October 27, 2011: Game 6 of the World Series. In 1986, the Boston Red Sox had a 2-run lead in the 10th inning of Game 6, and were 1 strike away from winning their 1st World Series in 68 years... and blew it. Exactly 25 years and 2 days later...
The St. Louis Cardinals were a frequent postseason visitor. The 2011 season was their 24th trip to the postseason, and their 8th in the last 12. It was their 18th trip to the World Series, having won 10 of them.
In contrast, the franchise that began in 1961 as "the new Washington Senators," and moved to the Dallas area to become the Texas Rangers in 1972, hadn't reached the postseason until 1996. They reached it again in 1998 and 1999. But they didn't reach another, and didn't win a postseason series, until 2010, winning the American League Pennant, before losing the World Series to the San Francisco Giants. Now, they were playing the Cardinals, National League Champions.
In St. Louis, the Cardinals won Game 1, but the Rangers took home-field advantage away by winning Game 2. As the series moved to Arlington, the Cards pounded the Rangers in Game 3, 16-7, to take the advantage back, thanks to a Series record-tying 3 home runs by Albert Pujols. But the Rangers won Games 4 and 5, and needed to take only 1 out of 2 at the new Busch Stadium to win their 1st World Championship.
Game 6 was delayed a day by rain, and it was a back-and-forth affair. It was 1-0 Rangers after the top of the 1st, 2-1 Cardinals after the bottom of the 1st, tied 2-2 after the top of the 2nd, 3-2 Rangers after the top of the 4th, tied 3-3 after the bottom of the 4th, 4-3 Rangers after the top of the 5th, tied 4-4 after the bottom of the 6th, 7-4 Rangers after the top of the 7th, and 7-5 Rangers after the bottom of the 8th.
The Rangers had a 2-run lead in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 6, and were 1 strike away from winning the 1st World Series in the 51 years of the franchise, 40 of them in their current location... and blew it. Actually, they'd been shaky all inning: While Neftali Feliz began the inning for the Rangers by striking Ryan Theriot out, he gave up a double to Pujols, then walked Lance Berkman, putting the tying run on base. He struck Allen Craig out, and got a 1-and-2 count on Cardinal 3rd baseman David Freese.
But Freese hit a triple to right field, scoring Pujols and Berkman, tying the game. Perez got Yadier Molina to fly to right, but the damage was done, and the game went to extra innings.
If the Rangers were fazed by this screwup, they didn't show it. With 1 out in the top of the 10th, Elvis Andrus singled, and Josh Hamilton, he of the great comeback story from drugs (but later to write an unhappy ending to that story), hit a home run, to give the Rangers a 9-7 lead.
Darren Oliver, the bullpen ace of the Rangers' late 1990s Playoff teams, was sent out to close it out in the bottom of the 10th. But he couldn't do it: He allowed leadoff singles to Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay, and a sacrifice bunt to opposing pitcher Kyle Lohse.
Ranger manager Ron Washington pulled Oliver, and brought in Scott Feldman, who allowed an RBI groundout by Theriot. It was 9-8. Not surprisingly, especially with 1st base open, Pujols was intentionally walked. But Berkman singled Jay home, and it was tied again. Feldman got out of it, but the Rangers had now blown a 2-run lead in extra innings of a potential World Series clincher in back-to-back innings. Even the '86 Red Sox couldn't do that.
The Rangers got a 1-out single from Mike Napoli in the top of the 11th, but that was all they got. Mark Lowe was sent out to pitch the bottom of the 11th. The leadoff batter was Freese. He worked Lowe for a full count, then hit a drive to center field, landing on the grass hitter's background. Game over: Cardinals 10, Rangers 9.
If the '86 Red Sox were not officially off the hook for the biggest World Series choke ever seen to that point, thanks to the Red Sox of 2004 and '07, they were now, thanks to the Rangers having a bigger one.
It would have been understandable if the Rangers had nothing left for Game 7. But they took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st, to show that they were not going to go down without a fight. But go down, they did: The Cardinals scored 2 runs in the 1st, 1 in the 3rd, 2 in the 5th and 1 in the 7th. They won, 6-2, for their 11th World Series win, tops among National League teams, 2nd overall only to the Yankees.
The Rangers are still looking for their next Pennant.
UPDATE: The Cardinals have a team Hall of Fame. From their 2011 World Champions, they have inducted manager Tony La Russa, coaches Albert "Red" Schoendienst, Dave Duncan and José Oquendo; broadcasters Mike Shannon and Al Hrabosky; left fielder Matt Holliday and pitcher Chris Carpenter. 1st baseman Albert Pujols, catcher Yadier Molina and pitcher Adam Wainwright have not yet been inducted.
La Russa, Schoendienst, Duncan, Shannon, Hrabosky, Holliday, Carpenter, and later manager Mike Matheny were elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. La Russa, Schoendienst, Duncan, Shannon, Hrabosky, Carpenter, and pitcher Jason Motte, a St. Louis native, were elected to the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.
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October 27, 2011 was a Thursday. Obviously, that was the only baseball game played that day. The NBA team owners had locked the players out, and their season ended up starting on Christmas. And while Thursday Night Football had become common in the NFL by this point, there was no game scheduled for this day.
There were 11 NHL games played that day:
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-3 at what's now named the Desert Diamond Arena in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 in a shootout.
* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 9-8 at what's now the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* In another "Original Six" matchup, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the TD Garden in Boston.
* The Ottawa Senators beat the Florida Panthers, 4-3 at what's now the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-2 at what's now the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-3 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Dallas Stars, 5-3 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
* The Anaheim Ducks beat the Minnesota Wild, 3-2 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Washington Capitals, 2-1 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.
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