The latest a Fall Classic has ended was back in 2009. The Phillies and Yankees battled it out until November. That broke the previous latest day in baseball, November 4th, 2001. The Yankees were in that one, too. The difference is, it was in 2001 and they lost. Now it was 2009, and it was later in October and November for this World Series. The New York Yankees won this thing. Good thing too, for it would be a very short off-season, right?
But the Philadelphia Phillies, having won it all in 2008, weren't about to make this thing a cakewalk for New York. If there were going to be any doubts, the opener proved otherwise. It was a late start for the game in New York. As in, October 28th. The Yankees finally scored a run in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too late in the game and too late in October. Philly 6. Yankees 1. Revenge from 1950?
So New York needed to win game two at home to get the split, and sure enough, they did. But they had to overcome a strong performance by Philly's Pedro Martinez. Trailing 1-0 after two inning, the Yankees tallied single tallies in the fourth, sixth, and seventh. A.J. Burnett finished with a six-hitter. Mariano Rivera had a rare two-inning save. The Yankees were being forced to dig deep. It was all tied up heading to The City Of Brotherly Love. Do you love baseball in November?
In game three, the Phillies put up a three in the bottom of the second. Once again, they had the lead after two. And once again, the resilient Yankees came back to win. The difference is, both teams had it going offensively in this game. The teams combined to hit five home runs. Andy Pettitte got the win. Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher (Off future Blue Jay, J.A. Happ in the top of the sixth) and Hideki Matsui did the honours for New York. A-Rod also got hit twice, remember!This game was played on October 31st, so game four was in October. Would the Fall Classic last until Remembrance Day up here Canada. That's on November 11th. Odds looking good!
But New York had no intentions of that as they hammered home a decisive 7-4 win in game four. Now up three games to one and in control, this thing was looking over. But oddly enough, New York failed to hit a single home run. Philly, on the losing end, got one from Chase Utley and another from Pedro Feliz. Still, Philadelphia was looking at elimination, right at home, possibly!
However, Philadelpha won game five to send it back to the Big, Bad, Bronx. It was another slugfest, with Utley going deep again. The final score was 8-6 and New York could take some solace in still being ahead thee games to two. It was also November 2nd. Game six was played on November 4th.
The Yankees beat Martinez, 7-3 to clinch it. Would you believe it, that I didn't watch it? Nope, I was watching the Buffalo Sabers take on the New York Islanders. It was the Islanders, with John Tavares as a rookie, lost 3-0. This is hockey for those wondering. Yup, they were that far into the regular season.
There was a time when the Fall Classic got underway while still in September. But the last time that happened was 1955, and back then, the World Series was the only part of the postseason. 1969 brought about the League Companionship Series. 1994 was supposed to start the Division Series (Used once previous in 1981), but a strike stopped that. Since 1995 though, it's been a long postseason. And it keeps getting longer and longer. 2012 saw a one-game playoff instituted in the American and National League to determine the Wild Card team. Does it hurt the World Series? To me, yes. I'm all for an extended playoff, but to me, that's for other sports like hockey and NCAA basketball. The more playoff games you have, the longer baseball goes. The regular season is still 162 games, and by the end of them, I'm thinking about the World Series, believe me. Even I don't have that kind of patience!
References
Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.
Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. Print.
“The Official Site Of Major League Baseball.” MLB.com, Major League Baseball. Web. 08 Apr. 2015. www.mlb.com/.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 08 Apr. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org>.
But the Philadelphia Phillies, having won it all in 2008, weren't about to make this thing a cakewalk for New York. If there were going to be any doubts, the opener proved otherwise. It was a late start for the game in New York. As in, October 28th. The Yankees finally scored a run in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too late in the game and too late in October. Philly 6. Yankees 1. Revenge from 1950?
So New York needed to win game two at home to get the split, and sure enough, they did. But they had to overcome a strong performance by Philly's Pedro Martinez. Trailing 1-0 after two inning, the Yankees tallied single tallies in the fourth, sixth, and seventh. A.J. Burnett finished with a six-hitter. Mariano Rivera had a rare two-inning save. The Yankees were being forced to dig deep. It was all tied up heading to The City Of Brotherly Love. Do you love baseball in November?
In game three, the Phillies put up a three in the bottom of the second. Once again, they had the lead after two. And once again, the resilient Yankees came back to win. The difference is, both teams had it going offensively in this game. The teams combined to hit five home runs. Andy Pettitte got the win. Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher (Off future Blue Jay, J.A. Happ in the top of the sixth) and Hideki Matsui did the honours for New York. A-Rod also got hit twice, remember!This game was played on October 31st, so game four was in October. Would the Fall Classic last until Remembrance Day up here Canada. That's on November 11th. Odds looking good!
But New York had no intentions of that as they hammered home a decisive 7-4 win in game four. Now up three games to one and in control, this thing was looking over. But oddly enough, New York failed to hit a single home run. Philly, on the losing end, got one from Chase Utley and another from Pedro Feliz. Still, Philadelphia was looking at elimination, right at home, possibly!
However, Philadelpha won game five to send it back to the Big, Bad, Bronx. It was another slugfest, with Utley going deep again. The final score was 8-6 and New York could take some solace in still being ahead thee games to two. It was also November 2nd. Game six was played on November 4th.
The Yankees beat Martinez, 7-3 to clinch it. Would you believe it, that I didn't watch it? Nope, I was watching the Buffalo Sabers take on the New York Islanders. It was the Islanders, with John Tavares as a rookie, lost 3-0. This is hockey for those wondering. Yup, they were that far into the regular season.
There was a time when the Fall Classic got underway while still in September. But the last time that happened was 1955, and back then, the World Series was the only part of the postseason. 1969 brought about the League Companionship Series. 1994 was supposed to start the Division Series (Used once previous in 1981), but a strike stopped that. Since 1995 though, it's been a long postseason. And it keeps getting longer and longer. 2012 saw a one-game playoff instituted in the American and National League to determine the Wild Card team. Does it hurt the World Series? To me, yes. I'm all for an extended playoff, but to me, that's for other sports like hockey and NCAA basketball. The more playoff games you have, the longer baseball goes. The regular season is still 162 games, and by the end of them, I'm thinking about the World Series, believe me. Even I don't have that kind of patience!
References
Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.
Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. Print.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 08 Apr. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org>.
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