Could the Rays regular season ended in a more dramitic finish? Many thought the Rays were out of the playoffs in early September as they trailed the Boston Red Sox by 9 games in the wildcard chase. Their determination and the collapse of the Red Sox brought it down to the final game of the season with a tie for the wildcard spot. The Rays needed to win and a Red Sox lose to be in the playoffs or if both teams won or lost, there would be a one game playoff at Tropicana Field.
The game didn't start so good, in fact, it was a horrible start as the Rays gave up one run in the first inning and a grand slam in the second inning to the New York Yankees. By the fifth inning, the Yankees took a commanding lead when they were leading the Rays 7-0. At this point, many Rays fans quickly became the biggest Baltimore Orioles fans as they were cheering them on to beat the Boston Red Sox. The Orioles took a one run lead early but were soon trailing the Red Sox by one run. This is when mother nature stepped in and caused a rain delay in Baltimore.
Meanwhile, the Rays found their spark of offense in the 8th inning. Damon led off with a single and then Zobrist doubled so the Rays had men on second and third and trailing by 7. Kotchman was hit by a pitch which loaded the bases and Fuld came in as a pinch hitter. Fuld was walked which brought in the Rays first run and then Rodriquez was hit by a pitch to bring in the second run. Upton was able to bring in a run on a sacrafice fly before Longoria hit a 3 run home run. Just like that the Rays went from losing 7-0 to being down by one run at 7-6. Was there comeback a little too late?
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Zobrist and Kotchman both get out. So the Rays are down to their last out and Joe Maddon puts in Dan Johnson to pinch hit. Two strikes later and the Rays are down to their last strike. This is the moment every baseball player dreams of; 2 outs, 2 strikes, bottom of the ninth, and the tieing run is at the plate. Johnson launches one to right field and it just stays fair for a HOME RUN!
The Red Sox thought for sure that the Yankees would hold a 7 run lead so if they won they would advance and if they lost their would be a playoff in Tampa. After seeing this on the scoreboards at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Red Sox now know they MUST beat the Orioles. This doesn't go as they plan, though, as the Orioles rallied in the bottom of the ninth to score 2 runs and when the game. Boston's hope for continuing their season went from being in their hands to now resting on the shoulders of the Yankees beating the Rays.
They didn't have to wait long because just 3 minutes after their loss to the Orioles, the Yankees and Rays game ended by Longoria hitting a solo homerun in the bottom of the twelfth inning. That was it, the Rays did the unbelieveable, almost impossible as they made history with the best comeback in MLB history. Not just coming back from a 7-0 deficit in the eighth inning, but being nine games behind at the beginning of September and advancing to the playoffs.
The Rays secured thier place in history as everyone is now talking about this great comeback. To top it off, there was two other teams battle for a playoff spot as well, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves. The Cardinals ended up earning their spot to the postseason and came back from an eight and a half game deficit in early September. So with the meaning of all these last regular season games and the dramatic conclusions to them all, September 28, 2011 has gone down in the history books as the "Greatest Day in Baseball History."
The only way to top this off is for the Rays to advance through the postseason and win the World Series. So lets get behind our home team and show our support!! You can purchase your postseason tickets to the home games at www.raysbaseball.com.
