Commentary: Looking Back at the Best Game of the 2020 Playoffs (So Far)
The Buildup
For the better part of the last two weeks, we have been flooded with a barrage of baseball. The condensed playoff schedule of the 2020 postseason has made it so that our weekdays were filled to the brim with 4-8 different games throughout the day, most of which no one could even watch (side note: shout out to the people who decided to schedule every single game during the workday and have no games played during the weekend, you’re truly growing the game!). And while the games have generally been entertaining thus far, it has been almost impossible to focus on any given game due to our attention being pulled in three different directions. That was, until a couple of nights ago. Due to the anticlimactic sweeps of the Padres and Marlins, as well as Oakland’s annual playoff collapse, the Yankees and Rays found themselves with a spotlight all to themselves on Friday night.
Going into the matchup, everyone was expecting a barnburner. After all, these were not only two of the best teams in baseball, but also fierce division rivals that have developed bad blood over the past couple of seasons. Now, here they were, playing a winner-take-all Game Five after a hard-fought, back-and-forth Division Series. It also helped that both teams had their best arms taking the mound, with Gerrit Cole pitching to earn his paycheck and Tyler Glasnow looking for redemption from last year’s playoffs. MLB may have tried it’s hardest to make sure no one could see any good playoff games this year, but they still somehow stumbled into the prime-time playoff showcase of their dreams. However, even with these high expectations, I don’t think anyone could have imagined just how suspenseful and entertaining the actual game would be.
That being said, it was almost over before it really began. Glasnow set down the Yankees in just 8 pitches in the top of the first, and in the bottom half, it seemed that Cole wasn’t feeling like himself. His fastball command just was not there for his first 20 pitches, and it almost ended in disaster for him. After walking two and hitting another, he found himself facing Joey Wendle with the bases loaded and two outs. Wendle, to his credit, put up a great at-bat against Cole, seeing 6 pitches and working his way into a full count. But with a perfectly-placed fastball at the knees, Cole shut down the Rays rally and seemingly put himself back into the groove. With that, the real game began.
The Gameplans
Pictured above is Baseball Reference’s win probability chart for this game. While the large dip at the end may be the first thing that pops out at you (and we will get to that later), the other interesting thing about this graph is how steady it stays throughout the game. In fact, it’s at or near the 50/50 mark for almost 8 full innings. Typically, games with more peaks and valleys tend to be more exciting, as they correspond to more lead changes and momentum swings, but this game didn’t need all of that to keep fans locked in on every pitch. Instead, the shape of this graph was the result of two evenly-matched teams perfectly executing their gameplans and matching each other every step of the way.
Both teams played completely to their strengths and did exactly what you would expect them to do. The Rays relied on the huge strength of their bullpen, the modern management style of Kevin Cash, and their ability to make great at-bats. Glasnow - as expected with two days rest - acted as the opener for Tampa Bay and was pulled after one time through the Yankee lineup. In a move that surely sent many “traditional” fans into a tizzy, Cash then turned to his closer, Nick Anderson, to face the next nine hitters. Finally, Pete Fairbanks and Diego Castillo combined to cover the last four innings of the game. Combined, the Rays “stable” held one of the most powerful offenses in baseball to just one run and three hits.
The Yankees, meanwhile, rode Gerrit Cole for as long as they possibly could and hoped for the long balls to start coming. To his credit, Cole certainly earned his money in this game, taking a no-hitter into the fifth and collecting nine strikeouts in a dominating performance. Aaron Judge provided the latter part, taking Anderson deep on an opposite-field wall scraper in the 4th. Once Cole was taken out in the sixth, Aaron Boone then went to his two main men in the bullpen, Britton and Chapman, to take them home.
However, it was Tampa Bay’s ability to have a good at-bat that would turn out to be the real difference-maker in this game. If it weren’t for the Rays working the count, fouling off pitches, and creating long innings, Cole could have easily dominated them for the entire game. But instead, they were able to tire him out, get him out of the game early, and - in Meadows’s case - take advantage of his rare mistakes. And once Cole was finally banished to the showers, this skill would go on to play a crucial role in the most important moment of the game.
