- [Narrator] It's just after midnight
in St. Petersburg, Florida.
September 28th, 2011 has turned into the 29th.
The Tampa Bay Rays and visiting New York Yankees
are tied 7-7 in the bottom of the 12th inning.
Tampa's Evan Longoria faces Scott Proctor
with one out and the bases empty.
Here is the culmination of a historically wild night
of regular season baseball.
Before we see what happens, we need to see how we got here.
Establish the circumstances entering today's games,
unpack tonight's events, not just here at Tampa,
but in several other cities.
Meet the characters involved, some at a distance.
We need to rewind.
(upbeat music)
Everybody loves a walk-off,
but it'll be kind of bittersweet
when this amazing night of baseball ends.
These were the MLB standings this morning
here in 2011, there are four playoff spots per league.
One for each of these division winners
and one wildcard spot.
But uh oh, and uh oh, these are ties entering today,
The Braves and Cardinals had identical records.
The Rays and Red Sox had identical records.
Let's rewind even further because look at those standings
on the first of this month,
The Rays were nowhere near
the American league wild card spot.
Same deal for the Cardinals in the National League.
These two rallies happened in parallel.
They're not connected.
But understanding the Cardinals' wild comeback
will help us appreciate the even stranger Rays comeback.
So let's follow recent NL events through tonight.
While the pole position Braves lost
most of their September games, the Cards hit a hot streak
including a particularly critical series sweep
of those very Braves.
And tonight the Cardinals finished their job.
Chris Carpenter pitched a masterpiece against the Astros
while the bats came alive for a straightforward
drama free 8-0 win, but what makes tonight
so captivating is how, with ties in the standings,
no one team controls its fate.
You can't just decide to have a drama free night.
All the Braves had to do to spoil
the Cardinals' perfect conclusion
was win their game to trigger a one game tiebreaker
Atlanta faced the Phillies who have the best record
in baseball and nothing at stake.
Nothing, I guess, except pride, schadenfreude,
and innate thirst to cause trouble.
Down three to one, the Phillies didn't just roll over.
They manufactured runs and attacked mistakes to rally.
In the 13th inning of a game only Atlanta needed
Hunter Pence hit a ball just far enough to bring home
the run that denied them.
The Cardinals game was long over,
so they got to watch the Braves collapse
that secured their playoff berth.
I love seeing baseball players watch baseball on TV.
They look just like you and me
when our friends come over in matching outfits
to watch the game.
It's also pretty funny when TV-watching
is the event directly preceding the champagne party.
So that's the NL. That dynamic of needing to win,
but also needing help from afar
applies to what you're looking at here in the AL.
It's just been more complicated and much more exciting,
just like The Cardinals, the Rays had a big September,
and just like Atlanta,
the Red Sox pissed away their grasp on the wild card spot.
That included a lot of time spent losing to Tampa.
Seven September games against The Sox gave the Rays
a golden opportunity to make history.
And they seized that opportunity by winning six
of those games.
The Rays entered today tied with Boston
after trailing them by nine games in early September.
They're hoping to pull off a single month rally
that's never been done before.
So yeah, we've got another
two-game, four-team horse race tonight in the AL.
Early on the Rays appeared
in desperate need of help from that other game.
You see this number?
it stood alone for a while.
The Yankees really went after Tampa pitcher David Price
An early one-zero New York lead turned into five-zero
when Mark Teixeira a cracked a grand slam
in the second inning, then Teixeira belted another homer
to ensure Price's night wouldn't last more than four innings.
Meanwhile, in Baltimore, the Red Sox were in good shape.
The Orioles, like the Phillies, had only pride to play for,
but in this case,
it's not because they clinched the division.
It's because they suck.
The O's did take an early lead, but Jon Lester
found his footing and the Red Sox bats
quickly regained their edge.
Then, entering the seventh inning: some weather.
The Sox headed for the clubhouse
and learned some good news.
Over at Tropicana field,
the silent Rays had surrendered a seventh run
on this Andruw Jones homer.
Probabilistically speaking that game was over.
Surely by the time the rain in Baltimore passed
that blowout would be in the books.
The Sox just had to wait, then get their nine outs
and make the playoffs.
At worst they'd blow their lead somehow
and have to play a tie-breaker.
While the Sox hunkered down
Boston sports writer Dan Shaughnessy telegraphed the vibes.
- I think The Rays are not going to win tonight.
I think that the one thing that we have eliminated
tonight is the Red Sox season is not going to end tonight
- [Narrator] Confidence! But what about after The Rays loaded
the bases in the eighth inning,
then Yankee pitcher, Luis Ayala walked in a run?
- They walked in a run Dan I told you.
- [Narrator] Okay Dan, one run's not scary.
What about another Ayala screw up with the bases loaded.
What about a sac fly to make it seven-three?
What about
- [Commentator] And there it is!
- That's Evan Longoria rounding the bases after a three run
homer to incredibly make it seven-six Yankees.
And here's Evan now.
Let's talk about Evan Longoria a little.
Longoria is pretty young-- turning 26 in a few days,
but he already feels like the face of a whole era.
2008 was Tampa's first season officially known as The Rays
instead of the original Devil Rays.
I miss you my flappy psychedelic friend.
As the devil departed,
Tampa welcomed one of the most exciting
prospects in baseball.
And Longoria delivered immediately.
