Wasted effort: When the 9th inning comeback fails

I started to notice a theme early in the year. A team would heroically fight back to tie a game in the 9th inning, sometimes against a seemingly unhittable closer. It appeared momentum would be on its side. Instead, that team had all its energy sapped with that comeback effort, and it ended up losing the game anyway, sometimes in gut-wrenching, walk-off style. It felt like just about every time a team tied it in the 9th, the team blowing the lead found a way to worm itself off the hook. So I decided to see just how often it actually has happened: 47 times.

Yes, an astonishing 47 times in Major League Baseball through July 25, a team has tied the game in the 9th inning, only to see all that great work go to waste shortly thereafter. There have been 70 such games in which a 9th inning lead was squandered into a tie, and 44 of those resulted in the tying team never experiencing a lead or, therefore, victory. In three instances, a team actually surged ahead in extra innings, but blew its golden opportunity and still ended up losing the game in painful fashion. 59 of the 70 games went to extra innings, while 11 were mercifully decided in regulation.

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The Marlins were fired up after scoring four runs in the 9th to tie the
Pirates on June 13, only to lose in 13 innings. Five times this year,
Miami has tied a game in the 9th only to end up losing anyway.
Photo: Rob Foldy/Getty Images

I personally have always wondered: just how important is the save statistic in baseball, really? Ultimately, the closer is closing out a win for his team, or at least that’s the ideal scenario. But in essence, isn’t he really just saving a win on the stat sheet for his starter? Maybe I’m just trivializing it, but if his team ends up winning the game, doesn’t everything else become minimized – who deserved better luck, what plays should have been made, etc.? Even some great closers this season have been bailed out on rare occasions when they’ve blown saves. Koji Uehara, who saved Boston’s bacon more times than you can count in 2013, blew two saves this year by allowing ninth-inning home runs, but both times the Red Sox walked off their opponent anyway. Isn’t all forgiven? And, for the Athletics and White Sox in those cases, what good was your extra effort and ability to “show heart” when you ultimately lost the ballgame?

Fans love excitement and drama. It’s what the pessimists will tell you baseball is missing. And, perhaps, it’s what the extreme optimist will tell you matters even more than who wins or who loses. (Note: I said extreme optimist, not necessarily extreme fan.) Still, if you are a fan, than isn’t it the bottom line that matters most? Not whether you miraculously dealt Koji his first blown save in 30 chances? Or whether you were the Marlins on June 13 and clawed back for four runs against the Pirates in the 9th (only to fall in the 13th)? Heart is great. Comebacks are nice. Resiliency is a positive trait. But above all? Winning the game. 47 times this year, all of those aforementioned accolades dissipated into a sea of dejection.