Within 15 minutes of wildly exciting baseball in the wee hours of Wednesday night turned to Thursday morning, the Red Sox and Braves had their postseason Wild Card aspirations evaporate like so many hopes and dreams on a baseball diamond.

Heading into Labor Day weekend on Sept. 2, the Red Sox led Tampa Bay by nine games, the Braves held an 8 1/2-game edge on St. Louis, and fans were lamenting the absence of pathos for the first time in the American and National League Wild Card races.

In the end, though there might have been greater pennant-race collapses in Major League Baseball history, never have the mighty fallen so quickly at the same time, leaving the Cardinals and Rays as the Wild Card teams representing their respective leagues.