Lets Go Pads!

            I grew up in the Chicagoland area and my dad taught me from a young age to root for the Cubs; however, on Sunday I am a Padres fan.  No, I have not thrown in the towel on my beloved Cubbies because 102 years of losing is simply too much, but rather I cheer for San Diego today because I love the game of baseball. 

            If the Padres win on Sunday, both San Francisco and San Diego will rest atop the NL West in a tie for first place.  After 162 games of baseball; after playing through the April cold and the dog days of August; two teams tied together after the six-month battle means they get to fight once more: Game 163.  Besides for a World Series game 7, nothing in baseball rivals the intensity of a play-in game.  Many of the most memorable baseball moments in the past three seasons occurred during a game 163:

•       In 2007, the Padres and Rockies needed not only an extra game to decide the NL West title; they needed extra innings.  To add to the dramatics of the event, Matt Holliday scored on a sac-fly and many think home plate umpire, Tim McClelland, made the wrong call on the play: Michael Barrett’s foot appeared to block the reaching hand of Holliday. 
•       The White Sox declared it a blackout for their tiebreaker against Minnesota at the end of the 2008 season and the south-side fans donned in dark apparel cheered their team onto a playoff berth.  A pitchers duel between John Danks and Nick Blackburn could only be stopped by the bat of Jim Thome, whose solo homer proved to be the first and only run in the game. 
•      Last season, after losing the AL Central title in a game 163 the year before, the Twins decided they weren’t done playing in the Metrodome as they beat the Tigers and extended their tenure in the Dome for a few more days. 

            Take this as a lesson that should the Padres and Giants be forced to resort to a tie breaker, you need to watch!  Sure the playoffs are exciting and the World Series is a great week of baseball; however, you will be dead pressed to find 3 more important hours of baseball than a play-in game.  All of the work put in from the beginning of Spring training up to that point will either be rewarded with a playoff berth, or the squads have to go back home and play golf while they watch playoff baseball on TV.  Also, because the game means so much, both teams send their aces to the bump. 

            And the best part of this whole thing is that if the baseball Gods align the stars perfectly today, we could be treated to not one, but TWO play-in games.  I’m not sure if you refer to that as 2 game 163s or game 163 and 164 (either way the thought of that possibility excites me like a little kid on Christmas morning).  Here’s what needs to happen:

1.     The Padres must beat the Giants so that both teams have records of 91-71.

2.     The Braves need to beat the Phillies, so they too have a record of 91-71.

            If that sequence of events occurs on Sunday, the Giants and Padres would play for the NL West title on Monday night and the loser of that game would play the Braves on Tuesday night for the NL Wild Card. Damn it feels good to live in the realignment era of baseball!

            So remember, none of the fantastic aforementioned tiebreaker games can occur unless the Friars squeak one out against the Giants on Sunday to complete the sweep.  LETS GO PADRES!