The beauty of baseball, but also its curse, is the game’s inherent cruelness, offering near infinite ways to fail. Even the great ones will trip over the occasional landmine, succumbing to baseball’s rich tapestry of obstacles, both figurative and literal. Bloopers and lowlights are valuable currency in the social-media-sphere, where laughing at other’s misfortune has become a cottage industry of sorts, fueling a generation of internet trolls in the mold of legendary heckler Nelson Muntz of Simpsons fame (“Ha ha!").
Which brings us to Friday night’s dramatic conclusion in Cincinnati, where the Rays lost a heartbreaker, falling in extra innings on a walk-off balk yielded by embattled reliever Matt Wisler.
Losing to a team on pace for 58 wins (their fewest in a non-shortened season since 1937) would be bad enough for Tampa Bay’s self-esteem without the embarrassment of balking in the game-winning run, becoming only the 23rd team in the past century to suffer that excruciating fate. In fact, according to ESPN Stats and Information, the Reds hadn’t won in that fashion since 1965, well before anyone on either roster was born.
The good news for the Rays, is that it’s only one game out of 162, though every percentage point matters in a tight division. Even the surging Orioles can’t be discounted, with Baltimore, on the strength of six straight wins, mounting an unlikely Wild Card push. Such is life in the chaotic AL East, with Tampa, Baltimore, Boston and Toronto all jockeying for position behind the first-place Yankees.
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