As writer Paul Gallico once noted, "No game in the world is as tidy and dramatically neat as baseball, with cause and effect, crime and punishment, motive and result so cleanly defined."

The Oakland-Boston series culminated with the A's batting in the bottom of the ninth inning of the decisive game five, trailing by only one run, bases loaded, two outs. An Oakland pinch-hitter took a called third strike to end the game and the series, saying afterward, "I didn't want to swing at a bad pitch." But baseball hall-of-famer Lou Brock years before had summed up that situation: "Show me a guy who's afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time."

The series ended with pain for Oakland fans, and devotees of three of the four teams that remain in the chase will also have to be satisfied with Tennyson's understanding that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.