A startling rally by the Tampa Bay Rays, a season saved by a guy hitting only .108. A total collapse by the Boston Red Sox, on one more ball that just got away.
Another big win by Chris Carpenter and the St Louis Cardinals. Another near-miss for Chipper Jones and the Atlanta Braves.
A frenzied finish all over the majors last night, more than any fan could have asked for. And it is not even October yet.
"One of the greatest days in baseball history," the New York Yankees' Mark Teixeira said.
And imagine this; Teixeira's team lost.
The final day of the regular season had already shaped up as a wild one, with the play-off picture still a blur. Boston and Tampa Bay tied for the AL wild-card spot, Atlanta and St Louis even for the NL wild-card slot, not a single post season pairing set.
As things turned out, it took at least three television screens to watch what followed.
"I think it's really good for baseball," the Red Sox manager Terry Francona said, much earlier. "Not so good for my stomach."
Minute by minute, inning by inning, the races took shape, only to then suddenly fall apart. But when Evan Longoria hit his second home run of the game, connecting after midnight at Tropicana Field in the 12th inning to lift the Rays over the Yankees 8-7, everything was all set.
Tampa Bay at Texas on Friday in Game 1, Detroit visiting the Yankees that night in the opener of their AL play-off series.
"I can barely breathe, to be honest with you. It doesn't seem real," Longoria said.
St Louis begins their best-of-five matchup at Philadelphia on Saturday, with Arizona at Milwaukee opening the same day.
"Even though we were in the play-offs, it's been exciting still just knowing you're making it and you still had to play for home field," the Brewers ace Zack Greinke said. "It was good."
So, no one-game tiebreakers needed. Pretty nifty way to wrap up things, too, under the current post season format. Next year, it's expected that each league will produce a pair of wild-card teams.
The Red Sox will have all winter to lament how they lost.
Boston held a nine-game lead over Tampa Bay on the morning of September 4, but finished 7-20. The Red Sox became the first team to miss the post season after holding that large of a lead entering September.
Closer Jonathan Papelbon took a 3-2 lead into the ninth at Camden Yards and struck out the first two batters and was later one strike away for ending it. But Chris Davis and Nolan Reimold followed doubles that tied it and Robert Andino hit a single that sliding left fielder Carl Crawford could not quite glove to win it for the Orioles 4-3.
The ball that escaped Crawford was much harder to field than the one that rolled under Bill Buckner's glove so many years earlier, but no doubt Red Sox fans will cringe at the memory of both.
The Rays, meanwhile, rallied from a 7-0 deficit, tying the Yankees on pinch-hitter Dan Johnson's solo homer with two outs in the ninth inning. A roar erupted at Tropicana Field when the Boston loss was posted on the scoreboard. Four minutes later, Longoria homered barely inside the left-field foul pole.
The Cardinals, who trailed the Braves by 10 games before play on August 26, made it easy on themselves as Carpenter pitched them to an 8-0 win at Houston.
An hour or so later, St Louis was in the play-offs when the Braves blew it. Philadelphia nicked closer Craig Kimbrel for a tying run in the ninth and won 4-3 in the 13th at Turner Field.
"This is tough," the Braves catcher Brian McCann said. "This is one of the worst feelings I've ever had coming off a baseball field."
