The 7 best moments from a wild day of baseball

Did you watch all of that? Did you watch all of that? We all thought last Saturday was crazy (the one with the first Oscar Gonzalez walk-off hit), but yesterday was perhaps even wilder. We had a walk-off. We had an inside-the-park homer. We had multiple late-inning comebacks. We had multiple eliminations. We had SpongeBob.

It was a day of almost inconceivable highlights. Here’s a look at the seven best moments the day gave us.

1. Oscar Gonzalez’s walk-off single
Players dream their entire careers of getting the game-winning hit in a postseason game. Oscar Gonzalez has done it three times in a week. (We hope the rookie realizes it’s not always going to be like this … is it?). Guardians fans lost their minds (and collectively sang the SpongeBob theme song), Yankees fans’ jaws hit the floor and suddenly, Cleveland is one win away from its third ALCS this century.

2. Jake Cronenworth’s two-run single
“Beat LA!” “Beat LA!” Sorry, it’s really hard to type anything about Cronenworth’s face-melting two-run single off Alex Vesia, capping off a five-run seventh inning that had the Petco Park crowd dancing in the aisles, without that phrase ringing in our heads. That whole seventh inning was full of increasingly loud noises, from Ha-Seong Kim’s double to Juan Soto’s game-tying single (his first real Padres _moment_), but that place exploded when Cronenworth hit that ball up the middle. The Padres have vanquished their hated rival and are on to the NLCS against the Phillies. Once more for the folks in the back: "Beat LA!” “Beat LA!"

3. Jeremy Peña’s homer
After 17 innings of scoreless baseball -- 17 innings! -- you can forgive fans for wondering whether Peña’s homer in the top of the 18th might have been a mass hallucination event. A riveting, nerve-shredding game ended with Peña’s blast finally setting the stage for the Astros to send everyone home. Don’t worry, Mariners fans: Not all postseason games are like this. For those of you keeping track of player status at home, that’s two rookies atop this list, by the way.

4. Brandon Marsh’s three-run homer
All told, this didn’t quite have the drama of Rhys Hoskins’ epic blast the day before. But it assured everyone -- not least of all the Braves -- that the Phillies were going to remain in control of this series, and that their seemingly blessed postseason run is far from over.

5. J.T. Realmuto’s inside-the-park homer
It was the 18th postseason inside-the-parker in AL/NL history, the first since 2017 and the first ever by a catcher. Realmuto may have single-handedly dragged the Phillies into the postseason. He has now had his first big postseason moment in his first-ever postseason. Sure feels like there are more to come.

6. Julio Rodríguez’s catch
We would have never made it to the 18th inning, or the 17th, if it hadn’t been for J-Rod’s incredible catch in the 16th, a play that saved two runs, kept the Mariners alive and had the desperate-to-roar crowd going bonkers. The postseason is over for Rodríguez and the Mariners, but that play augurs many more highlights left to come.

7. Aaron Judge’s homer
Oh, yes, in case you forgot amidst all that end-of-game madness: Aaron Judge finally homered! After his miserable start to the ALDS, Judge launched a majestic two-run rocket in the top of the third inning to tie the game and give the Yankees life. New York would end up losing, but Judge is off the schneid and perhaps ready to rediscover his MVP form. The Yankees will need that version of Judge if they want to extend their season in Sunday’s lone game.