[jg2977]

You just can't make this stuff up.

These are the most spectacular playoffs that any sport on planet Earth, or the whole universe for that matter, has ever seen.

First, the National League. The two powerhouse teams in the NL in 2103 faced each other for the pennant. Pittsburgh vs. Houston. Both teams were very good at home. Houston was 53-28, Pittsburgh was 51-30. So what were the chances that all seven games would be won by the road team? Not very good. But that's what happened.

There was already one wild game in the NLCS, Game 4. Houston scored a run in the top of the ninth to avoid defeat, then went on to score three more in the fourteenth to win 9-7. But that was nothing compared to Game 7. Houston led 5-3, poised to end the home teams' drought and clinch a World Series berth. But Pittsburgh proceeded to score nine runs to win 12-5. That basically sums that up.


Then there was the ALCS. Seattle vs. Hartford. The Hartford Whalers, perhaps emotionally wasted from their emotional high when they erased a 3-0 series deficit versus Kansas City, fell behind in the series 3-0 against the Mariners. Seattle now improved their postseason record to a perfect 7-0. There was no way that they could fail to reach the World Series. And even thinking that the Whalers could do the impossible again was, well, unthinkable.

Game 4 in Seattle. The Whalers trailed 5-4 going to the eighth. It's all over, right? Wrong. The Whale scored two in the eighth and one in the ninth to stave off elimination and win, 7-5. Let's move to Game 5. Tied 1-1 in the sixth on the road, the Whale still weren't ready to go home for the winter and scored five runs in the last three innings to win 6-2. That made the Whalers 5-0 in elimination games.

As a Hartford Whalers fan, I am happy to say that the memory of Game 6 of the 2103 ALCS will live on forever for the good people of Connecticut. The hockey Hartford Whalers, more than a century ago, had suffered brutal defeats to the rival Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins. Furthermore, the city of Hartford suffered a crushing blow when they lost their beloved NHL team to Raleigh, North Carolina, of all places. Nine years later, the Carolina Hurricanes (some people from Connecticut call them the Whalercanes) won the Stanley Cup. Despite this, Hartford was getting poised to become the new home of the New England Patriots, only to have their owner, Robert Kraft, screw Hartford. He ended up building a new stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and the Patriots went on to win three Super Bowls shortly thereafter.

The baseball Hartford Whalers were determined to give the people of Connecticut a gift that they would never forget.

So we come to Game 6 back in Hartford. Seattle jumped out to a 4-0 lead after four innings and led 4-1 going to the bottom of the ninth. The people of Seattle were ready to celebrate an AL Championship, and the Whalers' luck had finally run out. The Hartford fans were getting ready to give their team a standing ovation for all of the resiliency that they had shown, despite the fact that their dream of seeing their team in a World Series was coming to an end. Let's go to the bottom of the ninth: Seattle with a 4-1 lead.

1st batter: Triple
2nd batter: Strikeout. One out.
3rd batter: Fly out. Two out.
4th batter: First pitch, Two-run home run. Seattle leads 4-3.
5th batter: 1-0 count. Single.
6th batter: 3-1 count. Ball four. Runners on 1st and 2nd.
7th batter: 1st pitch. Single. Runner from 2nd scores. GAME TIED 4-4!
8th batter: Walk. Bases loaded.
9th batter: Strikeout. Inning over.

The Whalers had by some miracle, avoided elimination again. Down to their last out, down by three runs. The game stayed tied until the 14th. Seattle scored two runs to lead 6-4. The miracle Whalers were finished again. But miracles don't die, do they? Let's go to the bottom of the 14th:

1st batter: Single
2nd batter: Fly out. One out.
3rd batter: Single, runners on 1st and 3rd.
4th batter: Double. One run scores, tying run at 3rd, winning run at 2nd. Seattle leads 6-5.
5th batter: Single. Two runners score. HARTFORD WINS 7-6!!!!

The whole city of Hartford and state of Connecticut jumped and screamed with jubilation and exhilaration. The Hartford Whalers had done the impossible again, and somehow forced a Game 7. There was no doubt in anybody's minds that they would win that game. The Seattle Mariners were dead and played like it. The Whalers completed their 2nd miraculous series comeback with a 3-0 victory and clinched a birth in the World Series. It doesn't even matter if they lose the World Series. What the Whalers just accomplished is better than winning ten World Series in a row. I just wonder how the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners are going to come back from this.


So two teams who have no right being in the World Series are facing against each other. The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Hartford Whalers. Stay tuned to see what happens. And don't even try to predict this. You can't.