There's something weird going on between the Atlanta Braves and plays that you could file under the "instances of baserunning that aren't supposed to happen." They're not supposed to happen. But they keep on happening.
You're not supposed to be able to beat out a hard-hit ground ball to shortstop, especially when a strong throw is made. But, here we are.
You're not supposed to be able to tag up and score on a shallow fly ball to left field, and you're especially not supposed to call a runner safe if his foot simply never touches the base. But, again, here we are.
Related
And you're not supposed to be able to tag up — never mind being able to, you're not supposed to tag up, period — on a shallow pop-up that legitimately makes it out of the infield by just a few feet. But... here we are.
Sure, you can say that Jazz Chisholm should have fielded that one much more cleanly than he did, and you'd be completely right. You can also say that center fielder Starling Marte should maybe have called Chisholm off and made the play, knowing that he would have had forward momentum. And you could also probably say that, again, Acuña probably should not have tagged up on a shallow pop fly based on the rules of baseball and the logic, physics and science of the sport.
But, in hindsight, all of this happened. You're not supposed to do it, but Acuña did it. And you're not supposed to strut and stare down the pitcher in the batter's box, but Juan Soto does it. And you're not supposed to hit a grand slam with a healthy lead toward the end of a not-so-close game on a 3-0 pitch, but Fernando Tatis Jr. did it. As the "ESPN Daily" podcast said on Monday morning, it's stuff like this that makes for some of the most exciting plays in the game.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram