Rant #1,994: The Winner Takes It All

Once again, during times of crisis, Major League Baseball is there as a healing agent, taking our minds away from the reality of it all, if only for a few hours.

Last night, as the nation mourned the rampage in Las Vegas, MLB provided the nation with something of a Band Aid, but one that was more than welcome in lieu of that tragedy.

The American League had its one-game Wild Card game between the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees in New York's Yankee Stadium, and it served as the right salve at the right time.

Once the National Anthem played--and unlike some ignorant, misguided football players, each and every player on both teams stood with their hats on their hearts--and the game started, there was nothing but electricity in the stadium and in the crowd.

The Yankees spotted the Twins three quick runs in the first inning--Luis Severino of the home team was literally throwing batting practice, only able to get a single out--but the Bronx Bombers stormed back, scoring three of their own in the bottom of the first, highlighted by Didi Gregorious' homer.

Using relievers to get the next 26 outs, the Yankees bullpen crew allowed just one more run for the rest of the game, and allowed the team's offense to really turn it on for the rest of the game.

Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge--who else?--both hit homers against the Twins' bullpen, and by about midnight, the Yankees had won the win-or-go-home game, and now get the "privilege" of facing the Cleveland Indians--yes, the same team that recently won 22 games in a row--in the league division series.

And tonight, there is more baseball, as the Colorado Rockies face the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Wild Card game.

In the aftermath of 9/11, baseball rose to the occasion, providing another salve for the nation after that horrible tragedy.

And last night, as the healing began, baseball was there once again, and also proving once again that while football is truly our national obsession, baseball is and will always be our national pastime.

The football season continues, although with the nation still mourning the dead and injured in Las Vegas, any player who kneels in this week's game really and truly doesn't get it, so I would suspect that while there may be many teams that are arm in arm during the playing of our national anthem, few players will kneel.

Perhaps I am giving too much credit to the Twins and Yankees;  maybe they only put their hats over their hearts to honor the victims of that horrid episode in Las Vegas.

But baseball players seem to be cut from a different cloth than football players.

Many football players are bitter people, who feel they need to use their stage to alert the country to what they consider to be its problems.

Baseball players, generally, don't feel the need to take the focus off the game, although they pretty much believe that the football players have a right to do what they are doing, which, in fact, they do.

But I do believe baseball players understand that their game can act as a healing agent, even if for only a few hours, and yesterday's game certainly demonstrated that.

Hopefully, football players will get that cue, and let the action on the field become the focus of the game, not the protests, which are shallow and misguided to begin with.

We all can hope.