Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical column to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
Maybe the natural chaos embedded in baseball springs from the soul of Javy Báez. Last May, as a member of the Cubs, the tricky shortstop was at the center of the season’s most inexplicable chain of events when he somehow confused the Pirates into ignoring the laws of the sport and refusing to retire him by simply stepping on first base.
He was not quite as involved in the most chaotic play MLB has seen since then, which unfolded during Tuesday night’s contest between Baez’s Tigers and the Twins. But he was indeed on the field once again when a game featuring some of the most talented baseball players on the planet turned into what appeared to be a Little League matchup on its nonsensical, awkward, exhilarating final play. And this time, through no fault of his own, Báez ended up on the wrong side of the action.
