Recapping MLBN's 'Did You See That!?!?!?'

Every MLB season has its share of "Whoa!" moments, and even with a 60-game schedule, the 2020 campaign was no exception. MLB Network aired "Did You See That!?!?!?" on Sunday night, a show compiling some of the most amazing, strange and rare plays and games from last season. Here's a breakdown of some of them:

Outrageous Plays

Mookie did what now?
Mookie Betts is in the highest echelon of MLB position players, and it’s not a surprise that he does so many things that dazzle us both at the plate and in the field. But there are some plays that leave us breathless even if they come from a player of Betts’ caliber. Case in point: On July 31 at Arizona, Betts picked up a broken-bat bloop by the D-backs’ Ketel Marte in the right-field corner. Marte, who has above-average speed, was headed for a triple. Then Betts unleashed a 305-foot frozen rope to third base to nab an incredulous Marte, once again demonstrating the aptness of Betts’ initials -- M.L.B. And on top of that, the throw was the exact same distance and to the same bag as another incredible assist he made while with the Red Sox in 2019.

White Sox sock four consecutive homers
The White Sox are fun. They have an exciting group of young players and their lineup exudes power. So, yeah, we knew we were going to see some homers. But what we didn’t know was that they would come courtesy of four consecutive batters on Aug. 16 vs. the Cardinals at Guaranteed Rate Field -- Yoán Moncada, Yasmani Grandal, José Abreu and Eloy Jiménez all went yard in succession during a 7-2 win over St. Louis.

That’s ‘Slam Diego’ to you
Grand slams are exciting. Unless you’re the pitcher who served it up, it’s fun to watch runners jogging on every basepath on the diamond. There are fun play-by-play calls, like Dave Niehaus’ famous “Break out the rye bread, grandma -- it’s time for some salami!” But the 2020 Padres took it to a whole new level by becoming the first club in MLB history to launch a grand slam in four consecutive games -- Fernando Tatis Jr. smashed his first career slam on Aug. 17 against the Rangers in Texas. Then Wil Myers belted a slam against Texas the next day, Manny Machado hit a walk-off slam against Texas in San Diego the following game, and Eric Hosmer capped off history with his grand slam against -- yup -- the Rangers on Aug. 20.

You couldn’t write a better script
Imagine you’re a big league hitter. You get a ball thrown very near your head at triple-digit velocity by Aroldis Chapman during the regular season. Then you come up against him in the decisive Game 5 of the AL Division Series, with the game tied at 1 in the eighth inning. A home run? Not a chance, you’re thinking -- that would be too perfect. Actually, that’s exactly what happened when Mike Brosseau connected with a 100.2-mph fastball from Chapman and deposited it in the left-field seats at Petco Park. His clutch solo shot was the difference in the Rays’ 2-1, series-clinching victory.

You are the one, Neo -- er, Fernando
The Padres were hosting the Rockies on Sept. 8, and it was your ordinary ballgame when a pitch got away from Colorado starter Chi Chi González and headed up and in on Fernando Tatis Jr. What followed looked like an optical illusion -- Tatis, somehow, bent his upper body completely backwards while his feet remained planted in the batter’s box before returning to an upright position. Just another way Tatis has amazed us in just 143 career games -- he could find himself caught in “the Matrix” and survive.

Bloopers

Teddy bear a victim of ‘foul play’
You knew that at some point, we’d have the ultimate 2020 blooper involving an artificial fan in the stands. What we couldn’t have predicted was that it would be … a stuffed bear? A foul ball off the bat of the D-backs’ Ketel Marte (there he is again!) at the Oakland Coliseum hit one of many stuffed teddy bears placed in the stands by the A’s on Aug. 20. Thankfully, the bear -- bandaged up -- was OK and back in his seat the next day. But the elephant next to him brought along what he surely considered a “bear necessity” -- a helmet.

