How would the average person describe a group of people having a good time? Depending on their generation, there could be a wide variety of answers, particularly if a member of Gen Z is describing the situation.
New York Yankees play-by-play commentator Michael Kay, who is 63 years old, opted to utilize a piece of lingo that has become popularized by Gen Z in an amusing moment during Saturday's broadcast of New York's 7–3 win over the San Francisco Giants.
When a boat transporting a bunch of dancing and excited-looking Giants fans passed by the bay outside Oracle Park during the bottom of the second inning, Kay didn't miss a beat, declaring that the "People are lit!"
Kay's partner and former Yankees outfielder Paul O'Neill, couldn't believe his ears—or contain his laughter—at the sound of the 63-year-old Kay using the word 'lit.'
"People are lit!" Kay exclaimed, as O'Neill burst into laughter.
"Excuse me, Michael?" O'Neill asked. "Can you explain that?"
"They're very happy," Kay replied.
Kudos to Kay and O'Neill for providing some comedic relief during the broadcast, although it might not have even been the funniest moment involving New York baseball broadcasters on Saturday.
Baseball is a great game, it is said, because no matter how badly you screw up, you have the opportunity to come back the next day and redeem yourself.
In fact, sometimes you don't even need to wait a day.
Take the example of Chicago Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki, manning his familiar position Saturday evening against the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field. With the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the second inning, Reds catcher Luke Maile lofted a routine fly to right—only for Suzuki to drop it.
Three runs scored and Cincinnati ended the inning with a 4-0 lead.
If you take a trip over to former first baseman Keith Hernandez's Baseball Reference page, you'll find a litany of National League-leading numbers—a .344 batting average in 1979, a .408 on-base percentage in 1980, 94 walks in 1986.
Just please—for the love of God—do not ask the man himself to add or subtract them.
Hernandez's hilariously bad attempt at doing simple math Saturday left the New York Mets' broadcast booth laughing during their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. As SNY returned from a commercial break in the bottom of the first, the network showed a man in Hernandez's No. 17 jersey and a man in Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter's No. 8 jersey.
"Carter and Hernandez, two guys who had C's on their chest," play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen noted.
"That's right. That adds up to 15, doesn't it?" Hernandez asked.
New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto took it upon himself to answer Los Angeles Angels pitcher Patrick Sandoval's question for home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso during the top of the fourth inning of New York's 8–3 win on Thursday at Angel Stadium.
With the count at 2-and-1, Sandoval fired a four-seam fastball knee-high that landed at the bottom of the strike zone, a pitch that Moscoso ruled a ball. Sandoval inquired about the pitch, asking the umpire if it was low.
Only, the Angels hurler didn't get a reply from Moscoso, but from Soto, who proceeded to nod his head repeatedly, indicating he thought the offering was low.
Here's the amusing exchange.
Patrick Sandoval asked if the pitch was low and Juan Soto continuously nodded yes pic.twitter.com/QA1awnN6R6
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 31, 2024
Soto, who seemingly benefited from the generous call by Moscoso, went on to draw a walk before Yankees slugger Aaron Judge drove him in during the next at-bat on a two-run home run.
Soto, 25, has posted a .312/.415/.584 slash line with 15 home runs, 49 RBI and 41 runs scored in 58 games played for the Yankees this season.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah will seek a second opinion on his injured right elbow, TSN’s Scott Mitchell reports.
“I’m told the expectation at this point is that he’s likely going to miss an extended period of time,” Mitchell added.
Manoah left in the second inning of Wednesday’s start against the Chicago White Sox after he reacted painfully to throwing a pitch. He said after the game that he first experienced discomfort in the elbow after his previous start against the Detroit Tigers.
“Felt it after my start in Detroit and tried to do everything I can with the training staff through the week,” Manoah said after the game in Chicago. “Threw a bullpen a couple days ago, kind of felt fine. I felt like I was able to go out there and compete and give the team a chance, and just wasn’t able to.”
Alek Manoah will undergo an MRI today.
He felt discomfort in his elbow after his start in Detroit. Then he "felt really pinchy" after last night's game.
The injury derails what had been a promising bounce-back season for the former All-Star. After finishing third in Cy Young voting in 2022, Manoah had a terrible ’23 season in which his ERA jumped to 5.87 and even saw Toronto go as far as to send him to rookie ball to try to get back on track. He started this season on the injured list with a shoulder issue before making his season debut on May 5.
After a rough first start of the season, Manoah showed flashes of his former self in his next two outings, going seven innings in each game without allowing an earned run. Overall, he has a 3.70 ERA in five starts with 26 strikeouts and eight walks.
Palacios's walk-off single gave the Rays a 6-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics Thursday—and gave Palacios, at last, the first walk-off of his three-year career.
"I was doing an interview the other day, and my brother has a walk-off and my uncle has a walk-off. And I said in the interview, ‘Better get a walkoff before this becomes a family thing.’ I didn’t know it was going to come (Thursday), but it is exciting that it did," Palacios told reporters postgame via Kristie Ackert of The Tampa Bay Times.
Palacios is slashing .262/.360/.369 for Tampa Bay this season with four home runs and 12 RBIs in 48 games.
The 2024 MLB All-Star Game will be played on Tuesday, July 16 in Arlington, Texas, and it will feature the sport's biggest names.
The top 24 players from the National League and 23 players from the American League will make up the two All-Star teams in July. But, how are those players selected?
Fans vote on all the positions in the All-Star Game except for the starting pitchers and starting designated hitters. Otherwise, the field will be decided by the fans.
There's a multiple-step process for the players to be officially chosen for an MLB All-Star spot. Here's how the voting for fans will pan out this year.
