Toronto Mike

Did That Really Happen? Canada's Crazy Gold in Men's Baseball

I watched every minute of last night's gold medal baseball game between Canada and the United States. No, it wasn't on television, but a live stream was readily available here. I Chromecast it to my television screen and settled in for a great night of ball.

With the game tied at 4, it went into extra innings. That's when things got a little weird. International baseball has this bizarre rule where you start extra innings with runners at first and second and lead off with any part of the lineup you desire. Crazy, eh? It reminds me of slo-pitch tournaments where we start extras with a runner on second base and one out, but that always made sense because another game was scheduled to use the same diamond right afterwards.

Once I wrapped my head around this little twist, I watched the United States score two runs in the top of the 10th and hoped for the best. That's when I witnessed my first ever walk-off failed pickoff play.

The camera angles for this game were less than ideal. On this final, exhilarating, gold medal clinching play, I didn't even know we were sending the winning run in from third. Suddenly, while I was still celebrating the tying run, there was a play at the plate. I've never seen anything like it.

Here's how it all went down. Crazy!

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