World Series Game 5.5: Just Plain Weird

I am the last person on earth to say that the world series should have been decided by a rain-shortened game, but the turn of events that have lead to a 3.5 inning shootout to determine the winner of game five on Wednesday night is a bit weird to say the least.

First of all, the game should have been stopped after five innings were complete.  If it were any other game at any other time, it would have been called at the end of the fifth inning.  The only reason it wasn't was because the Rays were trailing.  I am not saying Bud Selig, the Commissioner of baseball, wants the Rays to win the Series.  I am saying that he didn't want the Phillies to be ahead when the game was called.

If he and the umpires had called the game after the fifth inning ended, he would have had to answer all kinds of questions about why he would allow the game to be suspended and continued when, under normal circumstances, a game is considered complete after five innings.

Of course his answer would have been that a World Series game requires special treatment.  Selig knew that answer wouldn't have been good enough for Phillies fans, so he allowed the game to play into the top of the sixth when it clearly shouldn't have.  When the Rays tied the game at two runs apiece, Selig's prayers were answered.  Now, the game was tied and the logical thing to do was to suspend it and continue it another day.

For the fans this works out great for many reasons.  But is it really a fair assesment of who ends up winning our World Series?

The entire game has been completely interrupted and must now start over.  Essentially, like sudden death in football or a shootout in hockey, the team that comes up with one lucky hit or one small hot streak can win the 3.5 inning game.  There are all kinds of ifs that will never be answered. 

The Rays may very well have won the game if there were no rain and the Phillies may have hung on to win the World Series.  We will never know.  No matter what happens with game 5.5 tonight, the World Series this year will feel sort of tainted.  It won't really feel like a basebal game decided the winner.  It will feel more like Mother Nature stepped in and changed the outcome for better or worse, depending on who you are rooting for.