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Baseball Still Matters Especially in St. Louis
Published: 9/29/2011 10:11 AM
Last Modified: 9/29/2011 10:47 AM


Albert Pujols (right) and a teammate celebrates the Cardinals win that secured a playoff berth. DAVID J. PHILLIP/Associated Press

My wife, 30 years removed from St. Louis, still loves her Cardinals.

She loves them even more when they play their way into the Major League Baseball playoffs on the last night of the season.

The Cardinals, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Boston proved why baseball still matters on Wednesday night.

Those four teams went into the final night of a 162-game season all tied with chances to reach the playoffs.

The Cardinals won 8-0 in Houston and when Atlanta lost in 13 innings to Philadelphia, St. Louis grabbed the wild card spot in the National League playoffs.

Tampa made a dramatic comeback over the Yankees to go with Boston's loss to Baltimore to put the Rays in the playoffs.

All of this in the final hours of a season that started way back in April.

That's why baseball still matters.

After six months of games, it came down to four games on the final day.

Baseball, because of the way it is structured, is often a dramatic game.

This is a sport that has lost some of its glitter in recent years as the NFL soared and the NBA climbed past it for the attention of sports fans.

But, baseball has a way of drawing us back in.

My wife hasn't paid much attention to baseball this summer. She wasn't thinking about baseball when the Cardinals were 10.5 games behind the Braves in the wild card race about a month ago.

But, she was paying attention Wednesday.

And, when the Cards go to Philadelphia this week to start the playoff series, she'll take notice.

That's the way baseball is - it keeps drawing us back.



Reader Comments 3 Total

Golden Hurricane (last year)
Nice post John...last night was an amazing night of sports television!
Afleet Alex (last year)
I grew up listening to Cardinal baseball and hoping to be the next Stan Musial. I followed the Cards religiously. Then I went to college and I didn't have the time to devote each day but I kept up. Then I got married, had kids, started a business and their was little time except to catch the score and check up occasionally on the standings. Then, the kids grew up. They had their own lives and activities. I found myself going back to the radio (XM carries every game), sitting by the pool, second guessing Tony, leaning forward as the game's tension grew. With all the changes in my life, the advent of computers and smart phones and the ever quickening pace of life, when I went back to baseball, it was just like it was when I left it. It is a true constant in an ever changing world and for that I love it.
55387 (last year)
Go Cardinals!
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Klein's Korner

Tulsa World senior sports columnist John Klein is in his fourth decade of covering sports. He started his newspaper career at The Daily Ardmoreite in 1977 and moved to the Tulsa World in 1978. He served 10 years as sports editor for the Tulsa World before being named to his current position in 2005. He also spent five years as the Southwest Conference beat writer for the Houston Post. He has won many writing awards and is a former Oklahoma Sports Writer of the Year.

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