The Sandman exited his final All-Star Game with some hardware

Tuesday night the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera played in his final MLB All-Star Game at Citi Field. Over his 18 seasons with the Yankee’s Rivera has taken part in 13 MLB All-Star Games, but tonight might be the most memorable. Opting to close out the game because, hey he is a closer, Mariano took the field by himself to start the 8th inning.

American League and Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland took no chances when it came to getting losing Mo a save situation. With the American League up 3-0 nothing Leyland let Mariano pitch the 8th opposed to losing the save situation for the 9th inning.

From there Mariano took the run from the bullpen at Citi Field to the mound all by himself while his theme song played, Enter Sandman by Metallica. The raucous Citi Field crowd showered Rivera with a 2-minute standing ovation which caused the American League dugout to clear.

Rivera retired the side in the 8th and allowed the Rangers’ Joe Nathan to close out the game to seal the win for the American League. Rivera was than honored by Commissioner Bud Selig with the MVP trophy.

In all honesty Rivera didn’t do all too much to deserve the award, but it does make for a great sports story so you can’t be mad at it. Now we should just enjoy the remainder of the year as it will be Mariano’s final season.

– John McAuliffe (@John_Mac310)