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Reliving the crazy final day of the 2011 regular season

Steve Nesius / REUTERS

It might go down as the best night in baseball history.

On Sept. 28, 2011, the final day of the regular season, six division champs were already in the playoffs, and six games with playoff implications were being played at the exact same time.

"Since that night I've watched and rewatched the highlights of those last games of 2011," former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said in his new memoir, "One Last Strike."

On that night, the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox entered in a tie for the AL wild card. The New York Yankees jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the Rays, while the Red Sox carried a 3-2 lead over the Baltimore Orioles with two out and nobody on in the ninth.

Meanwhile, at Turner Field, the Atlanta Braves capped off an epic September meltdown in dramatic fashion.

On Sept. 1, the Braves were 81-55, owning a comfortable 8 1/2-game lead in the wild card. By the end of the season, they needed to beat the Philadelphia Phillies in order to edge out the Cardinals, who won earlier in the night.

Instead, the collapse came full circle, as Hunter Pence delivered the crushing blow in the form of a cheeky single and the Cardinals clinched a playoff spot.

Back at Camden Yard, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon struck out the first two hitters of the ninth. But after Chris Davis hit a double to right, Nolan Reimold stepped up to hit a game-tying ground-rule double.

Then this happened:

After the Red Sox lost 4-3, their only hope was a Yankees win.

However, the Bronx Bombers ran into trouble of their own. With New York also up by one with two out in the ninth, Dan Johnson delivered the biggest knock of his career to tie the game 7-7.

Then it happened: in Game 162, Evan Longoria sent the Rays to the playoffs for the third time in franchise history with a walk-off blast to left field in the 12th inning.

Keep in mind, there was only one playoff spot, meaning the homer effectively eliminated the Red Sox - who at one point led the wild-card race by nine games - from postseason contention.

(Video courtesy: MLB.com)

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