Bat & Box

October has its own front page. In the postseason the night’s games still lead, and below them the page becomes the series they belong to: where every series stands, this one game by game, and how it stood when each game began. When a series is level with one game left, the page says so — “Win or go home” — whether it is a seventh game, a fifth or a third, with the deciding games that came before it a tap away. These two clubs in October: every time they have met before, who won, and how many titles each one has. What the archive knows about a series shaped like this one — how often a club leading 3–1 has held on, how often the home team wins a deciding game, how long series in this round tend to run. October’s own record book: the most postseason home runs, the most strikeouts, the lowest ERA. Every name is a door. Walk the date strip back to any October and the page stands up the same way, as the series stood that night. Game three of 1991 does not know who won game seven. Ask follows the season. In October, the suggested questions are about the series being played. A short day is still a front page. One game no longer leaves the screen empty beneath it: this date in history and a question box follow the day’s games, every day. Games that survive only as a final score no longer appear in lists. They still count in the standings; they just no longer open to an empty box score.