The Moment
Baseball is not a just game, but it is beautiful in the way it delivers justice.
It was unjust for Mike Brosseau to go undrafted after four years of grinding in college ball. It was unjust for Aroldis Chapman to be gifted by God with a 105 MPH fastball and get fast-tracked to the Majors. And given his history of domestic abuse, it’s unjust for Chapman to still be living life as an MLB superstar after facing almost zero repercussions.
It was also unjust for Chapman to throw a fastball at Brosseau’s head earlier this season, but that’s baseball, and baseball isn’t just.
If it were, it would have been Randy Arozarena - the breakout star of this Postseason - hitting the go-ahead homer and sending his team to the Championship Series. But instead, his fly ball in the sixth was just a bit too high, and it ended up being robbed by Brett Gardner at the left field wall.
I say all of this to make a simple point: the thing about being the underdog in real life is that most of the time, you lose. You give up the big home run to the villian, you drop the game-winning catch, and you strike out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. The angels don’t come to save you, and the magic runs out eventually. But every now and then, with a little bit of coincidence and a ton of blind luck, everything comes together perfectly to set up the Disney ending.
Such was the case on Friday. Arozarena’s almost-homer was what ultimately took Gerrit Cole out of the game. His left-handed replacement, Zach Britton, prompted Kevin Cash to put the right-handed Brosseau into the game to pinch-hit. As fate would have it, Chapman would come into the game next, and the two foes would face each other in the bottom of the eighth in a tied elimination game.
Even the at-bat itself was set up like a movie. Our protagonist quickly falls behind 0-2 after two blazing fastballs from Chapman. Brosseau turns away, disgusted, seemingly giving himself a pep talk in his head. He then battles all the way back, taking and fouling away a total of 7 pitches as he works a full count against his opponent. Finally, after putting together the at-bat of his life, he gets exactly what he was waiting for: another fastball down and in at 100 MPH. The ball leaves the bat at 105 MPH, and it heads to the exact location of Arozarena’s fly ball from earlier, except this time it leaves the yard.
The Rays dugout explodes into pandemonium, and three outs later, they officially eliminate the Yankees to advance to the ALCS.
Baseball is not a just game, but it is beautiful in the way it delivers justice.
The Aftermath
With all of the excitement surrounding this incredible game, it’s been easy to forget how much baseball is still left to play. This may have felt like a World Series win for the Rays, but they still have a lot of tough work to do if they want to actually hold up the trophy.
Speaking of delivering justice, Tampa Bay has to face a dangerous Astros team that is hungry to redeem themselves from their cheating scandal. If they can somehow manage to take care of them in the next seven days, their reward will be a date in Globe Life Field with one of the two best teams in the National League, where they will face another brutal slog of potentially seven straight games (side note: Game 7 of the World Series is scheduled for October 28 AND we’re playing in an indoor field, you’re telling me MLB couldn’t have scheduled at least a couple more off days during the playoffs this year?).
Besides keeping them alive in the playoffs, this is where Game 5 becomes crucial for the Rays going forward. Momentum is the only true currency in the playoffs, and as far as that is concerned, there are two ways this could go for Tampa Bay. On one hand, this win could be the massive momentum boost they need to power through the surging Astros and head to the World Series. On the other, securing this win may have used up all of the momentum they had, and the hangover from the celebration could carry over into the next series. With the ALCS starting tonight, it won’t take long to see which of these is the case.
But regardless of how it ends up turning out for the Rays in the rest of the postseason, we can at least be thankful to them for giving us the best game of the playoffs so far and giving people a reason to cheer in a year that has kept so many of us down. If this is any indication of what is to come in the Championship Series and beyond, I can’t wait to see what the next couple of weeks have in store.