Live action — and don't miss the look on Frelick's face at 0:21:3D tracking of Max Muncy's 404-foot "grounded into double play" pic.twitter.com/xWSIvyWb7S
— David Adler (@_dadler) October 14, 2025
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?!?! #NLCS pic.twitter.com/x7BbmJ6hzX
— MLB (@MLB) October 14, 2025
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67 comments:
1-ZIP Dodgers
"Grounded"?
This play will live on YouTube forever. Grandpa's will be telling their grandsons that they were there that day.
Ann was celebrating like the brewers won the world series after beating the cubs and advancing. When you break out the champagne just to advance in the playoffs, as a fan you're saying you know your team doesn't have a chance...
I watched both videos and I still don't understand what happened. The batter was robbed of a homerun by a leaping center fielder. Then a throw to home--was the runner trying to steal home or did he not realize the ball was caught and never went back to 3rd?
In any case, i didn't see any grounder.
Was the CF's play ruled a catch?
What I found truly remarkable was that as great a the Brewers’ defensive play was, it was the umpires who really killed it here. They got every aspect of the play correct, in real time, as it was happening, across the entirety of the playing field. Spectacular job by the entire crew.
wow.
It was considered a "no-catch" because the ball touched the wall. The runners did not know that and so stayed on their bases to avoid being forced out by running ahead. But instead they were forced out by NOT running ahead.
Snell's pitching 8 innings of one hit ball got the Dodgers the win, but that 9th inning exposed the season-long holes in their bullpen. To state the obvious, Snell can't pitch every game. Hard to see either of these NL teams beating that Mariners bullpen.
For those who don’t understand what happened here — the fly ball to center field popped out of the fielder’s glove and then bounced off the top of the wall, which meant there was no catch and the ball is in play. The fielder then caught the ball in the air after it bounced off the wall and immediately threw to the shortstop playing cutoff man on the play. Because the fly ball was correctly ruled a “no catch” all three Dodger runners were *forced* to run to the next base. But they were confused, and didn’t realize the fly ball had not been caught so they remained on their bases waiting to tag up on the (presumed) catch of the fly ball. This hesitation gave the shortstop time to throw to the catcher at home plate to barely get the force out there on the Dodger runner who had been on third base. Meanwhile, the LA runner on second base never moved, which meant that the Brewers catcher could then trot from home plate to third base and record the force out on that runner. Voila, the weirdest double play in playoff history going back to the 1870’s.
A bobbled ball is a catch and constitutes an out. Provided that all the bobbling is confined to the fielder and his equipment. But, if a part of the field was part of the bobbling, and the wall is part of the field, then the hit ball is considered not caught and play continues. Meaning, there was a forced play at every base.
Shoeless Joe - Thank you for the explanation.
Double wow.
Most heads up play I’ve ever seen. Roberts should have benched Teoscar. He takes a lead as the pitch is thrown and just stands there watching a deep fly ball instead of going back to the bag and getting ready to tag up. Billy Martin would have grabbed a bat and beat him for that.
Begley, the center fielder leaped and saved a homer when it hit his mitt. But the ball then hit the wall. So it can’t be an out after that.
I don’t know what Will Smith was thinking. Look for ump to signal an out. If he doesn’t then it’s a live ball.
Too many bat flips and celebrations in baseball. Dodgers baserunners lacked basic fundamentals. Instead of getting ready to celebrate a grand slam get your head in the game.
I suggest appeal to Hawaii judge
All's well that ends well.
I understand the play completely. What I couldn’t understand was how could the runner not make it to home plate before throw. Any ball hit that deep the runner holds the third bag to see if it’s caught (or not caught) and flies home.
Well that was crazy. Amazing how accurate the throws were. Base runners probably thought at first it was going to be a HR, so relaxed, then assumed it was caught. They'll know better the next time - which should be in 2050.
Thanks for explainations!
This is why baseball is such a beloved game. I think it's a little arrogant to criticize the dodgers base runners. People who sit all day long have no concept of s*** happening in real time. It's not as though the base runners for the dodgers are all lawyers with the finer points of the rule book immediately in their mind with perfect vision to see exactly what happened at the wall 300 ft away.
