An episode that looked like a perfectly staged sports comedy occurred in MLB.
During the game Milwaukee Brewers — Chicago Cubs on September 1 Cubs player Michael Busch hit a short ball to left field. And then three Brewers players — Joey Ortiz, Cooper Pratt, and Jackson Chourio — all dashed for it at once.
There was only one problem.
All three decided the ball was theirs.
A second later, instead of a nice out, it turned into a real pile-up: the players collided at full speed, and the ball calmly fell nearby and became a double.
The sequence of the episode was roughly like this:
Ortiz: "Mine!"
Pratt: "Mine!"
Chourio: "Actually, it's mine!"
Ball: "Well then, I'll just lie here."
It looked funny, although in the first seconds the Brewers were not in the mood for laughter. Cooper Pratt got the worst of it, and medics immediately ran onto the field. Fortunately, all three quickly recovered and were able to continue the game.
How could three professionals collide like that?
There is a perfectly logical explanation.
The match was played at the famous Wrigley Field in Chicago, where it can be very noisy. Ortiz admitted after the game that the players simply could not hear each other well.
And perhaps the best description of the episode came from Christian Yelich. He said that he himself had often ended up in such a "zoo" while catching the ball there.
So the problem was not that nobody wanted to take the ball.
Quite the opposite.
Everyone wanted to catch it.
And it all ended well
The best part: the comedy did not cost the Brewers the win.
Milwaukee came back and won the game 9:4, and Ortiz later even hit a two-run home run.
So the story got a perfect sports ending:
three people simultaneously ran to do the same thing, collided, lost the ball...
...and then won anyway.
And after the match, Ortiz summed up the main takeaway of the evening perhaps better than anyone:
it is good that everyone wants to catch the ball. But it is better not to do it like that again. 😄
