 2 leading up to the final day of the season, the Rays went 16-8 and put themselves in a tie with the Red Sox. For hours, it looked like help from the Orioles would be needed. The Yankees got one in the first and then Mark Teixeira hit a grand slam in the second. The lead would run to 7-0 through 7 1/2 innings. Meantime, the Red Sox were leading.
And then, the Rays broke through with a six-run eighth, headlined by a three-run Evan Longoria shot. Pinch hitter Dan Johnson homered with two outs in the ninth to tie the game. The Red Sox were still leading their game and this one was going to extras. Evan Longoria would walk it off in the 12th within minutes of the Red Sox meltdown.
What a night.
If you have 12 minutes to kill at any point today, watch the video MLB.com put together on the day, unfolding in chronological order. Also included is some Tigers (one game behind Rangers) and Rangers (one game behind Yankees) with home-field implications. It's amazing to re-live, as I just did before writing this:
The fallout from this was pretty incredible, too. The Cardinals nearly missed the playoffs, but instead they would knock off the powerhouse Phillies in the NLDS and then win the World Series, despite the Rangers having them down to a final strike in Game 6. It was one of the best World Series games of all time.
How about the Red Sox fallout, though? As a result, Terry Francona ended up with the Indians, where he's won a pennant and three straight division titles. Very likely as a result, Theo Epstein ended up with the Cubs and we know where that led. What if the Red Sox didn't blow the lead and ended up winning it all that season? Maybe some of the drastic moves that were made didn't happen then and those paved the way for the 2013 title.
We could pull at every thread from that day and do something like that, too. Such a fascinating day from which MLB felt the reverberations ever since.
Maybe we'll get a day like that this weekend? A guy can dream.