The fact that the umpires got this right is remarkable.
Despite his name, the CF is Italian. As Trump said "We're back, Italians"'
The Dodger runners are at fault there but most of the blame lies with the 3rd base coach- he is there to tell the runner when to leave the bag. If you watch the play and focus on the runner on third, he double tags up which causes him to lose the race to the plate- that is on the coach, not the player.
Props to the umps who knew exactly what happened and how to rule it. Love to see what it looks like on someone's score sheet.
"Yancey Ward said...
The Dodger runners are at fault there but most of the blame lies with the 3rd base coach- he is there to tell the runner when to leave the bag. If you watch the play and focus on the runner on third, he double tags up which causes him to lose the race to the plate- that is on the coach, not the player."
No. Ball was clearly very deep. Guy on third should be tagging immediately on running home on first touch. He will score without a play. Third base coach is not a factor as he would be unseen behind the runner. Guy on second should be able to tag up to and get to third. Again he is looking out to center not toward third. The third base coach only comes in play on shorter fly balls with a man on third and less than two outs. The runners will go part way to the next bag if the catch is in question so they can safely advance if the ball drops in or go back to the bag if they play is close enough to catch the runner off if caught. The third base coach's job is to assist the runner when he is advancing to third, telling him to hold and go back, slide, or come in standing up, or make the turn.
"Howard said...
This is why baseball is such a beloved game. I think it's a little arrogant to criticize the dodgers base runners. People who sit all day long have no concept of s*** happening in real time. It's not as though the base runners for the dodgers are all lawyers with the finer points of the rule book immediately in their mind with perfect vision to see exactly what happened at the wall 300 ft away.
The fact that the umpires got this right is remarkable."
You don't need to know the finer points of the rule book to know what to do on this play as a runner. Runners on both 3rd and 2nd should be immediately tagging up and running on first touch. If the ball is not caught both will score. If the ball is caught guy on third score guy on second advances to third. This is basic. Now this play is a little weird as it would be difficult to tell if the ball was caught or not, but my point is the same, either way you are running and will be safe. They should know that. Basic base running.
As far as the umps, it was easy to get it right once the ump responsible for the call on the catch (second base ump I think, but not sure because they use six umpires in the LCS, might be one of the outfield line umps) saw it hit the wall. No catch ball is in play. Easy from there. Seeing it not hit the wall not so easy.
Curious George- no, no, no. That coach is there to watch the moment the ball is touched and tell the runner to go or hold no matter the distance of the fly ball. He is the third base runner's eyes on plays like that.
Curious George: Guy on third should be tagging immediately on running home on first touch.
Looks to me like that's what he did, initially. But then he saw the ball still in the air (or possibly the 3rd base coach yelled at him), and he thought he had misjudged something and the ball hadn't been caught yet, so he went back and tagged up again.
"Yancey Ward said...
Curious George- no, no, no. That coach is there to watch the moment the ball is touched and tell the runner to go or hold no matter the distance of the fly ball. He is the third base runner's eyes on plays like that."
You moved the goal post. You originally said "when to go", now you are "to go or hold." But that doesn't matter. The runners need to tag up and run on first touch. The 3rd base coach could hold up the tagging runner at second and tell him to go back, but definitely not the guy at third. He is running on his own on that play, at first touch. Doesn't matter if the ball is caught or not.
’…which meant there was no catch and the ball is in play.’
I didn’t understand that part - thanks!
"You moved the goal post. You originally said "when to go", now you are "to go or hold."
Oh, for fuck's sake, George, "when to go" necessarily includes whether to go at all. Watch more baseball tag ups- the runner often isn't even looking to the outfield but is instead literally looking at the 3rd base coach who is usually infront of him and not behind.
The Dodger runner either double taked his tag up because he didn't listen to his coach and depended on his own eyes or the coach fucked it up for him by telling him to come back to the base the second time to tag- in either case it is a coaching error. You can leave the base safely the moment the fly ball is touched by anything in the outfield- the wall, the ground, the fielder's glove or his head.
