Posted By Jeff Fletcher on September 26, 2010 12:56 pm

Because of the circumstances here today, I can’t help but think back to the final day of the 1998 season, when I was also here in Denver for what was a wild day.

The Giants were locked in a battle for the wild card. On the morning of the last day of the regular season, the Giants and Cubs were tied, and the Mets were one game back. There were all sorts of crazy scenarios still on the table that last day, including that three-way tie that gets talked about every year (including this year) but has never actually happened.

So when the day began, the Giants had a chance to go from Denver to Chicago or New York, for a one-game playoff, or to Atlanta, for the start of the division series, or back to San Francisco if their season ended. I am pretty sure I actually had reservations on four flights, just waiting to see which ticket I’d buy.

Early in the day, the Mets lost, so that took care of one possibility. But then the Cubs, who were playing the Astros in Houston, went to extra innings just as the Giants and Rockies were playing one of their typical Coors Field games.

Obviously, we were all watching the Cubs-Astros game on a television in the press box. The Astros won the game when it was the bottom of the ninth in Colorado, with that game tied 8-8. As soon as Houston won, the Giants had their destiny in their own hands. All they had to do was win, and they’d go to the playoffs, without needing a tie-breaker.

But they didn’t have much time to enjoy that.

Within minutes of the end of the Cubs game, Neifi Perez hit a homer off Robb Nen to beat the Giants, sending us all to Chicago for a one-game playoff. (The Giants lost that one, as you recall.)

I’m hoping it won’t be so complicated this year, although it does make quite a story.