The date is October 10th, 2019. Gerrit Cole steps onto the mound at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas for Game 5 of the American League Division Series. Cole’s mission is to defeat Tyler Glasnow and the Tampa Bay Rays. The reward for a victory is the opportunity to face the New York Yankees in the ALCS.
Tonight, Gerrit Cole finds himself in an strangely similar situation. It is October 9th. Cole is set to face Glasnow and the Rays in a decisive Game 5 once again. The result of a victory, however, will be exactly the reverse of what the result was a year ago.