October 27, 2013: Kolten Wong Is Picked Off

October 27, 2013: As if the interference call ending the previous night's game wasn't weird enough, Game 4 of the World Series also has a weird ending. The Boston Red Sox win the 1st World Series game to ever end on a pickoff, beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

The game was tied 1-1 in the top of the 6th, when Jonny Gomes hit a 3-run home run for the Red Sox. The Cardinals took a run back in the 7th, but it was still 4-2 in the bottom of the 9th.

Kolten Wong, a 23-year-old rookie, was caught off 1st base by Boston closer Koji Uehara, ending the contest with the dangerous Carlos Beltrán at the plate as the tying run. The 1st base umpire got the call right, and the Cardinals did not argue it.  Ironically, Wong was pinch-running for Allen Craig, the beneficiary of the previous game's weird ending.

The Cardinals had momentum after the previous night's wacky ending, but now, they won't win another game that counts until March 31, 2014.

The Red Sox won the Series in Game 6, 3 days later. David Ortiz -- who, 4 years earlier, had been exposed as having failed a steroid test 6 years before that, and had been lying about it ever since -- was named the Series' Most Valuable Player.

He had rallied Bostonians around the Sox as relief for having suffered the Boston Marathon Bombing in April. He was hailed as baseball's greatest hero, and the baseball establishment -- the Commissioner's office, the media, and fans in general -- chose to ignore that he was a big fat lying cheating bastard who should have been banned from the sport.

UPDATE: The Red Sox have a team Hall of Fame. From the 2013 World Champions, they have inducted designated hitter David Ortiz, 2nd baseman Dustin Pedroia, pitcher Jon Lester; executives Dick Bresciani and Elaine Weddington Steward, guest relations director Al Green, broadcasters Jerry Remy and Joe Castiglione, and longtime vendor Arthur D'Angelo.

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October 27, 2013 was a Sunday. There was NFL action:

* The New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 15-7 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The New York Jets lost to the Cincinnati Bengals, 49-9 at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins, 27-17 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 42-10 at what's now EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Buffalo Bills, 35-17 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Dallas Cowboys, 31-30 at Ford Field in Detroit.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 44-31 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Rookie Cordarelle Patterson of the Vikings returns the opening kickoff 109 yards for a touchdown, tying an unbreakable NFL record. But that would be the highlight for his team.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Cleveland Browns, 23-17 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kanas City.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Washington Redskins, 45-21 at what's now Empower Field in Denver.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Atlanta Falcons, 27-13 at what's now State Farm Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* And the Oakland Raiders beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-18 at the Oakland Coliseum.

The preceding Thursday, the Carolina Panthers had beaten the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-13 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. And the next day, on Monday Night Football, the Seattle Seahawks beat the St. Louis Rams, 14-9 at what's now Lumen Field in Seattle.

And the Baltimore Ravens, the Chicago Bears, the Houston Texans, the Indianapolis Colts, the San Diego Chargers and the Tennessee Titans had a bye.

The NBA season didn't start for another 2 days. There were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-2 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat their arch-rivals, the Florida Panthers, 4-3 at the BB&T Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Anaheim Ducks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-3 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1 in a shootout, at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

There were also 5 games in Major League Soccer, on the last day of its regular season. The New York Red Bulls beat the Chicago Fire, 5-2 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, outside New York City. This clinched a finish of 1st overall in the league, winning them the Supporters' Shield. This was the 1st time in their 18-season history that they had won a trophy. Also in MLS that day:

* The Houston Dynamo beat D.C. United, 2-1 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The New England Revolution beat the Columbus Crew, 1-0 at Columbus Crew Stadium in, well, Columbus.

* The Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles Galaxy played to a 1-1 draw at CenturyLink Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.

* And the Vancouver Whitecaps beat the Colorado Rapids, 3-0 at BC Place in Vancouver.