Josh Naylor pulled off one of the weirdest plays you’ll see in baseball during Game 7 of the ALCS between the Mariners and the Blue Jays. It happened right at the start of the game, and it got everyone talking.
The Mariners were up 1-0 after Naylor got on base with a single. Then came a really strange moment. When the Blue Jays’ runner, Ernie Clement, tried to throw the ball to first base to complete a double play, Naylor did something totally unexpected. Instead of just waiting to receive the ball, he jumped right into the ball’s path, using his body to block the throw.
The ball bounced off Naylor and popped up in the air, then up into the air, giving the Mariners' runner Jorge Polanco some room to safely make his way to first. Now, this kind of “body blocking” isn’t something you see every day. It’s pretty unusual, and it’s actually not allowed under baseball rules if it’s on purpose.
The umpires took a moment to talk about it, and then they decided that Naylor’s move was intentional interference. Because of that, the double play stood, meaning the inning ended right there.
What made it even more interesting was the reaction from Blue Jays’ pitcher Shane Bieber, who used to play with Naylor on the same team in Cleveland, and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. You could hear him yelling, “What the f—k are you doing?” during the replay. It was pretty clear he wasn’t happy about Naylor’s sneaky move.
After the double play, the Blue Jays tied the game quickly in the bottom of the first inning when Daulton Varsho drove in George Springer. Things were heating up fast.
Naylor’s leap and body-block might have been clever, but it definitely got a lot of people talking about it. Some people might say he was just trying to help his team, but others think it was bending the rules too much.
Either way, moments like this make the playoffs exciting. It’s a reminder that in baseball, there are times when players do unusual things to change the game.
Luckily, The Toronto Blue Jays made it to the World Series on Monday by beating the Seattle Mariners and winning the American League pennant.