After beating the Texas Rangers on Sept. 3, the Boston Red Sox were 84-54. Although half a game behind the Yankees in the American League East, the Red Sox had a nine-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays for the wild card and roughly a 99.6 percent chance of making the playoffs. Fast forward one excruciating month to a dead heat with Tampa coming into tonight's bitter imbroglio. Boston struggles ahead of laughingstock Baltimore by a single run until a rain delay clears the field, leaving them in the surreal position of rooting for the hated Yankees playing down in Florida. They can only watch from the sidelines as the rival Rays, tied with Boston in the pennant race but down 7-0 against New York, roar back to life with six runs in the eighth inning and a tie run on the final pitch at the bottom of the ninth. And then, after blowing two different strikes that would have salvaged the game, Boston loses to Baltimore, completing what is arguably the worst late-breaking collapse in the history of major league baseball.
posted by Rhaomi on Sep 28, 2011 - 196 comments

Baseball fans: Curious how far that home run went? Try HitTracker. [more inside]
posted by starman on Apr 19, 2011 - 6 comments

Major League Baseball's opening day is less than a week away, so here are some videos to whet your appetite:
The shot heard 'round the world/The Giants Win the Pennant!
Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run, 1960 World Series
Hank Aaron hits home run number 715
Carlton Fisk waves it fair
Willie Mays: "The Catch." [more inside]
posted by starman on Mar 29, 2010 - 63 comments

This is a video of a robot playing baseball.
posted by jason's_planet on Jan 5, 2008 - 37 comments

Want to listen to the World Series on the Web? Pay $9.95. I know, it's a sports post, so (most) everyone will hate it, but I see a disturbing trend of no more free media lunches on the Web. CNN went subscription months ago, and most other places I've gone for free video/audio are drying up. All I wanted was to listen to the game. But I can't find it anywhere. All the regular stations I listen to that carry the game are silent. And how will the Angels make a valiant comeback if I can't cheer them on? (sigh)
posted by TheManWhoKnowsMostThings on Oct 26, 2002 - 25 comments