When Prince Fielder stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning during the 2011 All-Star Game, few realized the ripple effect his swing would have on baseball history. With two runners on and the National League trailing, Fielder launched a towering three-run homer to deep center field, putting the NL ahead for good. It was a momentum-shifting blast that earned him All-Star Game MVP honors, and quietly tipped the scales for one of the most unforgettable World Series finishes ever.

At the time, the league that won the All-Star Game earned home-field advantage in the World Series. Thanks to Fielder’s heroics, the NL representative would get home field and in October, that twist of fate would matter in ways no one could have imagined.

After a thrilling playoff run, Fielder’s Brewers met the Cardinals in the NLCS. St. Louis prevailed in six games, setting up a World Series matchup with the Texas Rangers, who had finished the regular season with six more wins than the Cardinals. But thanks to that All-Star Game rule, it was the Cardinals who would open the World Series at home.

The series itself was an instant classic. After splitting the first two games in St. Louis, the Rangers took two of the next three at home and stood one win away from their first championship. Then came Game 6.

Trailing by two in the bottom of the 9th and down to their final strike, the Cardinals tied it with a two-run triple from David Freese. In the top of the 10th, Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer to give Texas the lead once more. Maybe a bit of a stretch, but had the game been in Arlington, that might have been a walk-off home run to win the World Series.

But it wasn’t.

In the bottom half, Lance Berkman tied it again with a single. Then in the 11th, Freese came back to crush a walk-off homer into the night, forcing a Game 7, won the next night by the Cardinals in front of their home crowd.

That home-field edge? It can be traced back to Prince Fielder’s swing in July and this rule becoming a thing after the 2002 All-Star Game ended in a tie.

Without that All-Star Game victory, the Cardinals wouldn’t have had home-field advantage. Game 6 might’ve ended in Texas, and one of the greatest postseason games of all time could’ve played out entirely differently, or not at all. In a roundabout way, Cardinals fans might owe a debt of gratitude to Prince Fielder for delivering the moment that made magic possible.

Jim Rice is the only player to bat twice in one inning of an All-Star game. Happening in the 3rd inning of the 1983 game.