Randy text

If you had to pick a favorite baseball play of the past 5 years, you could go the “storied dinger” route with the most important swing of the entire Philadelphia Phillies franchise. Or you could go the “impossible chaos blooper” route and select, uh, whatever this is.

I’m picking a different play that I think summarizes the whole nature of the game. It has everything: high stakes, psychic warfare, perfect timing. It’s a high-risk play during the postseason, which is famously played conservatively. It comes from a fresh-enough, young player who hasn’t fully learned their limits yet. And it outlines so much about why I love this game. I’ll link a video at the bottom, but I want you to read this text first, so you have a better sense of what you’re watching.

In game 1 of the American League Division Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox, Randy Arozarena took a walk, and then ended up on third base from another player’s double. So there are runners on 2nd and 3rd. Randy’s on 3rd. In response, Boston brought out a fresh pitcher, Josh Taylor. (This is a conservative move!)

The next at-bat is my favorite play of the past 5 years. During each of the next 5 pitches, Arozarena starts to take a lead from third base towards home. Taylor, however, has a bit of a tic: he faces first base for a few moments, and then sends his pitch. On face, this is probably for two reasons: he is a lefty, and pitchers tend to pick runners off on first.