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Beating the Odds

Why Election Day Is Like Game 7 of the World Series

A great drama is nearing its close in our country. The deciding moment is upon us, with potential to change the landscape. Millions of partisans will rejoice at victory, while multitudes on the other side will despair.

We speak, of course, of the World Series.

Tonight the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians play Game 7, an occasion more like Election Day than you might think. In both cases, anything can happen. Odds don’t matter. Neither do reputations or expert opinions.

After all, the Chicago Daily Tribune’s headline “Dewey Defeats Truman” proved to be wrong. That tonight’s Game 7 takes place exactly 68 years since Truman won the presidency underscores the risk in predictions.

In the 1924 World Series, two pebbles affected the outcome just as much as the players did. With the Washington Senators behind 3-1 late in Game 7, a routine ground ball struck a small stone and bounced over Fred Lindstrom’s head, allowing the tying runs to score. Then, even more improbably, the same thing happened in the 12th inning, giving Washington its only big-league championship.

Ten years later, garbage replaced pebbles at the focus of Game 7. With St. Louis leading the Tigers 9-0, the hometown Detroit fans objected to a hard slide by Cardinals star Joe Medwick. They pelted him with fruit, bottles and vegetables, leading then-commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis to order Medick from the game.

Elections can have their sloppy side as well, none more than the one in 2000, when the George Bush-Al Gore matchup wound up in the Supreme Court. This year’s election could turn out even more messy, proving again that anything can happen on the given day.

What, then, can anyone do about the cruel uncertainty of a winner-take-all event? The first thing is to win a best-of-seven series quickly, avoiding the need for a Game 7. It’s too late for that this year. As for politics, candidates and voters alike would do well to give full effort, take nothing for granted and hope that no one throws garbage.

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