What makes baseball so great? The answer to that question really depends on the person you ask. If ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian is answering, though, he’d say it’s because on any given night, you can see something at the ballpark that you’ve never seen before.
On Tuesday, the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers did just that during an exciting game at Miller Park.
The Brewers were staring at a 4-1 deficit as they entered the bottom of the eighth inning. But by the time the game was over, they were heading into the clubhouse with a 5-4 victory thanks to back-to-back homers from Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun.
Back-to-back homers on back-to-back pitches, FTW. pic.twitter.com/hGgltsPwxw
— MLB (@MLB) April 4, 2018
Something tells me the Cardinals are excited to get Greg Holland ready to take over the ninth inning ASAP.
Winning in walk-off fashion thanks to back-to-back homers is awfully cool, but that’s not the rare part. That comes about when we combine what St. Louis did in the top of the first, courtesy of Dexter Fowler and Tommy Pham.
It's been a while since we've seen a start like that. #STLCards pic.twitter.com/dEYdj1sBSw
— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) April 3, 2018
So if you’re keeping score at home, back-to-back homers started and finished this ballgame. That has indeed never happened before.
Tonight's @Cardinals at @Brewers game is the first in MLB history to both start and end with back-to-back home runs. #stlcards #ThisIsMyCrew https://t.co/WxnKzIDY0w
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) April 4, 2018
The Brewers only had a 5.1% chance of winning after Lorenzo Cain went down on strikes for the second out in the ninth, per FanGraphs. And then Yelich and Braun completely turned that graph on its head.
These two squads are only five games into their respective seasons, but it has to give Milwaukee a huge boost since they’ll likely be battling with the Cardinals all year in the National League Central.
Ahead of Opening Day, FanGraphs gave St. Louis a 67.5% chance of reaching the postseason come October, while the Brewers were given just a 16.5% chance. There’s still a wide gap between them, but the Cardinals’ chances have fallen 54.2% after a 2-3 start, while Milwaukee’s current 4-1 record has them up to 26.2%. As mentioned before, though, there’s a whole lotta ballgame left.
The NL Central is going to be one of the more interesting MLB divisions to follow throughout this year. If Tuesday night’s game is any indication, we’re in for a fun ride.
About Matt Musico
Matt Musico currently manages Chin Music Baseball and contributes to The Sports Daily. His past work has been featured at numberFire, Yahoo! Sports and Bleacher Report. He’s also written a book about how to become a sports blogger. You can sign up for his email newsletter here.
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