Classic game six makes tough act to follow

Too often, we get caught up in a moment and definitively declare it 'the greatest' or provide an assessment that disregards unbelievable moments of the past. It's an easy trap- excitement amplifying a moment's place in your own history. 

However, it's safe to say that two nights in baseball's past two months will not fall victim to postgame hyperbole when it comes to standing the test of time. 

As the epic final night of the baseball season came down to heart-wrenching moments in three ballparks, analysts proclaimed it 'the greatest final day in baseball history.' 

That's a large statement, considering the game's earliest origins date back a couple centuries. 

But there was something innately exceptional about that night, the comeback of the Rays, collapses of the Sox and Braves.


The 'forgotten' team that night was the St. Louis Cardinals. They made easy work of the Astros and were forced to play a waiting game on the Braves. 

Last night, though, it was St. Louis who provided the spell-binding and historic heroics. Down to its last strike twice...trailing five times...backs against the wall in the 9th and 10th innings of a World Series elimination game. There's no exaggerating the significance of David Freese's walkoff shot to deep center in the 11th inning. 

It's one of the World Series' most classic moments. Game six of the 2011 World Series will go down as one of the best of the past two decades and all-time. That's no hyperbole.

Some moments are just too seeped in drama and impossible circumstances coming to fruition to not recognize their long-term value. 

Now, game seven will have a tough act to follow. Pitching staffs are burnt out, key players injured on both sides. There are plenty of penultimate games in sports and baseball history that overwhelmingly overshadow the final act.


The Miracle on Ice was a semifinal.   

Bill Buckner. Mookie Wilson. Ray Knight. All famous for game six of the 1986 World Series.

Carlton Fisk doing his darndest to wave the ball fair for the game-winning homerun that beat the Reds in game six of the 1975 World Series. The Reds won the series in seven.

Exceptions do exist where the seventh game matches or exceeds its predecessor.   

Kirby Puckett's 11th inning walkoff in game six of the 1991 World Series forced a game seven that was even more incredible. Jack Morris outdueled John Smoltz, pitching 10 shutout innings in one of the World Series' iconic pitching performances. 

The Lakers beat the Pistons in game six of the 1988 NBA Finals by just a point and then won the NBA title two days later by three, both closely contested battles and Lakers wins with their backs against the wall. 

It won't be surprising to see a sluggish game seven tonight in St. Louis. Most of game six was quite sloppy, a combined five errors committed. But no matter what happens tonight, the Cardinals' scrappy game six comeback (or Rangers' dumbfounding defeat- whichever way you choose to view it), will forever live on in baseball lore.