Did that really just happen?

Am I dreaming?

Seriously, is this real life?

Did the Boston Red Sox lose and miss the playoffs?

Did the Tampa Bay Rays really rally back to win from a 7-0 deficit in the 8th inning against the American League's best team?

Did the Atlanta Braves really blow it in the 9th?

If you told me that, without seeing it for myself, I'd think you were full of it... but last night, all of those questions were answered.

Perhaps what is now the worst American League collapse in baseball history, the Red Sox will not be seeing October unless it's on the television. Ditto that for the Braves, who collapsed just as bad in the National League. The two biggest collapses in baseball history within 20 minutes of each other.

Both teams led by a score of 3-2 in the 9th inning with their All-Star closers on the hill to close it out and send both teams to, if not the playoffs, a one-game tiebreaker.

Both closers imploded.

By the time the 9th inning came around, the Braves already knew that the St. Louis Cardinals had defeated the Houston Astros 8-0 and secured a spot for a one-game tie-breaker playoff, should the Braves be able to hold on and win the game. They knew the Cardinals were hot, finishing September with a record of 18-8. Atlanta's 8.5 game lead (on Sept. 2nd) had fizzled, and the Braves were looking to erase their 9-18 record September failure.

However, things didn't exactly work out that way.

Rookie closer Craig Kimbrel, who led the National League in saves with 46, blew up in the 9th inning, struggling to retire the side and allowing the Philadelphia Phillies to tie the ballgame up at 3-3. The game would go on for four more innings, ending with a 4-3 Philadelphia win in 13 innings after a double-play ground out by Atlanta first baseman, Freddie Freeman. Stunned that they would not be playing October baseball, the Braves gathered their belongings and made the long trudge back to the clubhouse, while the Cardinals celebrated in Houston as the NL Wild Card Champions.

Perhaps what happened in the American League was an even greater shock.

The 2011 Boston Red Sox were supposed to be the team.

They had it all. They had just signed Carl Crawford and traded for Adrian Gonzalez. The pitching was coming together. Jacoby Ellsbury had a season for the ages. The team was destined to meet the Phillies in the World Series.

That worked out real well, eh?

On Sept. 2nd, the Red Sox led the Rays by nine games in the AL Wild Card.

Nine. Games.

It was inevitable. The Yankees were on their way to win the East and the Red Sox would tag along as the Wild Card. No way were they going to miss the playoffs, not with this team.

But, as John Sterling always says "You just can't predict baseball."

If one were to ask what happened to the 2011 Red Sox, only one word, one painful, agonizing word would sum it up:

September.

The excuses of injuries will be thrown around, but truly the Red Sox just struggled, plain and simple. In September, the Red Sox:

• Went 7-20.
• Had a team ERA of 7.28, the worst ERA in baseball.

Enough said.

It was not even foreseeable that Boston would miss the playoffs when September rolled around. What we saw was the greatest September collapse in baseball history.

The Baltimore Orioles have lost 93 games this year.

In the bottom of the 9th inning, the Orioles had a man on second with two outs. The Red Sox All-Star closer, Jonathan Papelbon was on the mound, just a strike away from potentially winning the Wild Card or forcing a tie-breaker should the Rays, who had rallied back to tie the game 7-7 after being down 7-0 in the 8th inning and were now in extra innings, beat the Yankees. The Orioles hottest hitter, outfielder Nolan Reimold, was at the plate with a 2-2 count. Strike three and it was all over.

It was not to be.

Reimold smacked a double to centerfield, tying the game 3-3, and to the plate stepped shortstop Robert Andino.

Excuse me: Robert Bleepin' Andino, as he is referred to in Boston, now.

On a 1-1 count, Papelbon threw the splitter. Andino, a light .263 hitter, was no threat.

Or so it was thought.

Andino sent the ball on a short fly into left field. Red Sox left fielder, and $142 million investment, Carl Crawford, slid for the ball. It looked as if the game was going to extras. However, Crawford never caught the ball, and he would end up bobbling the ball, which allowed the Orioles to score and win the game, sending Boston's playoff hopes in a flux.

Disbelief.

No less than three minutes later (literally, three minutes later), Boston's season was over.

A storm was brewing in Tampa. The Rays had rallied back from being down 7-0 in the 8th inning thanks to a three-run homer from face-of-the-franchise third baseman Evan Longoria and a 9th inning solo home run to tie it up by journeyman Dan Johnson. The game would go into the 12 inning before it was all said and done.

The Red Sox entered the clubhouse at just the right time.

The final score of the Red Sox-Orioles game was posted at Tropicana Field and the crowd went insane. They could do it, the Rays could win the Wild Card and complete the worst collapse baseball has ever seen.

It was only fitting that it was Longoria at the plate.

"I'm just thinking about, 'Wow, did this really happen?' " Longoria said. "When I saw it clear the fence, it didn't seem real."

With two outs and a 2-2 count in the 12 inning, Longoria swung, and sent Tropicana Field into a frenzy with a line-drive home run over the short wall in left field.

The Rays had won it. Their 17-10 September had finally paid off, and they were the AL Wild Card champions.

The Red Sox were going home.

I still could not believe what I had witnessed. I never thought a Yankee loss would be part of the greatest night of baseball I've ever seen in my life. What a night it was. What a season it was.

The playoffs kick off on Friday with the Rays and Texas Rangers kicking off the action at 5:07 in Arlington, Texas and the Yankees taking on Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers in the nightcap at 8:07 in the Bronx, New York.

2011 was one of the most exciting seasons in baseball history and, without a doubt, had the most exciting finish. As for what is to come...

Let the games begin.