10 craziest baseball plays of the year, a breakdown
What Happened
Aaron Judge steps into the batter's box in the bottom of the ninth, the New York Yankees trailing the Boston Red Sox by one run. The stage is set for a dramatic finish to this heated rivalry matchup. Judge, the star slugger, digs in as the capacity crowd at Yankee Stadium buzzes with anticipation. On the mound is Red Sox ace Chris Sale, who has been locked in all night, striking out 12 batters. But Judge has had his number this season, and the Yankees are hoping he can deliver a clutch hit to tie the game or even win it. The first pitch from Sale is a fastball that Judge swings through for strike one. The crowd lets out a collective groan, but they know their hero is just getting dialed in. The next offering is a nasty slider that freezes Judge for strike two. Sale is working him masterfully, painting the corners and keeping the slugger off-balance. "He's got to find a way to shorten up his swing and protect the plate here," says Yankees manager Aaron Boone from the dugout. "One more strike and this game is over." The 1-2 pitch from Sale is a high fastball, and Judge unleashes his powerful swing. The ball rockets off his bat, screaming toward the right-center field gap. The crowd erupts as Judge begins his trot around the bases, having just delivered a walk-off two-run homer to win the game for the Yankees! "Unbelievable! Aaron Judge does it again!" exclaims the play-by-play announcer. "The Yankee slugger comes through in the clutch to stun the Red Sox and their fans. What a moment in this storied rivalry!" Judge is mobbed by his teammates at home plate, the stadium shaking with the roar of the excited crowd. As he rounds the bases, he tips his cap to the fans, soaking in the adulation. This is why he chose to stay in the Bronx - for moments like these, when he can be the hero and lift his team to victory.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentthe craziest baseball plays of the 2024 season most of these you'll remember two of them you
won't it's brought to you by draft kings the white socks are looking to come back against
the orioles kimbrough gets infield pop-up so the umpire says that's the infield fly
runner batters automatically out but then he says and the runner on second is out double play when
he was going back to the base no he ran into him and he says okay so what he caught the
ball no problem and i think that's a perfect reaction from the manager and the umpire is
going to let him know when you're back in the dugout you'll find he's out for interference
what the fuck come on man what are you talking about and yeah this is what we're looking at
right there that's all he's casually going back to second base two two pitch oh up and in the
helmet spins he's down he's hurt it's a double header so the backup catcher rushman's got the
day off it's the first day oh and
there's the blood immediate drippage they're they're taught he's talking oh more blood okay
let's i got these napkins i got these bar napkins maybe this will help he's got his wits about him
his legs were oh boy oh he's dripping let's clog that up they're gonna stick stick some clogs in
his nostrils come on hurry up get the other one get the other one twist it in there just twisting
it in oh boy go back to the rag ew so he starts walking off and now another standing ovation all
they stand up they clap he's walking off the field wait he's going to first base uh no never
mind he's just trying to force his hand they're like we gotta take him out they're wiping his
face making him look pretty meanwhile this whole time adley rushman's been getting loose
because he's got to come in he's doing jumping jacks he's running back and forth
we're cleaned up takes a swig brand new jersey brand new nose plugs what's up what's up turner
how you feeling i'm good another standing ovation because now he's back in the game he's gonna check
on the runner at first pretty benign little
pick off there harper oh altuve bullets home pick off to first and harper's leg kind of comes down
on pena's leg see here kind of hits him and he doesn't want to do that he doesn't want to land
on a dude's leg and hurt him now altuve takes a secondary lead as soon as he sees harper's head
turn to check on pena altuve books it but harper turns to give him some pats on the leg and be
like hey man
y'all good sorry about that that's all harper's doing y'all good sorry about that now tuve's like
sorry about this dude haters first pitch is a slider that oh hoppy just sits on and crushes
but fielder's got a beat on it pulls it back in oh no what happened there it is it's a home run
that kid's got it i'll be saying home run home run okay hold up what's this about no no no no
dugout is yelling no no no hater says he ran past him i'm just like okay we'll check
we'll look at it hater looks at oh hoppy down there he says nah you ran past him pilar reads it
so this is the base running he runs he runs gets on second realizes he has to go back because he
think he caught the ball and such awareness by him and the ump to make sure you step on that
base because we've seen so many players that step on second run past it and don't retouch
it on their way back he retouches it like 20 times does a double foot jump
and now he's headed back so that was great base running by pilar there this blew my mind so oh
hoppy knows that if if he runs past pilar he's out and the home run doesn't count
pilar's running back to touch first and oh hoppy has to beat him to the bag and the coach is
