Never mind that it was "only'' a Division Series game, and disregard that it was not an elimination game. It didn't matter that it didn't end either team's season, or that, in the big picture, it guarantees anything going forward.
The Red Sox' 6-4, 13-inning walkoff win over the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday need not apologize for anything. It can rightly take its place with a handful of most memorable non-World Series postseason games in franchise history.
That's how good this was. That's how special.
Put it right up there with Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS, the last time they had a walkoff win in the postseason. Match it with the Manny Ramirez walkoff homer in Game 2 of the 2007 ALDS against the Angels. Or the Game 5 win in Oakland to clinch the 2003 ALDS. This one belongs in that class.
(Maybe, just maybe, let's keep the 2004 comeback against the Yankees in a separate category).
The Red Sox were six outs away from cruising to a relatively normal 6-4 victory over the Rays, with half of the runs scored, to the point, in the first inning. Then, something kicked in. The Rays tied it off Hansel Robles, setting the stage for another couple of hours of tension, momentum swings, missed opportunities and ultimately, the big payoff -- a game-winning, two-run homer off the bat of Christian Vazquez.
Naturally, Vazquez didn't start the game. Naturally, that didn't matter.
And along the way, a sellout crowd, ebbing and flowing, along for the ride, upped the atmosphere at Fenway, again, alive in October.
"These people....wow,'' said Alex Cora. "That was better than Tuesday, to be honest with you. That was fun.''
Fun doesn't begin to cover it.
The Red Sox walked a fine line between being headed for victory and tempting defeat, In two of the last four innings, they put the potential go-ahead run on base to start the inning. Then, in the top of the 13th, they got a lucky bounce -- off the bullpen wall, off Hunter Renfroe, and back over the bullpen wall -- that required a somewhat obscure rule from the go-ahead run scoring.
The decision may well have been arcane, but it was the correct call by the rule book.
With some luck on the side, the Red Sox didn't seem interested in taking any more chances. So, after a one-out walk to Renfroe in the bottom of the inning, Vazquez took care of business for good, jumping on a first-pitch fastball from rookie Luis Patino and sending it into the Monster Seats, prompting delirium in the stands, and with his teammates waiting to mob him, at home plate, too.
It's possible that this one was won not just in the bottom of the 13th, but perhaps, over the final couple of weeks of the regular season.
While the Rays had already clinched the American League East, the Red Sox were fighting for their playoff lives. The roller coaster they rode -- flattened by a Yankee sweep, demoralized by winning just one of three in Baltimore, saved by a season-ending sweep of the Nationals -- may well have prepared them for games like this.
"We knew,'' said Kyle Schwarber," that the last six, or whatever games we played, going down to the wire, the hardest thing was getting in. We all knew what was at stake. We just had to get in. After that, all it was was just going out there and executing and take the result.''
Schwarber made it sound easy when, in fact, it was anything but that.
The Rays did not go easily. They fought back to tie the game in the eighth. They rebuffed the Sox in their efforts to go ahead again in the ninth, 10th and especially, the 11th, when a one-out double from Christian Arroyo appeared to set the stage for someone to play the hero. But that would have to wait.
Vazquez began the game on the bench, with the Red Sox wanting to maximize the success of the Nathan Eovaldi-Kevin Plawecki pairing. But once Eovaldi departed, Plawecki soon followed and Vazquez was in place to provide the biggest hit -- to date -- of 2021 Red Sox season.
This one even had room for levity. Schwarber, having flubbed a feed to Eovaldi in the third inning and charged with an error, got a second chance an inning later. With a far better throw to his pitcher covering this time on another routine play, Schwarber mockingly threw his arms in the air, delivered a dramatic fist pump, and finally, took off his hat to salute the crowd.
NAILED IT. pic.twitter.com/SgO3d3fGWG
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) October 10, 2021
"You've got to be able to make fun of yourself,'' shrugged Schwarber with a self-effacing grin. "It was a good time. I think I got a laugh out of pretty much almost everyone. It's a game.''
Later, it would feel like much more than that. Had the Sox lost, they would have needed two straight wins -- one here Monday night and yet another Wednesday night back at Tropicana Field. That would have been asking a lot. Now, the Sox have set themselves up to wrap the series on Columbus Day. In case, that doesn't work, they'll get one more crack at it on the road.
Instead, they got themselves a game closer to the ALCS. And they did it with a stone classic, a game that will be talked about for a long, long time.
"This is why we come to the field,'' concluded Renfroe. "This is it.''