Julio Rodriguez picked off to end the game, a breakdown
What Happened
In a tight matchup between the Chicago Cubs and the Seattle Mariners, the game comes down to the final out. The Cubs hold a one-run lead as Cal Raleigh, the Mariners' catcher, steps up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning. Raleigh works the count, fouling off a few pitches before lacing a base hit to keep the Mariners' hopes alive. Seeking to add some speed on the basepaths, the Mariners replace Raleigh with the young and agile Julio Rodriguez. Rodriguez takes a big lead off first base, hoping to score the tying run. The Cubs' pitcher and first baseman spot Rodriguez's aggressive base running and decide to attempt a pickoff play. The throw over to first base is close, and Rodriguez appears to dive back to the bag safely. However, the Cubs challenge the call, and the umpires review the play. Replays show the Cubs' first baseman's glove making contact with Rodriguez's arm just as he reaches the bag, leading the umpires to overturn the initial safe call. Julio Rodriguez is ruled out, ending the game and giving the Cubs the victory. The Mariners' dugout and fans are stunned by the reversal, with manager Scott Servais making a puzzled gesture as he questions the decision. Meanwhile, the Cubs' players and fans erupt in celebration, hoisting babies in the air to commemorate the hard-fought win. , the baseball analyst, breaks down the pivotal play in detail, examining the multiple camera angles and providing his expert analysis on the controversial call. He notes that while the glove did appear to make contact with Rodriguez's arm, the umpires likely felt the evidence was conclusive enough to overturn the original ruling on the field. The win is a crucial one for the Cubs, who are battling for a playoff spot in the National League. The Mariners, meanwhile, will have to regroup and try to bounce back from the heartbreaking defeat as they continue their push for a postseason berth in the American League.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentCubs are up by one and one out away from winning the game.
Cal Raleigh steps to the plate for the Mariners, though.
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And the first pitch is outside.
And the hole at bat's going to be inside.
Now, that's an inside target missed spot, missed swing by Raleigh.
The next pitch, low and away.
And that bat is going to stay there for a ball
and then gets that one right where he wants it.
And now he's going to go back to that same spot for strike three.
He doesn't get the call.
But Cal is thinking, okay, that's where you want to go.
You can see this.
The ball on top was called a strike.
The ball on the bottom was called a ball.
So they found the umpire's line.
Good calls by Blue, in my opinion.
Goes back there.
Cal says, I know where you're going.
Base hit.
Mariners have something.
They're in business.
Cal's on first base.
They're going to take him off first base and bring in Rodriguez.
He's faster.
He's younger.
He's more spry.
He's going to sprint all the way around the base.
He's going to grab first, grab second, get all the way home.
He's going to get a big lead.
He's going to feel great about it.
Cubs, you just need one more out.
We go from Cal Raleigh to Luke Raleigh.
Lefty to lefty.
Raleigh to Raleigh.
Similar looking guys.
That's outside.
Oh, that's a strike.
Strike one.
Okay.
Well, oh, they go to pick him off.
Why?
Just get the batter.
You can do this.
Julio's not going anywhere.
Julio might be going somewhere.
Julio's thinking, all right,
surely they're going to forget about me now and just get the out.
He's leaning a little bit.
The next pitch, fastball outside, setting up for the off speed.
Now you can see Julio taking a lead, taking a lead, taking a lead,
leaning, leaning.
Oh, just leaning a little bit too much.
Did he get back?
They say, yeah.
Pitcher wanted it.
First baseman wants it.
Also wants to hit home runs.
Council says, yeah, should we replay it?
And then does that motion, which is weird.
It looks like he's pulling on pigtails or something.
Or like milking.
He cows, utters, and his head is just in the belly.
Weird motion.
That's not the motion, council.
What are you doing there?
It's more like this, you know, like headphones over your ears.
Anyway, let's go to the replay and see what they got.
This, they got three angles.
This is the first angle where you can see, does the glove,
the glove hits his arm there.
Are we all in agreement that if you stare at the glove,
it's not touching him.
There's space in the webbing.
And then he gets to here and you can see the glove crunch.
A little bit.
So if we all agree that right there, the glove crunches.
Okay.
That's one angle that they have.
You can't see the hand there.
You'd have no idea if the hands touching the bag or not from that angle, but you
get a sense that it's really close.
Now here's the next angle.
I let's see where the glove crunches again, right there.
We saying it crunches right there, right there.
When's it touch him right there.
Think so.
Okay.
Still can't see the hand.
Okay.
From that angle.
All right.
Here's the third angle they have.
And let's see the glove.
You can see the webbing of the glove.
You can see the dirt through the webbing of the glove.
And then right there, you can see the gloves start to shift form.
It goes from open to close.
So if we're saying that's when it hits his arm where that glove kind of closes and scrunches
up.
Well, what's his hand doing?
Interesting.
Not touching.
So you got to be 100%.
Confident that the glove is touching the arm there.
I've seen major league baseball have this much and not overturn it because it's not
100% like you got to basically make it.
So the other team can't fight it usually.
And the other team fans will fight everything.
So this is the split screen that they put together to figure it out.
And you can see on the left when the glove crunches right there.
Okay.
You can see that glove is crunching, right?
Boom, right there.
See it crunches right there.
So that's touching.
And you see on the right, as I would go back and forth on this crunchy crunch, not touching
the glove.
So that's what they saw.
That's what they liked.
They liked the glove right here.
You can see it gets all bent up.
And then the hand at that point in time was not touching the base.
So they had the replay angles.
They felt confident.
They say.
After review, we got it wrong.
That guy is out.
He's excited.
He gets what?
What?
I can't believe it.
And then it goes to the crowd and we're just holding babies up.
Babies in the air because the Cubs get the win today.
High five from the baby.
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Appreciate you so much.
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