Nothing about the Milwaukee Brewers’ ascent to a National League powerhouse this season has felt normal, so it’s fitting they benefitted from one of the wildest plays of the 2025 MLB Playoffs in Game 1 of their NLCS series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the fourth when Max Muncy came to the plate. Muncy drove a pitch from Quinn Priester deep into centerfield, and it looked like it was about to go over the wall. Milwaukee’s Sal Frelick tracked the ball to the wall, got a glove on it …. but the ball popped out of his glove, off the wall, and back into his glove. Frelick then threw home, where LA’s runners were scrambling to get back and tag up. The relay throw beat the runner home for the force out, and then catcher Willson Contreras ran over to third to get the third out of the inning.
Sounds exhausting, doesn’t it? Watch the entire sequence here.
Here’s another look at the rely throw, and the run to third to get two force outs.
The Dodgers thought Frelick caught it, and Teoscar Hernández tried to tag from third to home. The ball hit the wall, so it wasn’t a catch. The throw beat Hernandez home for the force out, and then the runners needed to advance but didn’t, so Milwaukee was able to get the force out at third as well.
The Dodgers were so close to a grand slam, and instead it turned into an inning-ending double play. There’s nothing like playoff baseball.