"SeanF said...
Curious George: Guy on third should be tagging immediately on running home on first touch.
Looks to me like that's what he did, initially. But then he saw the ball still in the air (or possibly the 3rd base coach yelled at him), and he thought he had misjudged something and the ball hadn't been caught yet, so he went back and tagged up again."
You're right. You can't see the runner's actions on the posted replay but I've seen other whole field shots. But the rest is speculation. Coach may have told him to go back, but if he did that's a fuck up. You can advance once the ball is touched by a player, not secured. All I do know is that the guy on third should have just kept going home. He's watching the ball, it's deep enough where he would make sure the ball was touched, he did start to go home. I think he had a brain fart. Or maybe the third base coach did.
Yancey Ward said...The Dodger runner either double taked his tag up because he didn't listen to his coach and depended on his own eyes or the coach fucked it up for him by telling him to come back to the base the second time to tag- in either case it is a coaching error. You can leave the base safely the moment the fly ball is touched by anything in the outfield- the wall, the ground, the fielder's glove or his head."
The coach said he told him to go, not go back.
By the way, it was said that the LF line ump called it no catch, but he probably would not been seen by the runners, or base coaches, because they were looking out to center.
Props to the umps who knew exactly what happened and how to rule it. Love to see what it looks like on someone's score sheet.
It took the umpires 5 minutes to figure it out.
It took me and my Dad 10 minutes to figure it out. "The ball must have hit the fence, and that's like bouncing on the ground. So he didn't catch a pop-up."
I swear, I don't think the commentators ever figured it out. We had five minutes while the umpires were discussing it. They could have run several replays and showed us the ball hitting the wall. They did none of that. After the ruling was made, they just ignored it, and the game kept going like normal.
Meanwhile, the sports media was going mad about this amazing play!
Catchers are the smartest, quickest players on the field. Listen to Yogi. He'll tell you.
Kudos to the catcher, the umpires, and the sports reporters for media. A big thumbs down to the base runners, the third base coach, and the TV commentators.
I'm afraid I was in the latter group for 10 minutes. "What the fuck?" was my mantra. "He caught it. What the hell is going on?"
I feel like that catcher could have made a triple play or a quadruple-play, if he needed it. That's how confused we were. He could have rounded the bases backwards. "You're out, you're out, you're out, and you're out, too."
Reminded me of shit that happens in Little League.
My brother had a team, when the ball was hit, the damn first baseman would run into the outfield and go get it.
Nate Bargatze's inside the park home run
That's part 1, which is funny. Scroll down for part 2.
Well whatever--it was fun to see as I watched game. And being a life long Padres fan, whatever the Dodgers do to mess up is fine with me.
Part 2 is gone. Sorry about that. Apparently, youtube's computer rotates the clips. Annoying.
"Saint Croix said...
Props to the umps who knew exactly what happened and how to rule it. Love to see what it looks like on someone's score sheet.
It took the umpires 5 minutes to figure it out."
It took them five minutes to make sure they didn't fuck it up. The hard part was determining whether the ball hit the wall or clean catch. The LF line called got it right immediately calling safe. From there it was easy. They probably looked at video evidence of the catch/no catch, and the play at the plate.
Scoring also not that hard. 8-6-3 DP I think. Only questionable part was Contreras making the put out at home and third. I don't think you make it 8-6-3-3.
Pretty cool. For some reason it reminds me of the time Jose Canseco had a fly ball hit him on the head and go over the fence for a home run.
I'm not really sure why the catcher ran to third to tag the base instead of throwing. The third baseman was right there. Maybe the third baseman looked as confused as everybody else.
"Saint Croix said...
Reminded me of shit that happens in Little League."
That Bargatze bit is funny.
