The MLB playoff game that would not end finally ended.
Cleveland Guardians right fielder Oscar Gonzalez crushed a walk-off solo homer off Corey Kluber Saturday in the bottom of the 15th inning to knock off the Tampa Bay Rays, 1-0.
The victory clinches the AL Wild Card series for the Guardians and sends them on to face the New York Yankees in the ALDS.
15 innings in, our long MLB Wild Card nightmare is over. Guardians win! pic.twitter.com/gQuTjJcEtQ
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) October 8, 2022
To say this game was historic is an understatement. The Guardians and Rays played the first MLB game in history, postseason or otherwise, to go scoreless into the 14th inning. This went into the next inning before Gonzalez finally ended it off Kluber, Cleveland’s one-time ace.
But as the scoreless innings dragged on … and on … and on, many fans wondered if either team would ever score, let alone win the game. The teams combined for only 11 hits, a remarkable feat through 14 innings.
It gets worse: In postseason history, there have been only five “golden sombreros,” where a player strikes out five times in a game. Two of those players did that Saturday, Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez and Rays centerfielder Jose Siri.
There’s nothing wrong with a pitcher’s duel, but this game went to the extreme. Fans had plenty of time to log onto Twitter to share their memes and other thoughts. Ryan Adams posed a reasonable question: “We just witnessed maybe the best pitching performance by 2 teams in a playoff series … as well as possibly the worst offensive performance?”
https://twitter.com/OhHeyItsRyanA/status/1578857207868715009
The MLB wouldn’t give this series a primetime game
The Guardians & Rays are like: pic.twitter.com/Wh1LHToIdT
— McNeil (@Reflog_18) October 8, 2022
The guardians fan in the upper deck facing the Rays bullpen catcher in the 28th inning pic.twitter.com/umeBWw0QRU
— AdamThaSportFan (4-158) (8-9) (45-37) (@AdamThaSportFan) October 8, 2022
With a first pitch that came four hours later, the Mariners-Blue Jays game has a run before the Rays-Guardians game.
— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) October 8, 2022
The Mariners/Blue Jays game put up more runs in 35 minutes than Rays/Guardians did in over 4 and a half hours.
— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) October 8, 2022
The Cleveland Clinic has updated their main causes for heart attacks:
1. Poor diet
2. Lack of exercise
3. Rays vs Guardians game 2 of the Wild Card
4. Smoking— Michael (@MichaelHook_CLE) October 8, 2022
MLB: “Lets puts the Guardians-Rays game at noon so they won’t play in prime time.”
Cleveland: Hold my beer🍺 pic.twitter.com/6kDhZAlfJF
— JN11 (@j_nejman11) October 8, 2022
