As I sit here and write this tonight, the long and winding road of the Major League Baseball season is over…almost. All but two teams have completed their 162-game schedule, with the Mets and Braves playing a massive doubleheader tomorrow at Truist Park. It’s been a pretty wild season, full of highs and lows for just about each team, and a lot of memories made along the way, both happy and painful. In this final regular season edition of Around the Horn, we’ll have some laughs, shed some tears and celebrate some terrific play and broadcasters.
First Base
Mr. Baseball Needs New Shorts: Our final tour of “The Show” begins in Milwaukee with the one and only Mr. Baseball. This clip is actually from two weeks ago, but if you love broadcasters like I do, then you can’t ignore the great Bob Uecker’s postgame interview following the Brewers clinching the NL Central. I’ll let the clip do most of the talking but all I can say it’s worth the watch! Ueck has long been one of the best personalities in all of sports and while I have my own rooting interests in this coming postseason, it would be cool to see these scrappy Brewers win one for Bob this fall!
Second Base
The Wrong Side of History: Move over 62′ Mets, you have been replaced atop the podium of shame! That’s right, the 2024 Chicago White Sox have set the record for the most losses in a single Major League season with 121 losses. It’s pretty shameful to see this franchise fall this far under longtime owner Jerry Reinsdorf who just doesn’t seem to care about this team anymore. Perhaps it’s even harder to fathom that this team just three years ago won their division and had multiple all stars on the roster. But a losing culture and the regression of their core players has led to this group coming apart at the seams. This season has seen a lack of effort, embarrassing play, and poor management in the dugout and front office. I’m not sure how the Pale Hose find their way back to relevance with news of them not looking to increase pay roll this offseason. My heart breaks for Sox fans, though they don’t have it nearly as bad as the fans in our next story.
Third Base
A Shameful Day in the Bay: Thursday September 26th will live in infamy as one of the darkest days in Major League Baseball history as 57-years of baseball in Oakland came to a sad end. We knew the day would come, everyone dreaded it, except for A’s owner John Fisher, who threw away four World Championships, six American League pennants, and 15 Hall of Fame Managers and Players in the name of pure old-fashioned greed. 46,889 fans came out to the Coliseum for the final game, which mostly felt like a funeral as the fans made their final walk across the “Bart Bridge” to the ballpark.
That walk led to their stay of execution as the A’s put on one final show at home, defeating the Texas Rangers 3-2. As Mason Miller recorded the final out, the distractions of the game, from vendors to beach balls being knocked around the seats, and Ricky Henderson and Dave Stewart making an appearance gave way to the sad reality that it was all over. No more Moneyball, no more Zito, Hudson, and Mulder, no more Scott Hatteberg or Ray Fosse in the booth. Former player and now current manager Mark Kotsay addressed the crowd, almost as if he was trying to console him, his players, and even himself in this painful moment.
The A’s place in the baseball landscape has always been a bit odd, especially in my lifetime. Playing in their duel purpose home, that has since been vacated by the now the Las Vegas Raiders. The celebrity of the franchise was elevated 2011’s Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt as A’s GM Billy Beane, and while the film conveniently ignores their wealth of pitching talent, the charm of the story and baseball insider jokes that came out of it really surpassed the notoriety of their players. But, lost in that shuffle was not only a group of talent players that had great seasons in the 2000’s and 2010’s, but historically great teams in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s. Legends of this game wore this uniform with pride and put on shows in Oakland. Few teams offered a more excited brand of baseball from “The Swingin’ A’s” to Billy Ball, to the Bash Brothers, to Moneyball and Moneyball 2.0, no team did it quite like them.
Former owner Charlie Finley wanted them to be unique and they were, all the way to the end. While classic moments will live forever, ultimately, they should be remembered for all those things I mentioned and their passionate fans who really loved this team…sadly too many selfish billionaires never loved them back. Take it away Oakland!
Home Plate
Motor City Miracle: Let’s end it on a high note shall we. And there truly is no higher note than the dramatic turnaround of the Detroit Tigers. For all the things that commissioner Rob Manfred gets wrong about this sport, the fun of the additional Wild Card spots is that it keeps teams in the race that were seemingly down and out of the hunt. The Tigers were exactly that team as they sat at 55-63, ten games out of the last playoff spot in the AL, on August 10th. From that point that on they went 31-12 and clinched their first playoff berth in ten years with two games to spare. AJ Hinch’s group has gotten here because of contributions from everyone on this roster, which only adds to the charm of this team. We all thought preseason that they were probably another year away from real contention but sometimes this wonderful game of ours is funny, and teams just click and never look back. The whole city of Detroit is behind them and the only shame of it is that they won’t get to host a postseason game in Comerica Park in round one as they’ll out on the road, but the city will undoubtedly be cheering them on. In the now iconic words of their fabulous play by play man Jason Benetti, “a city that doesn’t care about the odds has a baseball team to match.”
The Walkoff
While the baseball season isn’t officially over, in fact for 12 lucky teams and their fans, its only just beginning with the playoffs getting underway Tuesday, but the final day of the regular season always feels a bit somber for me. For all the excitement and drama, the postseason provides, it doesn’t quite match the serene fun of a summer day or night at the ballpark. Baseball, in its simplest terms is beautiful for its lack of pace (pitch clock or not) and the humor and community it provides. I love football Saturdays and Sundays, Hockey is my passion, and basketball can entertain with the best, but my love for baseball runs deeper than because of its settings and sights and sounds. While I certainly plan to head to the “Big Ballpark in the Bronx” next weekend for game one of the playoffs, I’d almost rather it be a generic summer Saturday with friends and family to enjoy a ballgame. The clip below from Hank Azaria’s terrific baseball comedy Brockmire really sums it up perfectly, as he talks to his friend and former player played by JK Simmons on his death bed. Nothing better than being a “baseball man” or fan. Thanks for another great summer baseball, until next spring…
You can find Nick on Twitter @YNWA9623, Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our fall of podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. The store is live, and Little Ed has been in the lab cooking up some can’t miss items for you fans. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon!
The Broadway Breakdown 
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