The World Series has just begun between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox, the final saga in what has already been a thrilling postseason. It is fitting that these two teams would meet to compete in the championship — both teams finished with the best records in their respective leagues with identical 97-65 marks. At the start of the series Boston had a slight edge since the American League won home field advantage with their victory in the All-Star game. Despite the slim advantage, at the time of this writing, the Red Sox are down two games to one in the series after an eventful Game 3.
For most of the game the momentum shifted back and forth. The Cardinals saw the Red Sox wash away two of their leads (2-0, 4-2), leaving the game tied 4-4 entering the ninth inning. In the top of the ninth, the Cardinals retired the Red Sox in order, giving themselves an opportunity to walk off in the bottom of the ninth. Walk-off they would, but they did so in a manner that no one would have seen coming and on a call that may go down as one of the most controversial in World Series history.
To set the scene, there were runners on second and third and one out when Jon Jay hit a ground ball to Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who threw out Yadier Molina at home plate. Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, seeing Allen Craig trying to advance from second base, attempted to throw him out. However, the throw was off target causing third baseman Will Middlebrooks to dive in the direction of second base in an attempt to field the ball, which hit off Allen Craig and went into left field. Craig, now attempting to reach home plate, tripped over Middlebrooks who was still on the ground, having had no time to recover from his fielding attempt. This minor collision gave the Red Sox just enough time to get the ball back to the catcher and tag Craig out just before he could reach home plate. However, since Craig tripped on Middlebrooks, the umpires ruled obstruction and awarded Craig home plate and the Cardinals the walk-off win.
There has been plenty of debate about whether or not the call was correct and whether or not such a bizarre set of circumstances should decide a World Series game and potentially the championship itself. Dave Cameron, a writer from fangraphs.com, summed up the entire debacle with his comment, “The more I watch the play, the less of a problem I have with the call, and the less I like how the rule is written. It seems like a fielder should be given a reasonable opportunity to attempt to not interfere. One could argue whether or not Middlebrooks was trying to trip Craig or stand up to get back into fielding position, but we probably shouldn’t have a rule that penalizes defenders for not having the ability to teleport instantaneously off the ground.”
It remains to be seen how this call will be remembered. If the Red Sox go on to win the World Series anyways then it will just end up an interesting footnote in an exciting World Series, but if the Cardinals win, particularly if it comes down to a final Game 7, then this game could very well gain a spot in history — alongside the infamous “Tuck Rule Game” during the 2001 NFL playoffs — as one of sports’ most controversial finishes.
