A wild sequence from Finnish baseball takes center stage, showing off a version of the sport that started with a misunderstanding and somehow stuck. A Finnish guy visited America in 1907, watched some baseball, came home, and created his own version. The rules got scrambled. Now in Finland, catching a fly ball doesn’t result in an automatic out—you have to throw it to a base. You pitch the ball to yourself, and you get to choose which of your three swings to keep in play. The base paths are laid out differently, and the fielders have unique spots with no fences.
One play shows just how unpredictable the game can get. A batter smacks the ball down the right-field line—straight into a river. That’s part of the field. There are no fences, just water. A right fielder dives in to retrieve it, hands the soaked ball to a teammate, and the game keeps going. The runner rounds third, which counts as a home run in this sport, and another run is added when he touches home. Apparently, third base is now both a base and a scoring zone.
The crowd went nuts. The runner celebrated, waving his shirt around and soaking it all in. The mascot looked more strange than festive, but nobody seemed to care. It’s clear the rules are different, the setup is confusing, and there’s still excitement packed into every odd play. Finnish baseball may not follow the script, but that’s part of the fun.