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<\/p>\nAll of this really happened during the Strange But True baseball season of 2025.<\/p>\n
A 404-foot rocket to the center-field fence somehow turned into a \u201cground-ball\u201d double play. \u2026 Then there was the Strangest But Truest walk-off ever, complete with a guy running off the bench and slamming into the dude about to score the winning run.<\/p>\n
Oh, and how \u2019bout the pitcher who this October struck out a hitter whom he never threw an actual pitch to.\u00a0\u2026 And let\u2019s not forget a home run \u201ctrot\u201d that went on for so long that the big bopper who hit the blast saw half his team\u2019s infield get ejected before he\u2019d made it to home plate.<\/p>\n
And why would I mention all that? Because it\u2019s time once again for that end-of-year extravaganza you\u2019ve been eagerly waiting. Happy Strange But True Feats of the Year column to all who celebrate!<\/p>\n
This is just Part 1 of our annual Strange But True extravaganza. So let\u2019s kick this off with all the strange, the true and the mind-boggling \u2026<\/p>\n
Stuff I can\u2019t believe happened this year!<\/p>\n
\n Francisco Lindor\u2019s Mets started the season 45-24 (.652). They ended it 38-55 (.409). (Tomas Diniz Santos \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Mets\u00a0were once 21 games over .500, after only 69 games \u2026 and didn\u2019t even make the playoffs. So how many other National League teams in the wild-card era have gotten that far over .500 that early (or earlier) and not showed up in the postseason? Yup. Not one! And no team in either league has done it since the arrival of multiple wild-card teams in the AL and NL (in 2012). (Hat tip: Baseball Reference\u2019s Kenny Jackelen.)<\/p>\n
The Guardians\u00a0were 15 1\/2 games out of first place in July \u2026 and 10 games out with 21 to play. Not to mention \u2026 they still had a losing record on Sept. 4 \u2026\u00a0and even lost 10 games in a row at one point in June\/July. Then, of course, with a little assistance from their friends in Detroit,\u00a0they\u00a0still won their division.\u00a0So how many teams have ever done all of that? None is always a fantastic guess.<\/p>\n
The Rays lost a 22-8 game! That was June 27 in Baltimore. You know what their record was in their next 30 games? How \u2019bout 8-22!<\/p>\n
The Red Sox\u00a0had the most d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu season ever. They gave up home runs to men named Yastrzemski (Mike) and Devers (Rafael). And they even got to bat against a \u201cpitcher\u201d named Clemens (Kody*).<\/p>\n
(*not an actual pitcher)<\/p>\n
Ever heard of an 8-minute, 52-second home run trot?\u00a0Speaking of Devers, he actually had one of those on Sept. 2, thanks to a wild, mid-trot, bench-clearing brouhaha<\/a> instigated by the pitcher who allowed that epic first-inning home run, the Rockies\u2019 Kyle Freeland.<\/p>\n It was Devers\u2019 16th homer since his trade to the Giants. That \u201ctrot\u201d trot took almost two minutes longer than the other 15 combined.<\/p>\n A home run by Rafael Devers led to a benches-clearing brawl between the Giants and Rockies.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5 @NBCSGiants<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Z0dTSGeeLx<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 The Athletic (@TheAthletic) September 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The Giants spun their infield through a Cuisinart!\u00a0In a related development, two of Devers\u2019 teammates, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman, got ejected from that game<\/a> before Devers could even finish his home run trot. And that introduced even more chaos into this fracas.<\/p>\n Devers, you see, was only the second batter of the game. So thanks to those ejections, it meant the Giants got\u00a0zero plate appearances\u00a0that night from the two guys who were penciled into the 3 and 4 holes in the lineup.<\/p>\n Plus, it meant that by the time the Giants took the field in the first inning, they ran an infield out there where literally nobody on the lineup card was playing the position they were supposed to play. Want to take a stab at how many games in the last half-century have featured any of that? Right you are. That would be none.<\/p>\n Jeff Hoffman defied every rule of mathematics\u00a0with an Aug. 10 outing for the Blue Jays that went like this: 2\/3 innings pitched \u2026 five walks \u2026\u00a0and zero runs allowed.\u00a0Oh, and one more thing:\u00a0He was the winning pitcher!<\/p>\n Man, what was up with that? His outing went: walk, walk, pop-up to end the eighth inning, then walk, walk, sac bunt, walk,\u00a0emergency pitching change.