Optimism of baseball
October 12, 2012 by Coach McCreary
Filed under Misc
In the last couple days, we’ve seen some remarkable playoff games that have come down to the wire. Specifically, the A’s and the Yankees, just the other night, both won in walk-off fashion to the delight of their hometown fans and, I’m sure, to the executives of Major League Baseball. The Nationals won with a walk-off as well and the Orioles won in 13 innings just last night. The chances of future thrilling finishes this playoff season are expectedly
high. Such is the case during playoff baseball.
I think this is one of the many things that separates baseball from other sports. Although other sports also have their own thrilling finishes and last second wins, the main difference is the clock or lack thereof in baseball. In all other major spectator team sports (soccer, football, basketball, and hockey) the clock rules over the game. Teams with a lead can manipulate the clock to their advantage. A football team can take their time getting to the line of scrimmage. A quarterback can ”take a knee” on several plays and waste several minutes in the process. Soccer players can play keep away for an unlimited amount of time to preserve a lead. A basketball team can use the same strategy within the confines of the shot clock. The point is, when there is a clock, the winning team can hold the ball (or puck) and prevent the other team from even having a chance to score and win the game.
Baseball is different. There is no clock. You have to get 27 outs. A pitcher cannot hold the ball until the clock runs out. He has to make a pitch and when he does, in essence, he gives the ball to the opposition and therefore keeps giving them an opportunity to get back in the game.
Watch baseball long enough and you will experience a game where a team has the game in hand only to see their pitcher completely lose the strike zone allowing the other team to come back and win. Even at the MLB level, we’ve seen teams score an amazing number of runs with two outs and nobody on base to win a game.
This is why baseball will always be America’s game. In America, as long as you are breathing, you have a chance to turn anything around and succeed no matter what obstacles are placed in front of you. Every day is another chance. This same built-in optimism is what the game of baseball provides as well. As long as there are not 27 outs, you always have a shot. Had a bad day? Wake up the next morning and take some more swings. You never know.
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