Bizzarre play in game situation could get even stranger if rain doesn’t go away

SCOTT JACOBS

Baseball has 162 games, so what’s one game really?  How about a lot.

Especially if you’re the Detroit Tigers.  Your season was over.  Your disappointing, incredibly uninspired season was over.  You were ready to go into hibernation, and ponder what the heck happened to the offensive juggernaut that was supposed to run the AL like a Russian mafia.  But that never came to fruition, and you lost 87 games, stunningly finishing in the AL Central basement, behind the likes of the Kansas City Royals!

But you didn’t officially finish dead last.  Not yet at least.  Because a game assumedly cancelled by rain a few weeks back is now the separating factor between the two best teams in your division: the White Sox and Twins.  Minnesota is a half ahead of the Pale Hose, and you, Detroit, have to go to U.S. Cellular to play one more game, even though the season is already over.  This isn’t a playoff game.  It’s a makeup game.

And you, the Tigers, are forced to play it.

Sure, love of the game this, and let’s spoil their chances that, are supposed to be Detroit’s motivation, but I’d be pissed if I was the Tigers.  After a horrible season, where World Series dreams turned to age and injury nightmares Detroit probably just wants to start their offseason already, and forget that this year ever happened.  But because of a goofy situation, the Tigers are all that stands between the White Sox, and a one game playoff.

Yes, this could be the start of a two game in two days ordeal for the White Sox who know exactly what they have to do: win both.  Think of it as a single elimination tournament in the College World Series, only one team knows they have no chance to advance no matter what they do.

So yeah, Detroit can spoil Chicago’s season, and any possibilities of a Chicago-Chicago Fall Classic.  If they lose, the White Sox play Minnesota in a one game playoff Tuesday.

But what if it rained?  So much so that they couldn’t play the game?  Would that push back everything?  How would that work?

I always pondered how something like that works.  What if the Sox win today, but the weather was horrible tomorrow and they couldn’t play.  Would they play Wednesday before starting the ALDS in Tampa on Thursday?  That would hardly seem fair.

And then there’s this: imagine being a free agent on Detroit. Your season is over.  You’re seeking a nice payday in the offseason.  An injury or any magnitude would be devastating, especially in a game that has no implications whatsoever for you.  How do you play the game?  Do you not try as hard?  Do you play it like an All Star game, by giving half effort?

Or do you go all out and treat it like your World Series?

It’s an intriguing question.  Almost as intriguing as the crazy scenario before us.  If the game ever got rained today, could their potentially be a doubleheader played tommorrow against two different teams?

There is no shortage of crazy possibilities here.  Now we get to wait and see how it all plays out.

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