The New York Yankees salvaged the finale of their Subway Series on Sunday, defeating the New York Mets by a score of 6-4. The Yanks jumped out to a 5-0 lead before the Mets started to fight their way back. The most important play occurred in the bottom of the 7th inning and the Mets threatening. With Francisco Lindor on first base, Juan Soto hit a sinking shot to left field toward Cody Bellinger. What followed was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen on a baseball diamond.
Bellinger managed to catch the ball on his shoetips. As if this catch wasn’t amazing enough, Bellinger managed to keep his feet and uncork a strike to double Lindor off first. It was the play of the game. Any momentum the Mets had was snuffed out by Bellinger and allowed the Yankees to win their first game in the month of July.
As for the play itself, I have never witnessed anything like that. It should easily land as the Play of the Week when the next edition is shown on MLB Network. In fact, it should be the Play of the Year. This is not to disparage any of the other gems we have seen so far this year such as Denzel Clarke scaling the wall. We have seen the home run robbery, the backhand in the hole and the crashing into the stands. Many times. However, have we ever seen a left fielder charge a ball, catch it literally an inch from the ground, compose himself and then fire a bullet to first to complete a double play? I mean, have you ever seen a 7-3 double play? And if you have, was it as spectacularly executed as it was by Cody Bellinger? I would say the answer to that is a hard no.
If you haven’t seen the catch and throw, please click on the video below. See for yourself. I’ll bet you have never seen a play like this in your life. It is worthy of being the 2025 MLB Play of the Year, in this humble fan’s opinion.
Threeunassisted 