The young third baseman delivered near MVP caliber numbers
to become the Rays' first ever rookie of the year.
And the firsts kept coming: first winning record,
first playoff berth, and a great bathrobe.
First playoff win,
first ALCS,
first trip to the World Series.
Longoria's brilliant rookie season kind of petered out
in the '08 World Series loss to the Phillies.
But the point is this franchise hit a boost pad.
He and they have been competitive ever since
The Rays had winning seasons
while Longoria made three straight all-star teams
and won a couple Gold Gloves in 09 and 2010.
If anything, this season has been the first
slight step backward for Longoria.
Bugged a bit by injuries,
Longoria's hitting numbers dipped,
but hey, if the face of the Rays can make it
two clutch hits tonight,
he'll have put a big fat stamp on a season
that's otherwise been below the standard set
by his mind boggling early career.
Before Longoria has his chance at a big moment
let's acknowledge how two teammates of his,
one current, one former factor into this moment.
Our first shoutout goes to Dan Johnson.
While the Red Sox sat in rain delay
they watched things get interesting in the Tampa game
but almost simultaneously with the tarp coming off the field
in Baltimore, the Rays reached the brink of defeat
down seven-six facing Cory Wade in the bottom of the ninth.
Ben Zobrist hit one deep, but not deep enough. One out.
Casey Kotchman couldn't outrun his little chopper
toward third. Two outs.
Tampa's fate and Boston's bated breath
thus depended on the bat of Dan Johnson,
pinch hitting for Sam Fuld with two outs.
Johnson came into that at-bat with meek numbers.
He took a strike looking. Another one.
With a two and two count,
the Rays were one strike away from ceding control
over their destiny to the Red Sox
who, remember, were up three-two in Baltimore.
And then
- [Commentator] Johnson hits it down
the right field line
- [Commentator] That ball is gonna be far and gone
- [Narrator] 7-7 ,right as The Red Sox returned
to the field, the Rays found new life
extending their game to extra innings.
So that explains this and this.
But to really capture this situation
we need to remember a former Ray,
Before Longoria, Carl Crawford was the face of baseball
in Tampa, dating back to the Devil Rays days.
Crawford was the first player in franchise history
to make multiple all-star teams, reliable with the bat,
swift on the base paths and acrobatic in the outfield.
Crawford sought a big new contract last off season,
and the Rays let him walk away.
Well, we'll get to that,
but first let me point out one material impact
Crawford has on this scenario.
Here's Tropicana field in 2006,
note the left field fence, which is in pretty close
and dips just a bit. Here is a similar view from this season.
That fence and left field is way lower.
That happened in 2007
and it happened because of Carl Crawford.
The Rays wanted to add a little character
to their big gray dome.
They had an exciting left fielder.
So they figured, shit,
why not modify the park's dimensions to
give Crawford more chances at highlight catches?
The resulting bite out of the left field fence
was dubbed Crawford's Corner.
So yeah a ball pulled down the left field line
need only clear like head height to leave this park.
But of course Crawford's not here with the Rays tonight.
He is in Baltimore.
He signed with the Red Sox this off season and has spent
tonight trying to eliminate his former team from afar.
Speaking of which, that game ended just moments ago.
Let's see how it went.
After the Sox came out of rain delay up 3-2
Crawford should have made it 4-2
with this hit in the eighth
but the O's made a terrific relay
and a play at the plate.
Nonetheless, Boston carried their lead into the bottom
of the ninth and brought on star closer Jonathan Papelbon,
who'd blown just two saves this season.
Granted, one was against the Orioles a week ago
but anyway, Papelbon was the man for the job.
He got Adam Jones swinging, got Mark Reynolds swinging,
gave up a double to Chris Davis,
but then got one strike away from retiring Nolan Reimold
to end the game, but then boink! Ground ruled double. Tie game.
With two outs and Reimold. on second, Robert Andino
came to the plate, looking hungry for a big moment.
The Os had a chance to end a bland losing season
with a walk-off. Andino slapped that opportunity into left,
where Boston's left fielder had a chance to make
the play and trigger extra innings, but did not.
And I bet you know who that is.
That's Carl Crawford. Crawford couldn't make the catch.
The throw was late and the Orioles went nuts
like their come from behind victory
actually meant something.
And well, it did mean something to the Rays.
Even watching on TV, you could detect a crowd of Tampa fans
with one eye on their phones,
reacting to news of Boston's surprise defeat.
The guy in the Orioles jersey definitely knew what was up.
This means if Evan Longoria and The Rays get a run here,
they're going to the playoffs.
No tiebreaker needed.
If they pull it off,
it'll punctuate an incredible late season comeback.
One even better than the parallel National League rally
the Cardinals pulled on the Braves
and it'll end a thrilling final night
of regular season baseball.
One in which the participating teams
and fan bases had to pay attention
to multiple games at once.
Longoria could end kind of a down year with a flourish.
He already played a huge role in a stunning comeback
that Tampa's wildcard rivals
had to watch helplessly from afar.
This moment came to be because of little used
Ray Dan Johnson, and perhaps in more ways than one
former Rays star Carl Crawford
but it's up to Longoria to make it all count.
Let's see if he can give an astounding night,
the ending it deserves.
Welcome to a moment in history.
- [Commentator] The two on a line drive shot down
the left field line, that ball is gone and the Rays win it!
A line drive home run by Evan Longoria