\u00a0So one of the two outs was a bunt! And in between, there was an Ernie Clement home run that added the \u201cWP\u201d bonus points.<\/p>\n Wow. So how many pitchers in history have walked five hitters in less than an inning without allowing at least one of them to score? Once again, nada\u00a0is the perfect guess.<\/p>\n More fun with math!\u00a0Does it also seem mathematically impossible to get five outs\u00a0on two pitches?\u00a0Not to those Brooklyn Cyclones of the High-A South Atlantic League. On June 15, they did exactly that: Ended the ninth inning with a triple play \u2026 then (Zombie Runner alert!) inherited a bonus runner and turned a double play on the first pitch of the 10th inning.<\/p>\n Six of one and, uh, none of the other.\u00a0Did I say there would be no math? Nope! So let\u2019s hear it for Beloit Sky Carp outfielder Emaarion Boyd. On April 9, in the always-lively High-A Midwest League, he stole six bases in one game \u2026 despite the slight technicality that he didn\u2019t get any hits.\u00a0Naturally, it took him until his 26th game of the season to roll up six steals in games where he actually did get a hit!<\/p>\n Robbie Ray broke the rules!\u00a0Then there was Robbie Ray, starting pitcher for the Giants in an April 11 game in New York. He went only four innings \u2026 but he still got The Win.\u00a0That\u2019s not normally allowed \u2014 in any other game. But when games get rained out (and the winning team pitches only five innings<\/a>), the baseball gods say: The heck with that rule! Who knew!<\/p>\n Gunnar Henderson drew a walk \u2026\u00a0even though his entire April 24 at-bat consisted of\u00a0just two pitches!\u00a0It went pitch-clock violation, ball two, ball three, pitch-free intentional walk. (Hat tip: Orioles TV Strange But True fan Kevin Brown.)<\/p>\n The Reds gave up nine runs in an April 30 game in which they also \u2026\u00a0retired 20 hitters in a row! No NL team had done that since 1992. (Hat tip: Reds TV stats guru Joel Luckhaupt.)<\/p>\n The Dirty Dozen! How bizarre is baseball? This bizarre \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 The Diamondbacks on May 17: scored 12 runs \u2026\u00a0and they lost\u00a0(14-12 to the Rockies).<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0The Diamondbacks on May 18: scored one run\u00a0\u2026\u00a0and they won (1-0, again against Colorado).<\/p>\n Hit the ejector button!\u00a0Here\u2019s what it was like to be the manager of the (Don\u2019t Call Us Sacramento) A\u2019s. In May and June, they went through a stretch of 21 games in which\u00a0they went a picturesque 1-20. And in the only game they won, the manager, Mark Kotsay, never got to join the fist-bump line \u2026 because he got ejected!<\/p>\n Law and Out of Order!\u00a0In a wild (and weird) Aug. 18 game against the White Sox, the Braves coughed up 13 early runs. That allowed them to bring in a position player (Luke Williams) to pitch in the eighth inning \u2026 but then they had\u00a0an actual pitcher\u00a0(Tyler Kinney) pitch the ninth. Guess which one gave up more hits? Yep. The guy who pitches for a living (1-0).<\/p>\n Deja Boom!\u00a0The trade deadline is always good for lots of upside-down Strange But Trueness. But this year, I especially loved this:<\/p>\n July 2 \u2014 Mike Yastrzemski homers against Merrill Kelly<\/p>\n Aug. 19 \u2014 Mike Yastrzemski homers against Merrill Kelly again<\/p>\n So what\u2019s so Strange But True about that? Oh, nothing much, other than the fact that they were wearing\u00a0four different uniforms!\u00a0That first homer came in a Giants-Diamondbacks game. Then Yaz got dealt to the Royals, Kelly got traded to the Rangers, and it seemed like they remembered each other.<\/p>\n The road to Canada \u2026 has never been shorter than it must have felt to Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez this July. Two days before the trade deadline, he got to hang out in both teams\u2019 bullpens on the same day,\u00a0after he got dealt from the Orioles to the Blue Jays \u2014 between games of a doubleheader between the Orioles and Blue Jays!<\/p>\n According to my intensive research (on Google Maps), he got 460 miles worth of moving expenses out of that deal. But where else could a guy walk down a hallway in Baltimore for like a minute and a half and wind up in Canada? Yep, only in \u2026<\/p>\n Baseball!<\/p>\n Wait! There\u2019s more!\u00a0That\u2019s because the pitching prospect Dom\u00ednguez was traded for, Juaron Watts-Brown, could definitely relate. He was pitching for the Blue Jays\u2019 Double-A team, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, at the time. And what team were they playing? Yep, it was the Orioles\u2019 Double-A affiliate, the Chesapeake Baysox. So how long was his commute? From one dugout to the other!