Does It All Come Down to This?

Quote of the day:
“Roadkill never feels bad for the car.”
--Carolyn Hax

Well, the San Diego Padres will not be in the playoffs.

They played the Colorado Rockies last night to see who would get the wild-card slot in the postseason. I tuned in in the middle of the game, just long enough to see Colorado wipe out our lead and send the game into extra innings.

I turned off the game in the tenth inning. Turns out the Rockies won in the 13th.

In situations like this, we invariably hear or read a report that includes the statement “It all came down to this.”

That statement has philosophical and theological implications. And it gives me pause. Pause, not paws.

On the one hand, there’s the simple truth that the winner of this one game will go to the playoffs, and the other will not. The winner of the game may be decided in one inning, or with just one pitch.

But “it all comes down to this” has another implication. It suggests that all that has come before is somehow less important than this moment.

The reality is different, of course. If any previous game had turned out differently, San Diego would not even be playing Colorado to break their tie. If they had won one more game, or lost one more game, they wouldn’t be in it.

In a close game, if one pitch had been a bit different, the outcome of the game may have been different. And yesterday would have been different.

So we could say that “it all came down to” any one of those pitches in any one of those close games. They were all important.

But, heck. We love these dramatic moments. And it’s all entertainment anyway.

Though I’m not especially entertained by the Padres losing.