Cleveland's Comeback Victory Against New York Perfectly Captured The Beauty of Baseball

Last night, The Cleveland Guardians, down 0-2 to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, completed one of the great late-game comebacks we will see in sports this year.  Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on second, Cleveland turned to rookie Jhonkensy Noel, affectionately nicknamed “Big Christmas”, to pinch hit with the game on the line.  Why do they call him “Big Christmas”, you might ask?  Well, what transpired next might shed some light on that.

With one swing of the bat, Noel had pulled the Guardians even in the game, and sent the city of Cleveland into a frenzy in the process.  In a do-or-die playoff game, Cleveland had found new life.

One inning later, with the game still tied, Cleveland sent All-Star David Fry to the plate with two outs and the game winning run in scoring position.  With a sold-out crowd on their feet, and millions of fans watching at home, Fry put a proper bow on the comeback.

Backs against the wall, season on the line, and the Cleveland Guardians found a way to keep the possibility of a trip to the World Series alive.  As many have noted today, it’s moments like these that make playoff baseball special.  The late game home runs from Noel and Fry will forever be a part of Guardians’ history, and will certainly be the lasting images for all who witnessed the comeback.  With all of this said, it's what happened before these heroics took place that, for me, truly captures the magic of baseball.

In sports, when a team is leading late in a game, its players and coaches usually have one goal in mind: make sure the opposing team doesn’t have a chance to make a comeback.  We see this play out nearly every time we tune into a game.  We have all witnessed a football team kneel out the final few minutes of a close game to prevent the opposing team from getting the ball, or watched a basketball, hockey, or soccer team purposely manipulate the pace of play to minimize their opponent’s chances of retaking the lead.  Managing a lead, and limiting the opportunities your opponent has of coming back to beat you, is essential to a team’s strategy in nearly every sport.  

Not in baseball.

In baseball, both teams are guaranteed 27 outs, full stop. There is no game clock that a winning team can simply let run to zero, nor is there any way a team can reduce the amount of outs that their opponent has to work with.  No matter how far ahead or behind a team finds itself, no game is over until both teams use all 27 outs.  This is the reality of baseball, and it was on full display in Cleveland’s Thursday comeback.

Noel’s ninth inning at-bat that spurred Cleveland’s comeback nearly didn’t happen, because as “Big Christmas” waited on deck, Cleveland was down to their 27th out.  Worse yet, he looked on as his teammate, Lane Thomas, fell behind 0-2.

Down to their last out and their last strike, Cleveland was finished.  In any other sport, New York would’ve been free to simply run out the clock or play keep away to prevent Cleveland from getting another chance.  But this is baseball, so the Yankees had no choice but to pitch.  Thomas would eventually hit a double off the left field wall, setting the stage for the dramatics that followed.

Noel and Fry etched their names into playoff history last night, but none of it was possible without the true MVP of the night: The 27th Out.

As Billy Beane perfectly puts it in the movie, Moneyball, “How can you not be romantic about baseball?”