2007 National League Wild Card tie-breaker game
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Date | October 1, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Venue | TBS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TV announcers | Don Orsillo and Joe Simpson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Radio | ESPN XEPRS (SD) KOA (COL) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Radio announcers | ESPN: Dan Shulman and Dave Campbell XEPRS: Ted Leitner and Jerry Coleman KOA: Jeff Kingery and Jack Corrigan |
The 2007 National League Wild Card tie-breaker game was a
The game was necessary after both teams finished the season with identical win–loss records of 89–73. The Rockies won a coin flip late in the season, which awarded them home field for the game. Upon winning, the Rockies advanced to the NL Division Series where they swept the Philadelphia Phillies. After advancing, they swept the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL Championship Series, winning their first pennant in franchise history. However, the Rockies were, in turn, swept in the 2007 World Series by the Boston Red Sox, ending their season. In baseball statistics the tie-breaker counted as the 163rd regular season game for both teams, with all events in the game added to regular season statistics.
Background
The 2007 season saw heavy competition between the Padres and the Arizona Diamondbacks for the National League West Division title. The Padres spent 52 days with at least a share of the lead, while the Diamondbacks spent 89 total days atop the division and ultimately won by a game with a record of 90–72.[1][2] The Rockies spent just three days, last on April 6, with a lead in the division.[3] Notably the Diamondbacks scored 20 fewer runs than their pitchers allowed,[2] one of just five teams in MLB history to make the playoffs despite being outscored during the season.[4]
In addition to the divisional race, the competition over the wild card continued to the last day of the season. Six teams in the 2007 National League finished within five games of one another: the aforementioned Diamondbacks, Padres, and Rockies along with the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, and Chicago Cubs.[5] The Diamondbacks, Phillies, and Cubs won the West, East, and Central Divisions respectively.[5] Meanwhile, the 2007 Mets underwent what was described in The New York Times as "one of the biggest collapses in baseball history", becoming the first team with a seven-game divisional lead with only 17 games remaining to finish outside of first place, losing the East Division to the Phillies on the final day of the season.[6][7] Also, at 88–74, the Mets finished a single game behind the Rockies and Padres' 89–73 record in the wild-card race.[8] Had the Mets defeated the Marlins in their final game of the regular season and no other results changing, there would have been a tiebreaker between the Mets and Phillies for the NL East, and the loser taking part in a three-way tiebreaker for the NL wild card with the Padres and Rockies respectively.
While the Padres had been a consistent presence amongst the league's top teams during the 2007 season, the Rockies finished the first half with a .500 record of 44–44.[1][3] They propelled themselves into the wild-card race, however, by going 46–29 in the second half of the season including a Rockies' season-best 11-game winning streak from September 16 through September 27 and ultimately tied the Padres regular season record.[1][3] With the Rockies and Padres holding the best non-division winning records in the league[5] a tie-breaker was necessary to determine the wild-card winner. A coin flip conducted earlier that September set the Rockies' home park of Coors Field as the location for the game.[9]
Game summary
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||
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San Diego Padres | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 15 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
Colorado Rockies | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 14 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
WP: Ramón Ortiz (5–4) LP: Trevor Hoffman (4–5) Home runs: SD: Adrián González (30), Scott Hairston (11) COL: Yorvit Torrealba (8), Todd Helton (17) Attendance: 48,404 |
The
The score remained the same through the fourth inning. Fogg was relieved by
The game remained tied until the top of the 13th inning when Giles singled off of
Controversy
During the final play Padres catcher
Aftermath
Colorado's win clinched the team's second post-season berth in franchise history,[19] and the first for their first baseman Todd Helton.[14] The Rockies swept the Phillies in the 2007 National League Division Series and the Diamondbacks in the 2007 National League Championship Series (NLCS) to win the franchise's first National League pennant.[14][20] This streak, in combination with the Rockies performance at the end of the season, meant the Rockies had won 21 of their last 22 games.[21] The last National League team to win 20 of 21 games at any point in the season were the 1936 New York Giants.[21] The Rockies also opened the playoffs with seven straight wins, the 1976 Cincinnati Reds were the only other team in major league history to do so.[21] The Rockies moved on to the 2007 World Series with their NLCS win, where they were swept by the Boston Red Sox.[20]
The game counted as a regular season game in
Conversely, while the Rockies enjoyed a run to the World Series, and have qualified for the postseason three subsequent times since this game (2009, 2017, and 2018), the Padres would not make the playoffs until 2020, thirteen years later.
References
- General
- "October 1, 2007 San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies Box Score and Play by Play". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- Specific
- ^ a b c "2007 San Diego Padres Schedule, Box Scores, and Splits". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ a b "2007 Arizona Diamondbacks Schedule, Box Scores, and Splits". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ a b c "2007 Colorado Rockies Schedule, Box Scores, and Splits". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Posnanski, Joe (September 22, 2009). "Tigers-Twins in AL Central is best in weak year for playoff races". Sports Illustrated. SI.CNN.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ a b c "2007 National League Standings & Expanded Standings". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Shipigel, Ben (October 1, 2007). "Mets Complete Stunning Collapse". The New York Times. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Bodley, Hal (October 1, 2007). "Mets' collapse helps Phillies forget '64". USA Today. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "2007 New York Mets Schedule, Box Scores, and Splits". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Singer, Tom (September 7, 2007). "Coins flipped for tiebreaker scenarios". MLB.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Knisley, Michael (September 30, 2007). "Rockies have Fogg-y outlook on facing Peavy". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "Dragon Slayer: Rockies pitcher Josh Fogg enjoys painting of himself hanging in locker". USA Today. Associated Press. October 13, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ a b Moss, Irv (October 2, 2007). "Bests, worsts & numbers from Monday's tiebreaker". The Denver Post. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ a b c "October 1, 2007 San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies Box Score and Play by Play". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ a b c "Rockies tag Hoffman for 3 in 13th to lock up wild card". ESPN.com. Associated Press. October 1, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "Playoff Tiebreakers". MLB.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2010. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Bloom, Barry (October 2, 2007). "Rocky horror becomes heroics". MLB.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Passan, Jeff, Twenty-one wins, 21 reasons, Yahoo! Sports, October 17, 2007. Accessed 2009-03-10. Archived 2009-05-16.
- ^ a b Kiszla, Mark (October 2, 2007). "Touching display, or not". The Denver Post. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "Colorado Rockies Team History & Encyclopedia". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ a b "2007 Colorado Rockies Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ a b c Dodd, Mike (October 16, 2007). "Big winning streak puts Rockies in rare air". USA Today. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "Information for Monday's tiebreaker game at Coors Field". MLB.com. September 30, 2007. Archived from the original on March 10, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ a b "Holliday comes through big to take first batting title". ESPN.com. October 2, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Moore, C.J. (October 2, 2007). "Holliday plays like an MVP – as usual". MLB.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "Rollins, who spurred Phils into playoffs, wins MVP". ESPN.com. Associated Press. November 21, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "Jake Peavy 2007 Pitching Gamelogs". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "Jake Peavy Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "2007 National League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "Peavy is 12th-ever unanimous NL Cy Young". ESPN.com. Associated Press. November 16, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ Rooney, Pat (October 16, 2007). "Sure hands + strong arms = winning edge". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved April 12, 2010.