I know this is about four days too late, but congratulations to Chipper Jones and the 2012 Atlanta Braves on clinching a postseason berth in entertaining fashion with a walkoff, game-winning home run by second year first baseman Freddie Freeman against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night.
You can see the walkoff homer: HERE
The thrilling victory for the Braves ensures that Chipper
will play in at least one playoff game in his final season as the Braves will
most likely be the first of two wild cards in the National League. Despite
being a whopping six and a half games ahead of the second NL wild card team St.
Louis Cardinals with just four games remaining in the regular season the Braves
will be forced to play the Cardinals in a one game playoff next Friday to
determine which team will go on to the Division Series.
I wasn’t a fan of Major League Baseball adding a second wild
card team to each league prior to the season and now I’m really aggravated by
it as the Braves could easily get screwed by the new format. It’s actually the
one game playoff format that bothers me more than the addition of the second
wild card. If you’re going to have a second wild card than the two wild cards
should meet in a best of three series. Anything can happen in a one game
playoff and the Braves will be facing a red hot Cardinals team that has won
nine of its last 12 games. Being the much better team this season the Braves
really don’t deserve the chance to have their run end in this fashion.
I fully understand at this point that Chipper Jones’ career
is either going to end with a loss or with a World Series champion celebration
and I’m perfectly fine and content with either, but if the Braves do in fact
lose to the Cardinals in this new system I will be pissed off. Chipper and the
Braves at least deserve a shot against either the Washington Nationals,
Cincinnati Reds or San Francisco Giants as the fourth best team in the National
League.
Congratulations to Chipper Jones and the Atlanta Braves,
once again, on their trip to the playoffs. Chipper Jones began his career with
a World Series victory in his rookie season of 1995. It sure would be nice to
bookend his career with World Series rings.
You can watching the clinched playoff berth celebration:
HERE
Cute story time …
I knew that the Braves had the opportunity to clinch a
playoff berth on Tuesday, so even though the Braves weren’t on television here
locally in Arkansas I was following the late innings of the game on MLB’s
Gameday. I was attempting to pay attention to the game on Gameday while my
girlfriend, Aprille, and I were watching the new NBC/Matthew Perry sitcom “Go
On” on television. The Braves trailed by a run going into the bottom of the
ninth inning with Chipper leading things off for the Braves. Chipper quickly
led off the inning with a double and then moved to third base on a wild pitch
by the Marlins reliever. When Freddie Freeman took the pitcher deep to
straightaway center field and the flashing home run sign flashed on the top of
the Gameday screen I leapt off of my couch and onto the living room floor and
yelled something to the effect of “Yes!” My girlfriend, who had zero clue that
I was paying attention to the game online while we were watching the show,
looked at me like I was crazy or had lost my mind. She must’ve been thinking to
herself, “Damn, he must really love Matthew Perry.”
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