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| Oh, bleep. |
Even when it doesn't involve my team. In fact, the postseason is often easier when the Yankees aren't playing. That being said, let's get it going.
The Brewers and Nationals get it started tonight in the National League Wild Card game in D.C.
I'm not old enough to remember when the regular season went straight to the World Series, and I've certainly watched my share of playoff games.
We obviously have more rounds now, and so it goes, but the end result is still a World Series champion.
As I've said before, we haven't screwed up the (still) National Pastime yet. We're trying hard, I'll grant you that, but for the most part, it's all still the same.
While the players try to treat it like it's just a game, the tension is palpable in the ballpark.
I've been to a few in person as well, though haven't been since 2009 and that's OK.
The point is I've got a lot of memories in the playoffs, from being told that Chris Chambliss sent the Yankees to the World Series against the Royals the following morning (I was seven and had to go to bed)...
...to the two-run home run that Yasmani Grandal just hit to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead with nobody out in the first inning.
The Wild Card game is wonderful because it's a one-game playoff, but at the same time, some of the novelty of the one-game playoff is gone. Until the wild card concept came along in 1995, there had been only three one-game playoffs: 1948 (Indians 8, Red Sox 3); 1978 (Yankees 5, Red Sox 4*); 1980 (Astros 7, Dodgers 1).
There had also been four best of three series (all in the National League): 1946 (Cardinals over Dodgers); 1951 (The Giants Win The Pennant...over the Dodgers); 1959 (Dodgers over Braves); 1962 (Giants over Dodgers).
The beginning of the current system of a League Championship Series began in 1969 with the Wild Card starting in 1995.
* Oh, you didn't think I was going to let Oct 2, 1978 go, did you?
No, no I'm not. If you've never watched it, please do. I realize people hate Yankees/Red Sox now, but my god the drama of that Monday afternoon in Boston was off the charts.
Every pitch was gut-wrenching. My (not quite) 10-year-old heart raced from listening to the radio on WINS to watching on TV (we had the choice of ABC and WPIX).
It was a beautiful thing: there were SIX different calls of that game.
TV:
ABC: Keith Jackson and Don Drysdale
WPIX: Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, and Bill White
WSBK-TV: Ken Harrelson and Dick Stockton
Radio announcers:
CBS: Ernie Harwell and Win Elliot
WINS: White, Rizzuto, Messer, and Fran Healy
WITS: Jim Woods and Ned Martin
You probably know what happened. I listened on the radio as Carl Yastrzemski homered in the second while Jim Rice drove in another run to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead before Russell Earl Dent hit a three-run home run in the seventh. Despite what they tell you in Boston, Russell Dent is best known as "Bucky." The word "Bleeping" is not a part of his given name.
I have the WPIX, WINS, and WSBK calls of the Bucky Dent home run and have heard the ABC call. I've never heard the CBS and WITS calls. If anybody has them, I'd be interested in hearing them.
The Yankees increased their lead to 5-2, including a blast off the bat of Reggie Jackson. Then the Yankees held on for deal life. Jerry Remy lined a ball to right that Lou Piniella blindly stabbed at in the ninth, keeping the tying and winning runs from advancing.
Jim Rice just missed a game-winning home run before Yaz popped to Graig Nettles to start the celebration in Boston and Mahopac.
The Yankees would go on to beat the Royals in the ALCS and Dodgers in the World Series.
Tonight, the Brewers lead the Nationals 3-1 as I write. The Athletics and Rays meet tomorrow in the American League. The Dodgers, Braves, Cardinals, Yankees, Twins, and Astros all await.
May we have a memorable postseason in 2019.
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