When I was managing my older son's 8th grade team a player on the other team, with the bases loaded, hit a shot up the middle that hit the pitching rubber, and careened into foul territory between third and home. Our catcher grabbed the ball in foul territory and threw it to first to put out the batter. He overthrew our first baseman and the ball went down the right field line. The runner went to second on the way to third where our second baseman's relay throw got by our third baseman allowing the batter, and all runners, to score. Little league grand slam.
You can imagine the chaos of all the players, parents, and coaches yelling "GO, GO, GO" as all this was happening. All except me. When it was over I called time, went to the umpire (high school kid with little training and knowledge of the rules) and asked him if the ball had touched any player before it went into foul territory. He said no, just the pitcher's rubber. I said then it's a foul ball for strike 2, and the ball is dead. He didn't agree, nor did the opposing coaches and parents, but we looked it up, and I was right.
Few know the rules of baseball.
"boatbuilder said...
I'm not really sure why the catcher ran to third to tag the base instead of throwing. The third baseman was right there. Maybe the third baseman looked as confused as everybody else."
As simple as eliminating the possibility of making a bad throw.
"Curious George said...
Scoring also not that hard. 8-6-3 DP I think. "
Correction: 8-6-2 DP. Catcher is 2, not 3 Doh.
Really and truly, it's plays like this that make baseball exciting. The unconventional stuff that you have to figure out to understand what you just saw happen in front of your eyes.
When I was a kid I saw George Scott hit an in-the-park home run at Fenway. That Big Green Monster makes it a batter's ballpark, and Scott parked one in the corner. He was faster than he looked and beat the fielders, clean.
People blaming the 3rd base coach are incorrect. It was Teoscar's double-clutch that cost the run. From the video Teoscar was on the bag as she should have been and you can see Dino gesturing to go, but he started, stopped and retagged which was not needed. Lip reading for Dino shows that he kept insisting that the told Teoscar to go. This is at least the third mental error Teoscar has made in the playoffs. Most were eventually erased, but all were costly.
Teoscar is a good hitter. But he sucks at defense and baserunning.
Ichiro steals a home run
Unassisted triple play.
I highly recommend
Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments.
Fantastic book. One of the best baseball books I've ever read.
Double slide at home
Apparently, according to the good folks making YouTube videos, if they had tagged up properly, meaning that the were free to run after the tag from the moment the ball touched his glove, whether he caught it on a later bounce, or whatever, they had plenty of time to advance, even if a tag up is not strictly required.
Pine tar incident
You are correct, Jaq. They could have started running as soon as the ball bounced up in the air. Either it bounced off the fielder (meaning it was already "caught" for the purposes of tagging up) or it bounced off something else (meaning it can't be caught at all and they are required to advance anyway).
Speaking of Billy Martin, by the way, when he came down South he danced with my Mom. And she said he was very polite. And he didn't get in a fight with anybody.
Even if the runner beat the throw, there's a good chance the Brewers could have turned a double play at 3rd and 2nd. That would have been even more magical, as the umps would rule that the run didn't score as the inning ended on a force out.
Even if the runner beat the throw, there's a good chance the Brewers could have turned a double play at 3rd and 2nd. That would have been even more magical, as the umps would rule that the run didn't score as the inning ended on a force out.
Even then, they would still have lost the game.
As I predicted, the Dodgers just couldn’t handle the colder Northern night air. It’s that simple.
As I predicted, the Dodgers just couldn’t handle the colder Northern night air. It’s that simple.
As evidenced by their win. In a domed stadium.
"the Dodgers just couldn’t handle the colder Northern night air."
Through eight innings, the Brewers had just one baserunner (a hit), who was caught trying to steal. The Dodgers' starter faced the minimum of 24 hitters.
Looks like whatever it was the Dodgers couldn't handle was a problem for the Brewers, too.
Loving the baseball posts.
Craziest DP ever! The ball was so deep, Teoscar should have just tagged up and sprinted. But, I think the umps in this situation needed to be better about telling everyone it's a live ball because the other base runners had no clue what to do.
End of the day, Dodgers W.
Who's on first?
Dodger junkie since I first saw them play in '58 at the LA Coliseum. Chavez Ravine was still an Hispanic community.
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