The 2007 playoffs provided some very good theatre, set up by the Rockies' improbable run to the wild card and their incredible 13-inning win in a tiebreaker game over the San Diego Padres.
Could we be in for a repeat in 2009? Judging from this year's tiebreaker game, we''re certainly on the way.
In a similar contest to that thriller at Coors Field, the Twins won 6-5 in 12 innings Tuesday over a spunky Detroit Tigers team that blew a three-game lead with four to play and was determined to not make it on this list. The Tigers played well enough to win on most days, but the Twins ended Detroit's season with some great clutch hitting in a memorable, edge-of-your-seat kind of game. It had it all, with great defensive plays, pitchers wiggling out of jams, two guys named Cabrera hitting big home runs and a chess match between two of the best tacticians in the game in the Twins' Ron Gardenhire and the Tigers' Jim Leyland.
As a Wall Street Journal sports blog recounted: There were 12 innings, 13 pitchers, 24 hits, seven ties or lost leads, two dramatic put-outs at the plate, a controversial call, a pair of bases-loaded escapes and, in the end, a Minnesota victory delivered in front of a Metrodome record 54,088 fans.
Three Division Series begin today, including the Twins' series against the Yankees. New York had the choice of Division Series schedules and, as expected, pulled the trigger on bringing the Twins to New York less than 24 hours after their division-clinching victory. Minnesota's pitching staff is worn out and its rotation is backward, but rookie Brian Duensing somehow will try to extend the Twins' party this evening in the Bronx against Yankees ace CC Sabathia, who has an ERA of 7.92 in his career in the postseason.
The Phillies and Rockies get it started this afternoon. Go to Twitter.com/aboutbase and follow me for my immediate takes on the playoff action throughout October.
Division Series previews/predictions/storylines:
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