A four-base error?
Yes, you read that correctly. On Aug. 9 at Globe Life Field, the Rangers’ Nick Solak hit a fly ball to deep right field. Tracking it was Angels rookie Jo Adell, who seemed as though he’d make the catch at the warning track, but the ball bounced out of his glove and right over the fence. Solak was initially credited with a home run, but that was later changed to a four-base error on Adell. It’s certainly no “Canseco,” but it’s memorable nonetheless.

Adell again? What are the odds?
What are the chances that Adell would knock a second ball over the fence in the same season? It happened when Adell, this time in center field against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 26, went back on a deep drive by Edwin Ríos and deflected the baseball over the wall as he tried to make a jumping catch. Brutal.

Albies-to-Melancon quite the connection
In Game 1 of the NL Championship Series between the Braves and Dodgers at Globe Life Field, Ozzie Albies launched a ninth-inning home run to help Atlanta take a 1-0 series lead. Braves closer Mark Melancon, who was warming up in the bullpen, caught it in the air. Pretty cool, you’d say. In Game 2 the next night, Albies homered in the ninth of another Atlanta win. Wow, what a coincidence, you might think. Melancon caught that one, too. What?!

Randy: R(akes) A(ll) N(ight), D(ay), Y(ear)
Randy Arozarena enjoyed a postseason for the ages, single-handedly rewriting the record books in several individual categories, including hits and homers. The president of his fan club? That would be teammate Brett Phillips, who got creative with Arozarena’s first name on a small dry-erase board in the dugout.

Stats/oddities

Happy birthday, indeed

Some guys just have a knack for coming through on special occasions. There’s Ken Griffey Jr., who hit his 400th home run on his father’s birthday, and then his 500th on Father’s Day with Ken Griffey Sr. in attendance. There’s Derek Jeter, who made hit No. 3,000 a homer and made the final hit of his Yankee Stadium career a walk-off single.

And then there’s Mike Trout, who, in addition to continuing to prove year-in and year-out that he’s the best baseball player on the planet, hits home runs on his birthday with remarkable consistency -- on Aug. 7, his 29th birthday, he launched his fifth birthday round-tripper, a two-run shot in the first inning against the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

Alexander K's 9 straight
Wait, how many? The first nine Reds who came to the plate to face Tigers left-hander Tyler Alexander at Comerica Park in the first game of a doubleheader on Aug. 2 all struck out. That tied the AL record for consecutive strikeouts in a game, held by a former Tiger, Doug Fister, who accomplished the feat at Comerica Park in 2012. Ironically, Alexander isn’t a strikeout pitcher. He said after the game that he wasn’t initially trying to strike guys out in this particular appearance, “but I would say after the fifth strikeout I was trying to strike people out.”

Bieber fastest to 100 Ks in a season
Striking out 100 batters in a season is an accomplishment for a Major League pitcher. To do that in 62 1/3 innings over eight starts, that’s something else entirely. So it went in 2020 for Cleveland right-hander and reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber, who was utterly overpowering in the abbreviated campaign. He is the fastest starting pitcher to reach 100 strikeouts in a season since 1900, by innings pitched -- he eclipsed the old mark of 63 innings by Max Scherzer in 2018.

Astros make postseason history with bookend homers
George Springer went deep on the first pitch of ALCS Game 5 against the Rays, a must-win for the Astros to survive in the postseason. And on the last pitch a Houston batter would see in this game, Carlos Correa launched a walk-off homer in the ninth. It marked the first time any team hit a leadoff homer and a walk-off homer in the same postseason game.

Will Smith vs. … Will Smith? Who won? Will Smith!
With the Dodgers on the brink of elimination, down 3-1 in the NLCS against the Braves, Los Angeles trailed, 2-1, in Game 5. But in the sixth inning, Will Smith changed that by launching a go-ahead, three-run homer off of … Will Smith? Yep -- the Braves’ reliever, that is. The Dodgers went on to win that game before winning the next two to clinch the pennant.