On July 23, 2019, the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins began what could end up being called the greatest baseball game ever played. The game had almost everything except a triple play, which the Twins turned in the first inning of the previous day’s game to spark a win in what, at the time, was the best evidence yet this all-or-nothing sort of baseball is going to entertain. They followed it up with quite an encore, which wasn’t even the final game of the series.
The 10-inning game featured six lead changes, 35 hits, 16 extra-base hits, and 26 runs. Only two of the 10 innings ended with neither team scoring, and the Yankees had men on base in both of them. In all, 23 runners were left on base, but there were more half-innings featuring runs scored (11) than not (9). It took 109 plate appearances for the Yankees and Twins to get the 60 outs last night’s game required (1.816 PAs per out). To give you some perspective, when the Twins played the longest game in Target Field history against the Tampa Bay Rays a month prior, there were 135 plate appearances despite the game requiring 102 outs (1.324 PAs per out).
There was rarely a dull moment right up to the final out. The result was still in question until a diving Aaron Hicks landed on the warning track with the ball in his glove, robbing Max Kepler of what could have been his third walkoff hit of the season.
I was so thoroughly entertained for the five hours and three minutes the game required that I hardly noticed all the inaction between pitches and inter-inning pitching changes. It should be noted that I DVR’d the game and skipped commercial breaks, but even as I knew the end was approaching given the time stamp, I had no idea how the game would end right up to the end.
After it ended, I struggled sleeping, not because I was disappointed the Twins lost a game they led 8-2, but because I couldn’t help but wonder what the Twins and Yankees would do for an encore the following day when I’m at Target Field. Even if they can’t top what they’ve done thus far, at the very least, hot dogs will be a dollar.
Major League Baseball should celebrate this game and this series and want it replicated in the playoffs. What wasn’t much of a rivalry dominated by the Yankees has turned into the most captivating baseball ever played.
