The beauty of baseball

[Dutch Alexander]

In my fictional league my team the Storks made it the playoffs for the first time in club history while having the leagues lowest payroll. In the regular season after being below .500 halfway we had a strong second half and finished 4th, grabbing the final playof spot by a single game. In the first round we knock out the number one seed 3 to 1. Highlight in this Series was a game 1 comeback in the ninth inning. Down 1 - 0 with two outs an error brings home the tying run and we end up scoring another to win 2 - 1.

In the Championship Series we play the number 2 seed, the back-to-back defending champions and league powerhouse Rotterdam Neptunus. After losing game 1 on the road we take a 2 - 1 lead into the top of the ninth at home. Then this happens.....

[Dutch Alexander]

A two base throwing error by second baseman Girigorie allows the tying run on base and a 2 out single by a weak hitting bench player ties it up. We end up losing the game in 12 innings. After winning a game in the first round on an error we loose one on an error. We are down 2 - 0 in the Series and are in a big hole.

During the season I usually made a late inning defensive replacement for Girigorie but I stopped doing this the last few weeks of the regular season. Girigorie is a very good contact hitter who rarely walks and has no power (zero home runs in the regular season) and is an average defender at second. He had a poor year defensively but going into this game he had made one error in his last 20 games. Who knows what would have happened if I made a defensive substitution.

We manage to win the next 3 games to go up 3 - 2 and have a chance to win it at home in game 6 and complete a glorious comeback. Had we won game 2 the Series would have been over already. Game 6 is a pitchers duel and we take a 2 - 1 lead into the top of the ninth. Three outs away and I bring in my closer to, well, close it out. Then this happens......

[Dutch Alexander]

Another error by poor Girigorie and we loose the game 3 - 2. Absolutely crushing defeat. And the tying run scores on a wild pitch, absolutely infuriating. I was pitching around the batter, wonder if that increases the chance of a wild pitch? We should have been leading the Series 5 - 1 but instead it's 3 - 3 and we have to play game 7 on the road.

Game seven is extremely frustrating. In the bottom of the first their lead off hitter singles on a 0 - 2 pitch. I then order a pitchout and guess correctly. The runner tries to steal and is ... Safe! He later also steals 3rd and with 2 outs the cleanup hitter who is in a terrible slump hits a two run homer. In the mean time we can do absolutely nothing against their starter and after 7 innings he has faced one above the minimum, our worst performance all year. They add another run in the sixth and bring in their closer in the eigth to protect the 3 - 0 lead. In the eigth we get our second hit of the game but nothing more. We go into the top of the ninth, 3 outs away from a very bitter Series defeat. Then this happens.........

[Bluenoser]

Awesome stuff - now the suspense is killing me.

Bottom of the 9th please

[manooly]

Great story! You gotta love OOTP!

[Dutch Alexander]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

Awesome stuff - now the suspense is killing me.

Bottom of the 9th please

OK, here we go. With the pinch runners used I make some defensive changes but decide to keep my righty setup man Bouma in the game. We will face the bottom of the order R-L-R, then the top of the order L-L-R-L. My lefty closer is ready to come in but for the moment I stick with Bouma who has been superb. Both setup man and closer have appeared in 4 games in the series and are slightly tired.

My setup man quickly gets ahead 0-2 and then gets a fly out to CF. Two outs away from the championship! I decide to stay with Bouma and let him face the lefty. On the first pitch the no. 8 hitter singles to right. Neptunus then pinch hits for the no. 9 hitter with a LHB and I go to my closer.

On a 2-0 pitch the pinch hitter doubles to left and all of a sudden the tying runs are on base. My closer Roos gets ahead 0-1 and then incredibly is called for a balk! Absolute disaster! As a team we had a total of 5 balks called against us in the 88 game regular season and Roos has 2 career balks in 200 appearances. Just like that it's a one run game with the tying run on third. In the span of 5 pitches we go from 1 out nobody on to this.

Next pitch is a strike 0-2 and on the next pitch the batter swings and misses. Two away, one out from the championship! Next hitter takes the first pitch for a ball. Then on the next pitch he hits a groundball to the second baseman Girigorie.......

[Dutch Alexander]

Girigorie fields the ball but has no play. Infield hit and the tying run scores. Next batter flies out to end the inning and we go to extras. Without the balk we would have won 5 - 4. And I'm left to wonder if a second baseman with better range might have made the play. Incredibly for the third time this series we blow a ninth inning lead, each time aided by mistakes.

[Dutch Alexander]

At least we are still alive. In the top of the 10th we get our leadoff hitter on but the next three battters are retired and we go to the bottom of the tenth......

[Dutch Alexander]

Aw f*ck it. Let's watch some NFL playoff football.

[Bluenoser]

Oh my - this is crazy. Yogi was right, it ain't over til it's over.

[JasonC23]

I love everything about this thread. Thank you for sharing!

[Pelican]

Wow. Goose bumps just reading the game account. As a fan, that would be a long cold lonely Winter. Come to think of it, kinda like I have felt since the Phillies sudden collapse in the NLCS. You know, really wanting baseball to return, but secretly afraid of what new dreadful thing could happen. After that chain of events, no on-field horror seems impossible.