The MLB’s first run at their new Wild Card playoff game will certainly be remembered as one of the most controversial games in all of baseball history.
The scene was set for a historic day in baseball. Two Wild Card playoff games in both leagues set up back-to-back with four teams looking to earn two spots in the MLB’s new playoff system.
In Atlanta there was even more history taking place. Future Hall of Famer Chipper Jones was playing in what might be his last game in his historic 19-year career, the 40-year-old came into Friday’s game knowing that it could be his last time ever playing at Turner Field.
Yet while all of this was going on, one very crucial and disappointing thing happened in the NL Wild Card game. And no, I’m not talking about the fiasco in the eighth inning; I’m referring to the fact that the National League’s best defensive team, the Atlanta Braves, stopped playing defense.
The Braves committed three errors in the Wild Card game that led to St. Louis taking the lead. Two of these errors came from veterans Chipper Jones and Dan Uggla, simply inexcusable mistakes for a team such as the Atlanta Braves to make — especially for Jones and Uggla.
The Braves jumped ahead early with a second inning two-run home run from backup catcher David Ross, only to see Cardinals score three in the fourth inning to capture the lead. The Braves did what they unfortunately do best, disappoint in October and choke away their lead. In the past seasons it was a lead of several games in the Wild Card hunt, this season it was the actual lead in the Wild Card game. Atlanta beat itself, the same thing they seem to do every season.
This season they were once again one of the best teams in the National league, but for the second straight year the St. Louis Cardinals edge them out to make their way into the playoffs. And then, just as everything seemed to be going well for the Braves and it seems like Atlanta will have the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, the umpires make a mistake that sets Turner Field in an uproar.
Andrelton Simmons hit a fly ball that flew into the middle of the outfield before it surprisingly fell between two Cardinal players. Initially the Braves and all of their loyal fans at Turner Field started to celebrate, being down three runs in the eighth inning and having the bases loaded with Brian McCann up to bat is something to get excited about.
But then, like a thief in the night, the fans slowly start to realize manager Fredi González arguing with the umpire, before you know it they call Simmons out on an infield fly rule. And then the next thing you know, Turner Field is littered with debris that was thrown by outraged fans.
It was a clear misinterpretation of the infield fly rule that should not have been called. The fact of the matter is that the infield fly rule can apply to some parts of the outfield, but if it is ever to be called it is supposed to be called immediately, not right before the ball hits the ground.
The umpires messed it up, and once again the integrity of the game and the judgment call of the trusted league umpires must be held in tact. Unfortunately for Atlanta, there was no way that the call would have been over turned. And, yes, it is extremely disappointing that the umpires made a bad call that may have cost the Braves the game, but at the same time the Atlanta Braves should not have put themselves in that situation. The bad call by the umpires did not cost the Braves the game, having twice as many hits as the Cardinals while still leaving ten runners on base with three costly errors did.
Tyler Rollason is a Winder-Barrow High School graduate and mass communications major at the University of West Georgia. You can e-mail comments about this column to tyrollason@yahoo.com.
