Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
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SALT LAKE CITY — Welcome to From Left Field! Here are three sports stories worthy of your clicks.
Jose Bautista with the bat flip to end all bat flips
The seventh inning of Wednesday's series-deciding fifth game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers was perhaps one of the craziest in MLB history.
The top half of the frame featured the Rangers taking a 3-2 lead on one of the most bizarre series of events you'll ever see in a baseball game: a return throw from catcher to pitcher accidentally struck the hitter's bat, a Texas runner on third scored even as the home plate umpire signaled play dead, and the entire thing was upheld after nearly a 15-minute review process.
That was just the tip of the iceberg, though. The Blue Jays began the bottom half of the inning by loading the bases on three consecutive Rangers fielding errors, which is crazy enough on its own — it's the first time in MLB history a team has committed three separate errors in one inning of an elimination game, and they did it on three straight plays. What came next may have coincided with the loudest crowd noise heard in the city of Toronto in decades.
For those who didn't already, replay the above video and wait until the 20-second mark. That wasn't a bat flip, it was a vindictive flinging of a now-meaningless twig.
Somehow, even that wasn't quite enough drama. Toronto fans, who didn't showcase their sportsmanship in the greatest of fashions when they began throwing items on the field after the Rangers' controversial run in the top half of the inning, began doing so again in delirium after Bautista's homer. Edwin Encarnacion, the Jays' next hitter, began motioning to the crowd to tone things down.
Those who continued watching the clip saw what happened next. Rangers pitcher Sam Dyson, understandably frustrated after allowing a game-changing home run, was behind Encarnacion and assumed the Blue Jays' designated hitter wasn't actually quieting the crowd, but encouraging them. Dyson took issue, both with this and potentially Bautista's showmanship on the homer, and got in Encarnacion's face — and before anyone knew it the respective benches cleared.
Amazingly, even that wasn't enough. When Toronto's Troy Tulowitzki finally popped out to end the inning, Dyson wasn't content to simply make his way back to his dugout. Rather, he took a strange path that led him right back to home plate, and gave Tulowitzki what appeared to be an extremely sarcastic "good effort" pat on the backside following his pop-out. Tulowitzki obviously took issue, and the benches cleared once more.
Finally, order was restored and the inning ended shortly thereafter. The Blue Jays won the game and advanced to the American League Championship Series.
Catch all that? Good, there will be a test later on.
Thailand scores beautiful soccer goal
Thailand doesn't get a whole lot of soccer glory. It's ranked in the triple digits worldwide among nations, and there aren't exactly thousands of countries in the world.
When it does make something spectacular happen, though, it really goes for it. Check out this tic-tac-toe masterpiece from their World Cup qualifying match against Vietnam:
We should bump them up in the worldwide rankings at least to the single digits based on that goal alone.
Parent swinging baby in crowded area ends badly, shockingly
Back to baseball, where the Kansas City Royals finished off their five-game series victory on Wednesday with a 7-2 win over Houston. Royals outfielder Jonny Gomes, ever the entertaining father, looked to swing his daughter around on the pitcher's mound, which absolutely never goes wrong in an area with lots of people. In a huge plot twist no one could ever see coming, teammate Jason Vargas' child came running to join the fun and, well, you know what happens next.
[Okay Royals might wanna slow down on the celebration just a tad 😉👌 #mlb #royals #poorkid #playoffs #mlbplayoffs #mlbgames #baseball #baseballcards #kc #alds #alcs #bloopers](https://instagram.com/p/818vEdGeFG/) A video posted by Rich Liberto (@richiel1991) on
The moral of the story, as always: Do yourself and your kid a favor and check behind you before you swing them around like a projectile on a string in a crowded group of people. Just a thought.
