Granted, what made it even more special for me is that every team I wanted to win (Cards, Phillies, Orioles, and Rays) did so... but still, even if one of your teams lost you had to think last night was special.
The most thrilling night in baseball history
Generally I'm very much against instant proclamations of "best ever" — but Wednesday night was unquestionably the most thrilling night of baseball in my lifetime. It doesn't matter who you root for. I've just seen the pinnacle, and I'm going to savor it. I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep for a while.
I'm not going to try to sum up the night at length, you surely had an eye and an ear on the action. You saw Evan Longoria(notes) and Dan Johnson(notes) playing hero in Tampa Bay. You saw the scrappy Orioles breaking Jonathan Papelbon's(notes) heart. You saw the tired and weary Atlanta relievers finally give against Philadelphia.
There were four critical games on the MLB schedule Wednesday and three of them saw a blown save with two outs in the ninth inning. You can't script this type of thing; if you saw this story in a movie theatre, you'd walk out, ticked off and muttering to yourself. Sports are the ultimate reality show, nothing decided ahead of time. You have to watch for yourself, no one gets to know the conclusion ahead of time.
It is a point worth remembering, especially for myself. In many ways my view of the Cardinals this season was a lot like those fans in Tampa who started leaving in the 7th inning last night because the Rays were down seven runs. It was a big mistake. Lord knows I've made that same mistake about the Cards several times over this season.
Now it is time to just enjoy the ride.