Phase One of Voting
Beginning on June 5 at 12 p.m. ET, fans will be able to vote on their favorite players for a spot on the All-Star roster. When the voting ends at 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 27, the top three players from each position on both the National and American leagues will advance to the next round of voting. So, three first basemen from the National League will be competing for the starting position, for example.
Fans can vote up to five times every 24 hours.
Phase Two of Voting
Fans will only have a few days to vote for the starters in the 2024 All-Star Game after the initial finalists are announced on Sunday, June 30. Fans will have until Wednesday, July 3 at 12 p.m. ET to vote for their favorite MLB stars. Once the three outfield players, four infield players and the catcher are determined, the winners will be announced on social media.
Fans will be able to vote on MLB.com up to four times a day, on the MLB app or at an MLB ballpark.
The winners will be announced after 12 p.m. ET on July 3.
Both the National and American Leagues will have 32 players on the team made up of 20 position players and 12 pitchers each. The fans vote for eight of the players, the players' ballot selects 16 NL players and 17 AL players. Then, the Commissioner's Office chooses eight NL players and six AL players.
The starting pitchers and designated hitters are solely selected by player ballots and votes from the Commissioner's Office.
If a player who was voted or selected onto the All-Star roster cannot play come July 16, whether that be for an injury or a different reason, then the player with the next most votes from the player ballot will move onto the starting roster for that position. The Commissioner's Office will choose who replaces the player who moved up into the starting roster on the reserve list.
Each season, the managers from the teams who competed in the World Series the year prior manages the All-Star teams for the next year. This means that the reigning champion, Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, will manage the American League while Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo will lead the National League.
The managers will choose the batting orders for the teams, along with the pitching order. The NL manager, in this case Lovullo, will choose his designated hitter, too.
The 2024 MLB All-Star Game will start at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16.
For about 30 seconds, there was nothing but deafening silence to be heard during the sixth inning of Bally Sports Kansas City's broadcast of the Kansas City Royals' clash against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.
Royals analyst Rex Hudler took the microphone to further break down Kansas City right-handed pitcher Seth Lugo whiffing Brewers shortstop Willy Adames with an 81.7-mph slurve.
"And then you drop the deuce on the outside part of the plate," Hudler said. "That big curveball, nice, right out of the zone, just like you like it."
Play-by-play announcer Ryan Lefebvre didn't say a word. He let the moment breathe with viewers soaking in every last word of Hudler's funny phrasing.
"And then you drop the Deuce on the Outside part of the plate." 🤣
"Just to clarify—a deuce is a curveball," Lefebvre said.
"Yeah, it's two," Hudler responded, referencing the number of fingers that catchers use to signal for a curveball.
Too funny.
Adames eventually got his revenge for the sixth-inning strikeout, blasting a three-run go-ahead homer in the top of the ninth. The Brewers beat the Royals 6–5.
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras exited Tuesday's game against the New York Mets after taking the full force of a swing from J.D. Martinez to the left forearm. Contreras was diagnosed with a fractured left arm and will need a lengthy stay on the injured list as a result.
Contreras was visibly in pain as the Cardinals' medical staff attended to his arm. To make matters worse, the play was ruled as catcher's interference, meaning Martinez was awarded first base.
Replay of the incident showed that Contreras was positioned remarkably close to Martinez. According to John Denton of MLB.com, the team had encouraged Contreras to move closer to the plate as a means of getting more low strike calls from umpires. With Contreras positioning himself particularly close to the plate, he put himself in harm’s way of Martinez’s swing, resulting in Tuesday's scary arm injury.
In an attempt to help catcher Willson Contreras get more low strikes, the #STLCards have him moved up closer to the plate. However, JD Martinez's bat hit Contreras on the left forearm during his swing.
Contreras is out of the game. He was in obvious pain, yelling out right away. pic.twitter.com/0XCgzBQG0D
Iván Herrera replaced Contreras, who had doubled in his lone plate appearance of the game. On the season, Contreras has six home runs and 12 RBI to go with a .931 OPS.
The Minnesota Twins' recent winning streak was halted at 12 games, but the original summer sausage that players jokingly said inspired the hot stretch remains with the team.
The Athletic's Dan Hayes confirmed Tuesday that the original sausage—which manager Rocco Baldelli said would be disposed once the winning streak ended—is still with the team. And in fact, its magic is still intact.
When the Twins' offense was struggling through the early innings of the series opener against the Seattle Mariners on Monday night, the original sausage was brought back into the dugout. The Twins went on to rally for one run in the fifth inning and two more in the seventh to secure a 3–1 win at Target Field.
BREAKING: The #MNTwins original summer sausage lives on. The Twins did not destroy it. And when they weren’t scoring early last night, the OG sausage was summoned in the middle of the game and the Twins put up three runs.
The Twins were struggling to start the year, winning just seven of their first 20 games despite entering the season as heavy favorites to win the AL Central. Those struggles persisted until the rally sausage was brought into the fold by Minnesota infielder Kyle Farmer.
During a series in April against the Chicago White Sox, Farmer found a Cloverdale summer sausage in his locker. He didn't want it, so he set the sausage on a table in the clubhouse for teammates to enjoy.
For some reason, Twins hitting coach David Popkins grabbed the sausage off the table and brought it to the dugout. The Twins won that day, so the sausage stayed. It became the center of celebrations after a homer or a big hit, as Minnesota catcher Ryan Jeffers would chuck the sausage at a teammate as he strolled back into the dugout.
The Twins went on to win 12 straight games, tied for the second-longest winning streak in franchise history.
Minnesota and Seattle continue their series Tuesday at Target Field. The original rally sausage likely will be in attendance, too—just don't tell the FDA.
