Fans can’t believe Addison Barger’s blast was ruined by a dead ball

Addison Barger did nothing but contribute positively to the Toronto Blue Jays throughout the season. In fact, he currently boasts a 1.009 OPS in this year’s postseason, and he scored one run for Toronto on Friday night in Game 6 World Series to at least put pressure on Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And then in the ninth inning, Barger appeared to have another magical October moment, hitting a ball to deep left field with one on and no outs.

The ball Barger hit looked like it had a chance to get out of the park. But it did not lead to a tie. Instead, it stuck right under the cladding on the outer wall. As a result, the Dodgers called a dead ball, and the umpires ruled it as such (correctly), limiting Barger to a grounder’s double and stranding lead runner Miles Straw at third in the process.

Fans on social media were on their feet; Blue Jays fans, in particular, are wondering why in the world the ball was dead when it was in play. But the rulebook says balls like the one hit by Barger are, indeed, ground-rule doubles.

“He was able to pull the ball well after he stopped waving his arms,” ​​X user @DamnItdale88 wrote.

“The luck the Dodgers have had is crazy. Even God wants them to win. There’s nothing you can do when God’s not on your side, I guess…” @svarnadc he added.

“Why not just the bottom of the wall be a strip of plastic or something without any floor so the balls don’t get stuck,” @Space__Pug further.

“He fielded the ball while Barger was still running the bases and walked home, wouldn’t that invalidate the ‘passed’ rule? The ball was clearly fielded and he should have just left it entirely up to the umpires to decide, but it was playable. The umpires just saved LA,” @jhart9243 expressed.

The Blue Jays lose Addison Barger on a fumble

In game 3, The Blue Jays couldn’t capitalize plenty of chances to take the lead, as their aggressive base running was punished by the Dodgers’ heads-up setup.

In Game 6, Barger’s resilience and mental strength will be tested. To end the game, he was caught at second base after Quique Hernandez threw a fly ball to Miguel Rojas and Barger got too far off base. The Blue Jays vets need to reel in the 25-year-old outfielder and tell him to just shrug off a mistake of that magnitude because they still have a Game 7 to play.