For a sport that digs the long ball, it’s ironic how some of baseball’s greatest plays often involve that typically thankless and dirty “d” word — defense.
Perhaps it’s the lingering after-effects of the steroid era. Perhaps it’s the dawn of fantasy baseball. Whatever it is, there’s always been a slight tilt toward batting and pitching for baseball fans, despite the absolute importance of fielding.
And that importance was on full display Friday night in a game between a pair of bitter NL Central rivals.
To set the stage: The St. Louis Cardinals were hosting the Chicago Cubs in the second game of a four-game series on Friday.
It was the classic baseball movie scenario, with the Cubs clinging to a 3-2 lead at the bottom of the ninth, two outs, game-tying run on third.
Cardinals utility player Alec Burleson was at the plate, and Cubs pitcher Adbert Alzolay appeared to give the slugger exactly what he wanted.
Burleson swung, got some nice contact, the ball was going, going, going… (And it should be noted, the ball was headed right toward the grassy patch in the middle of the outfield seats.)
And… it had gone right into the glove of Cubs outfielder Mike Tauchman.
But wait!
Tauchman bobbled the ball for a brief moment, likely sending Cubs fans’ hearts sinking, before corralling it and coming up with the game-clinching out.
It was an incredible defensive play from Tauchman. So impressive was it that Cardinals writer Adam Akbani immediately nominated it for “play of the year”:
Mike Tauchman might’ve just made the play of the year pic.twitter.com/H4V5aE9bzf
— Adam Akbani (@AdamAkbani) July 29, 2023
“Mike Tauchman might’ve just made the play of the year,” Akbani posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
While the Cubs got to elate over the highlight reel-worthy play from Tauchman, the Cardinals were probably hit with a dump truck full of regret.
Remember how this was the second game of a four-game series?
The first game went about as bad as it could go, with the Cardinals losing 10-3, and also having injury added to insult when the team’s catcher took an errant swing to the back of his head and came up bloody.
Game 3 on Saturday evening didn’t go any better, with the Cardinals again losing 5-1.
The fourth and final game is set for tonight, and regardless of its outcome, losing three straight to an NL Central rival has been costly for the Cardinals.
As the Cubs continue to try and fight for a Wild Card spot (with a 53-51 record, Chicago is currently three games back of the NL Wild Card leader), the Cardinals have plummeted to 46-60 record and fallen 11.5 games behind the NL Central leader, and 11 games behind the Wild Card leader.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
