The most controversial aspect of implementing baseball's new playoff system hastily this year was the prospect that a team with a lesser record could take a 2-0 advantage by playing at home first.
That sort of "nightmare" scenario is playing out in reality for Oakland fans, as the Athletics have dropped the first two games of the American League Divisional Series to Detroit.
Detroit came into the playoffs with an 88-74 record, while the Athletics capped off a hot September by finishing at 94-68. But due to the addition of the extra wild-card teams, Detroit opened the series at home.
Baseball was forced to adopt a 2-3 playoff format for this year only, due to the locked-in television schedule and problems with travel days for certain teams. Their only option was to delay the addition of an extra wild-card or change the playoff format. Obviously baseball decided on the latter.
Behind Justin Verlander's strong start on Saturday, the Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the series by winning 3-1. Detroit set the tone with a leadoff home run and the Athletics never could close the gap. Game 2 was a different story, but finished with the same ending for Oakland: a win for the Tigers.
The game bounced back and forth, with Detroit falling behind 1-0 early in the third inning after an RBI single from Yoenis Cespedes that scored Cliff Pennington. Detroit quickly responded, adding a run on a Delmon Young groundout in the bottom of the inning.
The scoring was quite until the seventh, when Pennington singled home Seth Smith to take back the lead. Detroit did the same in the bottom of the inning, going up 3-2 on an error by centerfielder Coco Crisp that allowed two runs to score.
"I saw it come off the heel of my glove, and I tried to grab again," Crisp said. "I even went for it barehanded, but I couldn't get it."
In the eighth inning Cespedes scored off a wild pitch from Joaquin Benoit to tie the game at 4-4 before the next batter Josh Reddick hit a solo home run to go up 4-3. Oakland threw a wild pitch of its own in the next inning, allowing eventual-hero Don Kelly to score to tie the game once again.
There was some controversy in the top of the ninth after a ground ball from Cespedes was hit to Detroit reliever Al Albuquerque with two outs and two men on. Albuquerque fielded the ball quickly and gave it a kiss before he threw it to first base for the last out.
"I just did it," Albuquerque said. "It was the emotion of the game. I wasn't trying to be a hot dog."
It was a funny moment in an extremely tense situation. See the video of the play above.
"We were cracking up in the dugout," Detroit pitcher Max Scherzer said. "We were like, 'Did he really just kiss the ball?' ... Albuquerque does some crazy things on the mound."
But not everyone saw it that way. Many Oakland Athletics players expressed displeasure at the move afterwards.
"We didn't appreciate that. I thought it was immature and not very professional," Reddick said. "You don't do that on the field. Save it for the dugout. That's all I'm going to say."
Detroit came back from three different Oakland leads during the game, including in the ninth inning to win. In that deciding frame, Kelly hit a sacrifice fly to score a run after two straight singles from Omar Infante and Miguel Cabrera.
"Was looking for a fastball and I got it," Kelly said. "It's a great feeling, to be able to go out there in that situation and do that."
The fact that Detroit came from behind to win again was amazing, but even more so, according to ESPN Stats & Info, was the fact that the sacrifice was Kelly's first go-ahead RBI all season and his first since last year's playoffs against the Yankees. Additionally, it was his first ever go-ahead RBI in the seventh inning or later of any game he has played.
"It takes everybody to contribute and we got contributions from everybody," Leyland said.
Oakland heads home down 2-0 after making one of the most historic comebacks in MLB history. The Athletics won the AL West this year after making a furious comeback from five games behind the Texas Rangers with nine left to go.
The team did everything it was supposed to do: win the division and finish with a strong record. But after two losses on the road, the Athletics face even longer odds now to advance to the next round.
"We just need to win a game," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "If you start thinking about three games ahead, you lose your focus on Tuesday's game."
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
