Game 6

One strike away.

4 days ago the Texas Rangers stood one strike away from a World Series title.  Twice.  It was a meltdown of epic proportions.

The emotional roller coaster the fans were riding was previously unthinkable.  You know why?  Because what we just witnessed is the single worst moment in Dallas sports history.

The previous generation will talk to you about Jackie Smith - the Cowboys tight end who dropped a pass in the end zone.  He was all alone - nobody there to make a defensive play - and the ball hit him right between the numbers...  in the Super Bowl.  They had to settle for a field goal and Dallas would end up losing Super Bowl XIII by those 4 points.  But that play wasn't as the clock ran out.  There were 28 points scored AFTER that happened.  No contest.

Cowboy fans also would be remiss if they didn't mention "The Catch."  In January of 1982, Joe Montana found Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone on a heart-wrenching TD play in the final minute of the NFC Championship game.  I'll say that again - the NFC Championship game.  This wasn't the Super Bowl and this was simply a good play by the other team, not a disaster.  Next?

The Mavericks had a meltdown of their own in 2006.  Their first trip to the NBA Finals and they were rolling over the Heat.  Dallas had won both games at home and was dominating in Game 3 in Miami when suddenly it all collapsed.  The Mavs blew a 13-point lead in the final six minutes.  They didn't win another game.  If that had been game 4, we'd be in the same stratosphere here, but the Mavericks had plenty of time to right this wrong.

No, the Metroplex has never seen this type of heartbreak and they never will again.

Because it's impossible.

Sports gives us incredible drama and wonderful moments.  But only baseball gives us this.  The game was over.  A fly ball off the bat of Ryan Freese was in the air and going to land in the field of play.  If Nelson Cruz gets over there and catches it, the Rangers are World Series champions.  He didn't... and they aren't.

This is a Hail Mary jump ball TD as time expires in the Super Bowl.  This is a full-court heave at the buzzer of NBA Finals game 7.  But this is worse, because there's no clock to force this action... only white-knuckle, nail-biting eternal moments that only the national pasttime can provide.

This is the reason true fans love baseball so much... and also the reason they hate it.

It is impossible to come any closer to winning than the Rangers did.

So take some solace here, Dallas sports fans - it will never be worse than this.  It literally can't be.

Home Field Disadvantage

The Texas Rangers will play game one of the World Series tonight, but they’ll play it in St. Louis.  Texas had a better record than the Cardinals…  six games better.  The Rangers are a divisional champion…  St. Louis is a wild card team.  So why do the Cardinals get home field advantage for the final series of the sports’ season?  Because the commissioner overreacted.

In 2002 the MLB All-Star Game was a wonderful mid-summer spectacle.  Barry Bonds, fresh off a record-setting season, had a home run stolen over the wall on a gem of a play by Torii Hunter.  Then he belted a 2-run bomb later in the game to get his revenge.  The National League went up 4-0.  Then the AL stormed back and led 6-5.  In the 7^th inning the lead changed hands twice and finally in the 8^th inning Omar Vizquel tripled in the tying run to make it 7 to 7.  This one was headed to extra innings. 

All-Star games are designed to get everybody in the game.  Folks in San Diego don’t have a lot to cheer for – they’d like to see Trevor Hoffman get in there and strike somebody out.  The American League used all 9 of their pitchers.  The National League had 10… all made it into the game.  But the score was still tied.  This IS an exhibition and nobody wants to see guys overused or get hurt, so Bud Selig made an executive decision:  after 11 innings, he called it off.  7-7… a tie… in a baseball game.  The fans in Milwaukee let him have it and Milwaukee is ground zero for Bud Selig.  This was HIS town.  Popular opinion started raining down – the All-Star game wasn’t what it used to be... it didn’t matter anymore...  it was SO inconsequential that the commissioner didn’t even care if it ended in a tie.

So the following year, Selig started a bold experiment.  Whichever league won the All-Star game would get home field advantage for the World Series.  It made no sense.  It was a desperate attempt by the commissioner to win the fans over – to loudly shout “I DO care about the All-Star game!”  So much so that he tied a VERY important piece of the World Series to an exhibition game often decided by a guy off the bench.  The fact that it happened once was laughable.  The fact that it was renewed twice and made a permanent part of the game is a disgrace.

 
Of COURSE the higher seeded team with the better record should have home field.  And this is no small thing.  This means an extra game where the pitchers have to hit (an area in which the Rangers are not well-versed)  Plus there was no American League team better at home this year than the Texas Rangers.  So far this postseason the Rangers are an .800 team in Arlington.  4-1.  That all-important extra home game has been taken away from Texas.  Why?  Because the commissioner put his own popularity ahead of the sport.  Ironic considering his popularity was never much to start with.  The steroid era took shape, blossomed and even flourished under his watch.  A few years ago Selig announced that he would retire after the 2009 season.  Then he didn’t.  Now he says he’ll retire after the 2012 season.  Let’s hope this time it sticks… and the new regime retires this home field travesty along with him.