Most Exciting Baseball Plays, Ranked

There’s not much happening besides baseball right now, but that’s okay. It’s a great sport because every single pitch is an opportunity to see a new, weird thing.

We got to discussing this article, and then to enumerating the seemingly unlimited number of very specific, thrilling plays that can happen on a baseball field. Then we rated them and tallied up the scores.

1. Killing a bird mid-air with a pitchT2. Rocket throw-out from the outfieldT2. Adrian Beltre moving the on-deck circleT4. Home-run robberyT4. Inside-the-park homer6. 500-foot home run7. 500-foot home run off a knuckle-ball that doesn’t knuckle8. Catcher getting bowled over but still holding onto the ballT9. Triple playT9. Straight steal of home11. Grabbing Don Zimmer by his big fat head and gently placing him on the ground12. Suicide squeeze13. Unassisted triple play14. Position player strikes someone out15. Runner avoids a tag at the plateT16. Diving into the stands for a catchT16. Knocking over the catcher to score18. Eephus pitch19. Catcher picks off a runner at first20. Pitcher catches a fast liner21. A long-ass throw from third to first22. Game-ending wild pitchT23. Home run off the foul poleT23. Base hit off a pitch in the dirtT23. Shortstop makes the long throw to first with his momentum in the opposite direction (“The Jeter”)T26. Called third strike on a knee-buckling curveT26. A pitcher throws his whole glove over to firstT26. Double steal29. Vulture steal of home30. Screaming line-drive catch by an infielder31. Any bat flip32. 100 mph fastball strikeout33. Infielder barehands a ballT34. Bunt singleT34. Called third strike on a backdoor slider36. Outfielder’s shoestring catch of a sinking liner37. Infielder’s over-the-shoulder basket catch38. Reaching base on a dropped third strike39. Pitcher home run40. Walk-off bases-loaded walk41. Several quality innings of relief42. Being the bird killed mid-air with a pitch 43. Balk