September.

It was the sixth inning. Tie game. Two runners on base. No outs. Delmon Young at the plate.

And it didn’t look good.

Chris Sale, the White Sox ace, had made Young look silly in his first two at bats, swinging and missing — whiff after whiff after whiff — giving him nothing but curveballs and change ups. Young struck out in the second inning, and he struck out in the fourth inning, and it looked like he was about to strike out again in the sixth before he even got into the batter’s box on Sunday night at Comerica Park.

And then faster than you can say — Look at this, the Tigers are tied for first place in the Central Division! — Young smacked a curveball over the leftfield fence, giving the Tigers a sweep over the White Sox.

“He hit a rocket,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.

Hello pennant race.

This game had a special feel before it even started. It was September baseball.

Read the rest at The Freep.