Chase Utley breaks up the double play and Rubén Tejada's leg, a breakdown

What Happened

In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2 of the 2015 National League Division Series, the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers are tied 2-2. Chase Utley of the Dodgers steps up to the plate with a chance to break the deadlock. As Mets second baseman Rubén Tejada fields a ground ball and attempts to turn a double play, Utley comes barreling into second base. Utley slides hard into Tejada, making direct contact and shattering Tejada's leg. "Utley says 'get me out of here,'" as Tejada lies injured on the field. "Tejada breaks his leg, he's never the same player again," the narrator explains. "It's kind of a... you know, it's really sad. He took him, he says it'd take two years to recover from this play." Utley's aggressive slide, which the narrator says Utley "wasn't trying to touch the bag" with, ends up causing significant long-term damage to Tejada's career. The play sparks a heated reaction, with Mets third baseman David Wright "staring daggers into the dugout." Dodgers manager Don Mattingly comes out to argue that Utley never actually touched second base, but the umpires rule him safe. "Zero consequences in the moment," the narrator says, as Utley remains the go-ahead runner for the Dodgers. However, Utley does end up getting suspended for the next two games of the series, though he later successfully appeals the suspension. The play also leads to a rule change the following season, requiring "a bonafide slide" and intent to be safe at the base. In the next season's matchup between the Mets and Dodgers, Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard responds by throwing a pitch behind Utley in the first at-bat, getting ejected immediately. "Now they can't even hit him," the narrator says, illustrating the lasting impact and controversy around this dramatic moment.

this one gets requested a ton it's the

Utley slide it's brought to you by

talking baseball

up the middle DoublePlay ball ends the

inning they don't turn it so the game is

tied

Game two of the nlds Utley went into

second base hard to hottes hurt he

breaks his leg on the play

Utley says get me out of here Tejada

breaks his leg he's never the same

player again it's kind of a you know

it's readily sad I mean he he took him

he says it'd take two years to recover

from this play he split like 80 games in

the last four years and he's never been

the same guy again here's the slide and

you can see that Utley has no interest

touching the back he's just sliding and

aggressive and hard to break up this

play I think even Utley would say yeah I

wasn't trying to touch the bag this is

what I do

i slide hard and I try to break up the

play and maybe I went in a little too

hard I mean just completely takes him

down also didn't help that Tejada was

spinning so like it just added up that

this was wild needed a head for Utley

and the helmet does two and a half spin

so it's a crazy ride for the helmet -

people don't think about the helmet

enough and this this is what baseball

used to be like look at this [ __ ]

nothing got called here at all

that was just good old-fashioned

hard-nosed baseball look at nettles

coming in I mean this is what it used to

be in out Lee's doing a dial back

version of that and it's just kind of

this whole clip shows the evolution of

baseball because that was never really

part of the sport you have some people

yell and scream that everyone's [ __ ]

now but I mean baseball is a skill sport

it's a hand-eye its strategic Utley

looks a little like gosh yet I don't

want to watch this never really in the

nature of the sport was the big

collisions and David Wright is staring

so we have the old collisions then we

have a dial back version and now

everyone's saying that that's the dirty

at play now and we need to change it

even more and they do change the rules

after this David Wright just staring

daggers into the dugout partly because

the slide also because Don Mattingly is

coming out when he's gonna ask the UMP

hey can you review that yeah can you

check his foot we don't think he

actually touched second base and here's

another classic example of the evolution

of baseball before replay this is the

neighborhood play it's an easy out who

cares if he missed by a couple

centimeters but with replay everything

is under the microscope now and that

is safe at second to Utley's like get me

the hell out of here he wants to get out

of there fully his teammates come back

Ruggiano and Heisley are like he didn't

touch the bag he didn't touch the bag

and Utley's like oh [ __ ]

more bad news I feel even worse now at

least that's what it seems like to me

they go the air bag cast on to Tejada

they wheel him out of there he's hurt

careers never the same they changed the

rules after this the next season and

they do say safe and because he's safe

now

Utley is back in the game just chilling

at second base he's the go-ahead run

so like zero consequences in the moment

Aegon hit some home the Dodgers take the

lead

Utley did get suspended he didn't play

the next two games of this series the

Mets won the series then Utley appealed

the suspension and won the appeal

because by rule this really wasn't an

illegal slide at the time they changed

the rule right after this saying it had

to be a bonafide slide and you had to be

going for the bag and your intent had to

be to be safe you can't just completely

avoid the bag and go for the body

anymore so you get a new rule out of

this you ruin a career out of this you

see new rules put in play out of this

this this one play kind of like I said

has the whole evolution and then next

season the Mets see Utley again and they

get their response and they do and

syndergaard in the very first pitch

throws right behind them doesn't hit him

which always kind of sucked gets thrown

out immediately so now they can't even

hit him you've seen this clip it gets

requested a thousand times I can't do

anything to this clip to make it better

than what it is if you haven't seen it

go watch the full thing ass in the

jackpot absolutely phenomenal ok ok

that's some dystonia go watch that full

clip it's amazing this video is brought

to you by Talking baseball it's a

podcast we talk about baseball

What Happened

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