Normally only one-game tiebreaker games take place on the Monday after MLB’s regular season ends. However, each year there are always some possibilities of a game that was rained out earlier in the season that will need to be made up on Monday if the 1st and 2nd place teams are only ½ games apart in the standings. Yesterday was that exception.

For the first time in 27 years, a team needed to make up a rained out game after the conclusion of the season. In 1981, the Royals and Indians made up a game on October 5. However, this game was to win the “second half championship” after the two month players’ strike. The true parallel to yesterday’s game took place 35 years ago when the Mets, Pirates and Cardinals all reached the end of the 1973 season which a chance for 1st place in the NL East. According to Jason Stark’s column on espn.com yesterday – “The Mets -- who were 1½ games up on the Pirates and a game up on St. Louis -- had just had three straight games rained out in Chicago on the final weekend but had only managed to make up one. Meanwhile, the Pirates still had to make up a rained out game from April against San Diego. So, it was the Pirates who were in roughly the same situation as the White Sox are this year. Pittsburgh needed to win its game at home, and hope the Mets got swept in an emergency makeup doubleheader in Chicago. But the Pirates lost to San Diego 4-3 while the Mets were winning Game 1. And that was that.”

These are the types of games any fan, especially me, should relish – an event that only occurs every 30 years or so. Thus, I headed down to U.S. Cellular Field for the 1 pm first pitch.

Obtaining Tickets
Originally, the Ultimate Sports Wife, her two friends and I were supposed to attend the Tigers at White Sox game on Friday, September 12. Since it rained most of the day, we decided to stay away from the park. The game was eventually postponed. So I called up Nicole’s friends and asked them if they wanted to go (one woman is from Detroit). We arrived at U.S. Cellular Field a little before 1 pm and looked for tickets. I thought tickets would be easy to get for two reasons:

1) The game was just scheduled after the White Sox beat the Indians on Sunday afternoon. Not many people are able to go to a Monday afternoon game on 21 hours notice.
2) It had rained most of the morning. In fact, when I hopped on the red line at noon, there was a torrential down pour – meaning even if fans wanted to go to the make up game, the weather might deter them.

That said, I was willing to pay $5 each for tickets but was holding out for free ones. As soon as we arrived in front of the main U.S. Cellular ticket office, one guy handed me a ticket and walked off. My mind was now set on finding two more freebies.

Most fans did not want to part with their tickets for free which makes sense. We found one guy (White Sox Jim) who was willing to sell us three 100 level seats for $50 total but that was too steep for us (especially since we already had a free ticket). A few minutes later we found a man with another 500 level ticket. He gave it to us for free.

With two free tickets, we were not going to offer any cash for the next ticket. The next one had to be free. After asking for tickets for a few more minutes, White Sox Jim walked over and gave us a 500 level ticket. He said someone had just handed it to him and he knew we wanted a free ticket in the 500 level. Thanks White Sox Jim!

Just as we received our third free ticket somebody commented that the game was delayed at least one hour due to the earlier rain. I asked my friends if they wanted to eat at Jimbo’s – as we had done on August 8 before the White Sox game. However, White Sox Jim mentioned that the Bullpen Sports Bar was a much better spot during a rain delay. I agreed so we headed over there.

The Bullpen Sports Bar
The Bullpen Sports Bar is located under the right field bleachers within U.S. Cellular Field. To get there you should enter through Gate 2 and stay on the ground level. Signs will point you in the correct direction. As soon as we arrived at the sports bar, of course, we found White Sox Jim. We hung out with White Sox Jim and in the bar for the entire three hour rain delay.

The only issue with the bar yesterday, was that the bar ran out of food – guess that’s what happens when you have an unexpected makeup game. However, a hot dog vendor did walk around from time to time.

A couple of nice features of the Bullpen Sports Bar are:

1) You can watch the opposing team’s pitchers warm up. The bar is directly next to the visiting bullpen.
2) For $15 you can sit outside and watch the game. If that is your plan, then it does not matter what tickets you have – it is first come first served. If you arrive at the ballpark early enough, and want to sit outside in the Bullpen Sports Bar, be sure to buy the cheapest seat possible and pay to watch the game from that location.

Another tip on the bar is that it serves alcohol after the 7th inning. So if you are finding yourself in need of a drink post 7th inning and/or after the game, the bullpen bar is the place to be.

The Game
After the three hour delay the game started at 4 pm. The White Sox, who needed to win to force an AL Tiebreaker versus the Minnesota Twins Tuesday night, found themselves trailing 2-1 heading into the bottom of the 6th inning. However, that is when the Tigers fell apart. The Tigers walked 4 of the first 5 batters (Jim Thome struck out) and threw three wild pitches, loaded the bases and allowed Dewayne Wise to tie the game.

Next Alexei Ramirez came to the plate. As I wrote from Friday’s White Sox game, I had seen 6 grand slams in 10 games at U.S. Cellular Field this year. Why should this game be any different? On the first pitch Ramirez crushed the ball into the left field stands and the crowd and the White Sox went nuts. The White Sox now had a 6-2 lead heading into the final three innings. It would take a lot for the Tigers (a team playing for nothing) to come back from a 4 run lead. The White Sox added two runs in the bottom of the 8th to win the game 8-2.

Note: In a minor subplot, Gary Sheffield did not hit his 500th home run last night, which would have been the first 500 home run milestone I witnessed. He will become the 25th player in MLB history to hit 500 home runs with his first home run next season.