For all of baseball’s magic, grace, beauty, and even drama, it often lacks the all-or-nothing late-game theatrics that other sports have.
Anyone who paired the San Francisco Giants Tuesday night game against the St. Louis Cardinals with some NBA Playoffs action was reminded of how often basketball gives us an all-or-nothing situation: make a shot and you win; miss a shot and you lose. Football does the same, with so many games coming down to a final play: score and it’s over; don’t score and it’s also over.
Baseball offers fewer opportunities.