The Loop
Aaron Hicks' catch was incredible, but it wasn't even the best defensive play of the night in baseball
Tuesday night was an incredible night for baseball, arguably the sport's best night of the season. There were walk-offs, games with football scores, pitching duels and great defensive plays. Hell, even the Mets won. And to think, it all happened without a robot strike zone, a pitching clock, a runner starting at second base in extra innings, or runners getting to steal first whenever they please. But yeah, that's what the baseball needs (Rob Manfred should be relieved of his duties before he does permanent damage to the game).
The night was punctuated by maybe the game of the century year between two of the best teams in baseball: the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees. At one point the Yankees trailed 8-2 in the fifth, then 9-5 in the eighth. After going up 10-9, Minnesota's Miguel Sano hit a ball to Mars to go up 11-10. Then the Yanks took back the lead in the ninth, going up 12-11. There were more lead changes than a Texas Tech-West Virginia football game.
Eventually, after Aroldis Chapman blew the game, the Yankees still hung on to win 14-12, and it took what might be the catch of the year to finish it off from Aaron Hicks:
Absolutely ridiculous. Heart-stopping, even. It was the perfect way to end the absurd game this was. I wish I could post every video, GIF, and stat from it. I wish I could talk about Didi Gregorious basically having the greatest offensive game in shortstop history, or Mike Tauchman's MVP candidacy, or the win-probability charts that looked more like the heart rate of every fan watching, or the Yankees being 30 games over .500, etc. But I promised myself this wouldn't be a Yankee love fest. I'm no homer (laughs maniacally).
What this post is about is the real best defensive play of Tuesday night, which was not made by Hicks, but by the man who will surely win the MVP Award barring a freak injury: Mike Trout. Have a look at this ROCKET throw home he made against the Dodgers in the second inning:
For those interested (NERDS), that throw was 98.6-mph, 98.6 from center field on a string! My favorite part is actually the way he plays the ball, perfectly timing it to grab it on the ball's second hop and getting himself in perfect position to fire out Max Muncy at home. Later in the game, Trout also produced with the bat in the least shocking news ever:
That thing still hasn't landed. The Angels went on to win 5-4, a one-run win in a game Trout hit a solo moonshot and gunned a guy down at home, saving a run. That's gotta help the old WAR, doesn't it? Just give the man the MVP now, he deserves it.