On Tuesday, in the American League wild card game, Joe Girardi did what Buck Showalter didn't do 364 days earlier: He managed an extraordinary game with extraordinary urgency.
But urgency is a spectrum, not an either/or, and just because a manager is more urgent than Buck Showalter doesn't mean he can't be too urgent. Did Girardi make the right move? It worked, but could we ever know what the right move is? Consider what Girardi had to consider.
1. Severino looked bad. He threw 29 pitches, and not one of them drew a swinging strike -- this from a pitcher who typically gets a swinging strike every eight pitches.