<\/p>\n \n Traded twins: Brothers Taylor (left) and Tyler Rogers were dealt on the same day. (Mark J. Rebilas \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n O Brother Where Art Thou? I love those Rogers twins, Taylor and Tyler. They\u2019re always a Strange But True classic waiting to happen. But never more than on July 30, when they both got traded on the same day<\/a>!<\/p>\n First, Taylor went from the Reds to the Pirates (only to have the Pirates flip him again the next day to the Cubs).\u00a0Then, just minutes later, Tyler went from the Giants to the Mets. Once upon a time, two of the DiMaggio brothers (Joe and Dom) played a combined 24 seasons in the big leagues (for the Yankees and Red Sox, respectively) and got traded zero times. But was this actually cooler? Discuss!<\/p>\n The Name of the Game!\u00a0I don\u2019t know why it amuses me that a Busch (Michael) homered at Busch (Stadium). But it does.<\/p>\n For the same reason it amuses me that the Yankees had a Fried-Rice pitcher-catcher combo! (That\u2019s Max and Ben for those of you who don\u2019t have a menu.)<\/p>\n Yeah, I\u2019ll admit I got a chuckle when the Rangers ordered a Burger to go \u2014 by sending Jake Burger to the minors in May.<\/p>\n And when a guy named Vladimir (Guerrero) went deep off a guy named Victor Vodnik on Aug. 6 at Coors Field, was anyone but me wondering if we should call that The Shot Heard Round Vladivostok?<\/p>\n But none of them can top this Name Game relay throw<\/a> by the Orioles on Aug. 3.<\/p>\n Got all that, Jackson? That was the Orioles recording a Strange But True classic out at the plate \u2014 on a relay from Jeremiah Jackson\u00a0in right, to\u00a0Jackson Holliday at second, to the catcher, who was also named Jackson\u00a0(Alex).<\/p>\n It was so much fun that Baseball Reference\u2019s Kenny Jackelen spent two days of his otherwise-fulfilling life trying to research all the possible parallels to this. Thanks to him, I can actually ask: How many other outs at the plate have ever involved three players with the same name? And the answer, naturally, is \u2026 none!<\/p>\n Five Strange But True October classics1. Take that, David Copperfield! \n Alex Vesia recorded a one-pitch strikeout for the ages in the Wild Card Series. (Ronald Martinez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Sometimes, October baseball isn\u2019t just a sporting event. It\u2019s a magic trick. Otherwise, how would we explain this Strange But True at-bat in Game 2 of the Dodgers-Reds Wild Card Series, when this bizarre thing actually happened:<\/p>\n A pitcher struck out a hitter he never threw a pitch to!<\/p>\n Yeah, that seems hard, but hang with us.\u00a0It began as an eighth-inning at-bat pitting Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan versus Reds outfielder Will Benson. But Sheehan was having so much trouble throwing strikes that his manager, Dave Roberts, yanked him\u00a0with a 1-and-2 count.<\/p>\n In trotted Alex Vesia to pitch. So up marched the Reds\u2019 Miguel Andujar to pinch hit. Vesia threw one pitch to Andujar, who swung and missed it. Which meant \u2026 Vesia got credit for a one-pitch strikeout \u2014 but not of Andujar.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve gotta love the rules of baseball \u2026 because according to those rules, Vesia had just struck out\u00a0a hitter he never threw a pitch to \u2026\u00a0namely, Benson.<\/p>\n Has anything like that ever happened in a postseason game? Of course not. Because it makes no sense that a pitcher could throw a pitch to one hitter and strike out another hitter\u00a0who was sitting in the dugout at the time. But there\u00a0is\u00a0an explanation, you know. It\u2019s \u2026<\/p>\n Baseball!<\/p>\n 2. The hitless wonder! <\/p>\n There were so many brain-warping Shohei Ohtani moments in this postseason, it\u2019s hard to pick out just one. (So naturally, there will be more in future editions of this Strange But True series.) But I can\u2019t stop thinking about this one.<\/p>\n Between Game 2 of the Wild Card Series and Game 1 of the NLCS, this man wasn\u2019t quite as Ohtanic as usual. By which I mean \u2026 he went 1-for-20, with nine strikeouts.\u00a0And that wasn\u2019t even the Strange But True part.<\/p>\n The Strange But True part was \u2026 while all that was going on, he still got intentionally walked\u00a0three times \u2014 once by the Phillies in the NLDS, then twice by the Brewers in Game 1 of the NLCS.<\/p>\n And how many hitters have ever had a five-game span, in a single postseason, with only one hit but still more intentional walks than hits? That would be one. Only Ohtani.