Early-Season Milwaukee Walk-Off Showcases Baseball’s Greatness
The offseason that follows the World Series has two important markers: the Super Bowl and the NCAA basketball tournament.
It’s not too important which NFL team wins or loses in early February, so long as Spring Training is right around the corner. And whoever wins March’s basketball extravaganza each year has little real significance, except that it coincides with the final sprint to Opening Day. And now, at last, the games that really matter are back once again.
A buzzer beater is a thrilling finish to any game, especially at this time of year. Clock management is something all coaches and teams need to have in football, basketball and most other team sports. But what makes baseball great is there’s no clock, no buzzer, no indicator of when it’s time to stop playing the game. The games don’t end until the final out is recorded.
Consider what happened Tuesday night in Milwaukee. The Brewers trailed the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 at the seventh-inning stretch, and some of the hometown fans probably gave into the urge to beat the traffic by leaving the game early. There’s work the next day and school for the kids, and who needs the aggravation of getting home after midnight, anyway? After all, sleep is generally a good thing.
Few in the remaining crowd probably believed the Brewers stood a chance against Dominic Leone in the bottom of ninth.
The Cards went in order in the top of the ninth, perhaps sensing that the Brewers weren’t likely to mount a comeback against Leone. And they were right for the first two batters in the bottom of the inning, too. Leone then ran the count on Christian Yelich to 2-2, and the Cardinals needed just one more strike to secure the victory.
But that strike never came. Instead, Yelich hit his first home run as a Brewer, and just like that the Brewers staved off defeat. Fans who remained in the ballpark were thrilled, and those who were listening on the radio—some still in the parking lot, I imagine—were kicking themselves for leaving.
So, logic dictates the next batter pops out, or something, and the game goes into extra innings. But Ryan Braun had other ideas, hitting Leone’s next pitch over the left-center-field wall, causing early-departing fans to yell out words unfit for publication.
In the space of only two pitches, the game turned from a Cardinals victory into a Brewers walkoff. For Brewers fans who chose to stick around, no buzzer beater could ever be sweeter. And if you left early, maybe you could tell your friends you were there, anyway.
It’s going to be a long season, filled with ups and downs like this one, but that’s a good reason to keep coming back to the game. Let’s enjoy the ride while it’s here.