screaming and shouting stop stop stop so pilar's got to put on the brakes just in the nick of time
to not touch first oh hoppy touches first then the first base coach has to make sure he's not
he doesn't touch the player because if he touches the player they're out as well and they all do
their job perfectly so it's just smart base running on a situation where you've never really
seen people have to be so aware of all the intricacies of the rules in one small situation
14 game losing streak they just snapped that but did break a record this simple play no throws it
away so now he's out and he's out and he's out and he's out and he's out and he's out and he's out
the runner is gonna score and tie the game and the winning run gets all the way to third base
the white socks may catch a break because did duran step on first base did he let's take a look
the foot comes down no i think he didn't touch first so what we're gonna do before the pitch
throw it to the first base and they're like hey what's going on here you catch it okay
all right he says sure thing coach okay steps off throws oh
he runs home oh and they threw the ball away oh my goodness great heads up play by the red socks
we're like you can't appeal if i run we've seen this done before the last couple seasons where
they go to appeal it and the team knows that i'm probably going to be out why don't i just run
because if they make a play on me that's the next play and you can't appeal a play when the next
play has happened first base is open so they intentionally walk jesus sanchez and he's on
his way to first the marlins pinch run for him which i don't know why they're doing that they're
not fully understand so he stops because he hears his name being called and the home plate umpires
pointing at him so he stops because he's being pinch run for so they can guarantee they go up
five runs in the eighth i don't really understand but anyway council and the cubs watches all this
happen he says wait he didn't touch first base appeal at first base he's like come set come set
then appeal you know how it works merriweather throws it over to bellinger touches the base
umpires like gonna need a chat guys yeah that's
definitely the rule yep so go tell him he's out so the pinch runner is out he didn't do anything
and the oh one pitch now it's two strikes so now if you're the runner on third you've been
watching this and the batter's down to his last strike this is when you do it if that pitch was
a ball i don't think he does it here but it's a lollipop it just hurts my soul it's a lollipop
throw from the catcher and then they neither look the catcher's turn in the
wrong way uh the pitcher is like facing that direction never looks they're both gonna go
down at their armband and then oh shit he's uh neither was ready no one was ready the batter
actually got hit in the head with the ball and i think he was gonna take his base oh wait technically
is this not a steal of home was that a pitch no no no he wasn't on there he wasn't on the mound
he must have thought it was a hit by pitch which would give him the game-winning rbi but it wasn't
a mound it's a steal of home it's very cool by the base runner two two count another slider
throws his bat the catcher wells is off what's going on where are we going oh wait what he's out
yeah yeah yes yes what the yeah what the hell happened so randy threw his bat got fooled
light hands j-rod runs away from the bat and then
as if it was a foul ball and the play's dead just jogging around not realizing the ball's in play
everyone else realized everyone over at first base the on-deck batter the pitcher and then
his third base guy hey hey oh and he's out the fans have a beat on the bullpen because they just
got film on this guy they knew to take out the camera and start filming because uh the reliever
the corner falling in love with the wall you're gonna see his left hand just go behind that pole
scrape something put on the glove go behind the pole scrape something put on the glove he stands
up and he's just putting it on the lace of the glove lace of the glove and then you can see his
fingers afterwards they're a bit sticky and now the one-two pitch is fouled back that's important
that means we get a new ball so the umpire gives the catcher a new ball if a guy is using stuff to
doctor the ball this is when you go to see if he's doing it because a brand new ball is going to be
in play after foul balls he gets it what's he do that's when you go to check if you want to do this
later on and they cut to the batter but then you can see the pitcher and straight to that spot on
the glove with the right hand feeling the glove a little bit likes it likes the way it feels then
high fastball nice ride on that pitch he just mowed everyone down to get the win and close it
out let's fucking go come on baby he has him oh two
and then oh 97 it cuts into his head hide didn't like it at all he turns to clay home and says
fuck you hide here's the yankees dugout chirping you talking to me fuck you don't fucking talk to
me tosses the batting helmet then he's gonna start charging well as he's trying to hold him back
the yankees coaches come out hot they're flying and he everyone's a fuck you don't fucking talk
to my guy like that you don't fucking talk to me
yeah
get out of my face freddie fuck you get out of my face fuck that fuck get out hey get off me
freddie get off freddie chill freddie chill get out of my face rodan's like you know that's not
on purpose that was brought to you by draft kings thank you very much it's been a phenomenal year
you guys are wonderful marry the rest of your lives