<\/p>\n 3. The Bronx Bummers! \n Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays bludgeoned the Yankees in the NLDS. (Mark Blinch \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Back in 1927 and 1928, probably the most legendary Yankees teams of them all won back-to-back World Series. You know how many runs they gave up in those two World Series combined? That would be 20.<\/p>\n Why would I bring that up? Because in Games 1 and 2 of this ALDS, the Yankees gave up 20 runs to the Blue Jays in a little stretch that went like this: 20 runs, 20 outs!<\/p>\n Oh, and one more thing. The Blue Jays scored 20 runs\u00a0just in between runs scored by the Yankees.\u00a0And how many other teams have ever plated that many runs in a row in a single postseason series? That, of course, would be zilch.<\/p>\n 4. Louis the 15th! <\/p>\n Then there was Blue Jays reliever Louis Varland. He prompted an entertaining debate in the press box during the World Series: Which was more likely to happen \u2014 the sun rising or \u201cEvery Day\u201d Louis pitching that day? And we decided Varland was the correct answer.<\/p>\n Craig Kimbrel pitched in 14 games all season. Varland pitched in 15 games just in the postseason, the most ever. Who knew!<\/p>\n 5. It takes two, baby! <\/p>\n Finally, it was the day after Game 7 of the World Series. I\u2019d literally written about that game all night. So I was staggering through the airport when I ran into Stan Kasten, president of the Dodgers, who couldn\u2019t wait to tell me: \u201cYou missed the greatest note of the whole World Series.\u201d<\/p>\n I hate it when people say stuff like that to me \u2026 but he might be right. Here goes:<\/p>\n How did Game 6 of that World Series end? With the Dodgers turning an incredible 7-4 double play<\/a> in the ninth,\u00a0with the tying run at second base.<\/p>\n And how did Game 7 end? With the Dodgers turning another double play<\/a>, with the potential tying run on first base.<\/p>\n According to Baseball Reference\u2019s Katie Sharp, no potential World Series clinching game had ended on a double play, with the tying run on base, in more than 50 years \u2014 since 1972 Game 5. (Joe Morgan to Johnny Bench!) And then \u2026<\/p>\n It happened\u00a0two games in a row,\u00a0with this World Series on the line. How even? Oh, that\u2019s right. It\u2019s \u2026<\/p>\n Baseball!<\/p>\n Strangest But Truest Whatever That Was of the Year \n After rising to almost catch Max Muncy\u2019s 404-foot blast, Sal Frelick plays the ball off the wall in NLCS Game 1, triggering one of the most unusual double plays ever. (Aaron Gash \/ MLB Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n I\u2019m pretty sure I don\u2019t have the power to will crazy stuff to happen in baseball just because I happen to be the universe\u2019s No. 1 fan of that crazy stuff. But you should know that not everyone believes that.<\/p>\n So there I was on Oct. 13, minding my own business in a press box in Milwaukee, moments after the Strangest But Truest \u201cground-ball\u201d double play of all time<\/a>. My brain was still trying to absorb how it was possible that a 404-foot rocket to the center-field fence had just forced me to write an 8-6-2 \u201cgrounded-into-double-play\u201d entry on my scorecard.<\/p>\n It was about then that I looked up and saw my friend Drew Olson, longtime Milwaukee radio and sportswriting legend, heading my way.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know this only happened,\u201d he told me, \u201cbecause you were here.\u201d<\/p>\n For the record, I don\u2019t know that. But if I keep writing columns like this, I can\u2019t stop the rest of humanity from being way too suspicious that I have that kind of power.<\/p>\n Whatever! Take a look one more time at the insane double play that the Dodgers\u2019 Max Muncy \u201cgrounded\u201d into in Game 1 of the NLCS.<\/p>\n WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?!?! #NLCS<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/x7BbmJ6hzX<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLB (@MLB) October 14, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n So what\u2019s so Strange But True about that? Ha ha. Here\u2019s what!<\/p>\n There was no actual \u201cground\u201d in it!\u00a0So you thought you knew what a groundball looked like, huh? Well, one thing we can agree on is, it sure didn\u2019t look like that \u2014 possibly because this was a baseball that never touched the ground\u00a0at any point.<\/p>\n It was nearly a grand slam!\u00a0This was also a baseball that came within inches of clearing\u00a0the center-field fence,\u00a0for what would have been a grand slam \u2026 but somehow, when the dust settled, there were no runs on the board and the catcher (William Contreras) wound up recording two outs \u2014 at home and then at third.<\/p>\n It was almost a \u201cground-ball\u201d triple play!\u00a0OK, so that would have been mathematically impossible because there was already one out when the ball left the bat. But those Dodgers base runners got so confused, they tried running (or not running) into outs all over the diamond.<\/p>\n The runner on third, Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez, forgot to tag up. The runner on second, Will Smith, wasn\u2019t sure if he was allowed to go to third. And Tommy Edman, the runner on first, got so mixed up that Muncy appeared to pass him on the bases. So all four of them could have been out \u2014 or could have scored if this ball had flown six more inches over the fence.<\/p>\n So how the heck was it a \u201cgroundball?\u201d I asked the official scorer, Tim O\u2019Driscoll, that question \u2014 because of course I did. How, I wondered, could this be scored a \u201cgroundball,\u201d despite the slight technicality that it never touched anything remotely similar to \u201cthe ground?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a ground-ball double play,\u201d O\u2019Driscoll said, \u201cbecause once the ball hit off the glove and off the wall, the ball wasn\u2019t caught. \u2026 (Then) there was a forceout at home and a forceout at third. And because the ball wasn\u2019t caught in the air, it becomes a \u2018groundball.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n I asked if he understood the irony in that. He couldn\u2019t help but laugh.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you fill in your (official scorer\u2019s) sheet,\u201d he said, \u201cyou can\u2019t say yeah, it was a half-caught, deflected, grab in the air. It has to say, \u2018GIDP.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Strangest But Truest Walk of the Year<\/p>\n Ever heard of a team scoring three runs on a walk? Now you have, because \u2026 that \u2026 really \u2026 happened!<\/p>\n So whatever it is you had planned for the next 61 seconds, forget that. You need to watch the linked video of those Albuquerque Isotopes, of the Pacific Coast League, scoring three runs\u00a0on a walk<\/a>, on April 15.<\/p>\n How nuts is that? It\u2019s so good, I could watch it all day. Did you know that the Isotopes are the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies? And that also feels almost perfect.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because those big-league Rockies had so much trouble scoring\u00a0any\u00a0runs<\/a> this season that during one five-game stretch on the road, in that same week in April, they scored three runs \u2026\u00a0in a span of 134 batters. And while that was going on, their Triple-A team scored three runs in a span of one batter \u2014 who walked!<\/p>\n Five more Strange But True plays we can\u2019t believe1. Strangest But Truest Walk-off of the Year<\/p>\n Is there something in those New Mexico chiles that causes epidemics of the dreaded Strange But True Fever? I ask because we\u2019re going back to Albuquerque for\u00a0another\u00a0play. It\u2019s a walk-off something-or-other, but what exactly? Good question. My best advice is: Just watch it! You can thank me later.<\/p>\n It was like the teams said \u201cHow do we get featured on \u201cWeird and Wild\u201d by @jaysonst<\/a> \u2026 and I think they did it. https:\/\/t.co\/rey6fQ3cIZ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLB Scoring Changes (@ScoringChanges) May 22, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n What in the world was that? Just your basic game-winning, lead-flipping, bases-loaded, two-run double, from a May 21 Albuquerque-Reno game \u2014 which also included \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0The runners on first and third base scoring\u00a0but not the guy on second.<\/p>\n \u2022 And why didn\u2019t the runner on second score? Thanks to the most bonkers obstruction call in the history of obstruction calls \u2014 caused by a teammate (Ildemaro Vargas) running out of the dugout to celebrate, with his video camera,\u00a0and slamming into the runner (Blaze Alexander), who would have been the winning run, before he could make it home!<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0So\u00a0that\u00a0guy was out. But then the winning run scored anyway \u2014 while nobody was looking \u2014 because the center fielder (Sam Hilliard) had no idea any of this was happening. So he assumed the game was over, and fired a definitely-still-not-dead baseball into the stands. Which meant the final runner got to advance two bases \u2026 and score.<\/p>\n I know that not all games in Albuquerque go this way. But here at Strange But True World Headquarters, we\u2019d like to thank the Isotopes and the entire population of New Mexico for their invaluable contributions to this column.<\/p>\n 2. Strangest But Truest Inside-the-Park Homer of the Year<\/p>\n Here\u2019s one I can guarantee that everyone reading this had never, ever seen before: a walk-off inside-the-park homer by a catcher.\u00a0We take you now to Oracle Park, for this July 8 Patrick Bailey miracle \u2014 a walk-off inside-the-parker in the ninth<\/a>, with his team trailing the Phillies, 3-1.<\/p>\n PATRICK BAILEY WALK-OFF INSIDE-THE-PARK HOME RUN \ud83e\udd2f pic.twitter.com\/QipLzyDh7C<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) July 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n For the record, that ball would have been an outside-the-park homer in all 29 parks located in Not San Francisco \u2014 but who cares. It was way better this way, because \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 It was the first inside-the-park walk-off by a catcher in 99 years. Last to do it: the legendary Benny Tate, who forgot to post about it on YouTube in 1926! But here come two other parallels that might be more crazy than that. \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 It was the first inside-the-park walk-off homer by anybody, for any team that was trailing, since \u00c1ngel Pag\u00e1n hit one for the same team (the Giants) in the same park, in almost the same spot, in 2013.<\/p>\n \u2022 And it was the first by a team that was trailing by two runs or more since \u2014 what else? \u2014 another Phillies-Giants game. Except that one was by Bob Dernier, for\u00a0the Phillies\u00a0against\u00a0the Giants, on May 15, 1989. And I highly recommend you take a few seconds to listen to the stupendous Harry Kalas call of that one.<\/p>\n Bob Dernier hits a walk off 3 run inside the park Home Run in the bottom of the 12th to beat the Giants 3-2 in 1989 #RingTheBell<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/L9nFDB61C6<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Philadelphia Phillies Home Runs (@PhilliesHR) February 6, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n But back to our regularly scheduled programming. Had we ever seen a walk-off inside-the-parker by a No. 9 hitter, and a catcher hitting .188, before? I\u2019ll bet my Golden Gate Bridge toll that there is no chance of that.<\/p>\n 3. Strangest But Truest 9-3 Skidoo of the Year<\/p>\n You know what seems like it should be impossible? Losing a game on a walk-off \u201csingle\u201d \u2014 by your own team. But there\u2019s a sport we know of \u2014 baseball! \u2014 where nothing is impossible.<\/p>\n So check out what happened to Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk with two outs in the ninth, in this Sept. 24 game against the Red Sox.<\/p>\n Alejandro Kirk was thrown out at first from right field to end the game pic.twitter.com\/Io66pnwf3T<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 25, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s a hit! Oh, wait. Red Sox right fielder Wilyer Abreu clearly had other ideas \u2014 and turned this into the most routine 9-3 out, on an alleged \u201csingle,\u201d you\u2019ll ever see.<\/p>\n 4. Strangest But Truest Forceout of the Year<\/p>\n Can a runner get credit for an assist on his own forceout? Um, only if he uses his head?<\/p>\n Check out this wild forceout in a Sept. 18 Cubs-Reds game, featuring a ricochet off the noggin of the Cubs\u2019 Mois\u00e9s\u00a0Ballesteros that turned into the most cerebral play of the game (literally)<\/a>.<\/p>\n For the record, that play went down as the first 3-8-6 forceout in the entire Retrosheet database, which goes back more than a century. So Ballesteros did not get an assist, but the first baseman, Spencer Steer, somehow did, because baseball is the headiest sport ever.<\/p>\n 5. Strangest But Truest Double Play of the Year<\/p>\n Finally, let\u2019s head back to the minor leagues one last time, because I love this.<\/p>\n Ever seen a 7-2-4-2-5-2-3-6 double play? Now you have, courtesy of the South Bend Cubs and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on May 24! I counted six different rundowns involving six different fielders and three different base runners, not even including the hitter who started all this with a fly ball.<\/p>\n So if you were scoring at home \u2014 and scoring Midwest League games at home is rumored to be one of Indiana\u2019s most popular hobbies \u2014 you, too, had to jam those digits, 7-2-4-2-5-2-3-6, into one little square. Just do me a favor and don\u2019t try to dial that number on your cell phone. Definitely not in service! Even in minor-league \u2026<\/p>\n Baseball!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/USATSI_20079470-scaled.jpg\")
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