With the contest still scoreless, Game 1 of the NLCS between the Dodgers and Brewers came to a stunning halt in the fourth inning Monday, as Max Muncy‘s fly to deep center with the bases loaded and one out led to mayhem on the field and several minutes of figuring out what had just happened.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?!?! #NLCS pic.twitter.com/x7BbmJ6hzX
— MLB (@MLB) October 14, 2025
As was correctly ruled, Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick missed out on a jumping catch, with the ball bouncing off the wall and back into his glove. None of the men on base seemed to notice that, though, and with only the left-field umpire making any sort of ruling, the Dodgers’ runners were just left to guess where to go next.
Still, while it’s understandable that the players on first and second weren’t sure what was going on, the runner who really shouldn’t have had much of an issue was Teoscar Hernández at third base. Hernández ought to have been standing on third base and ready to score whether the ball was caught or not. However, in the confusion, he left initially and then went back to tag, giving the Brewers enough time to retire him on a force out at home plate. Brewers catcher William Contreras then ran the ball to third for an extremely unlikely double play.
To reiterate, if Frelick had simply caught the ball, the Dodgers would have taken a 1-0 lead on a sac fly. If Hernández had done his job, it also would have been 1-0, with the Brewers probably still getting an out at third base. If there had been two outs when Muncy hit, rather than one, the Dodgers would have scored two or three runs, since the runners would have been off with the ball in play. Instead, it’s 0-0, and poor Muncy, an extreme fly-ball hitter who very rarely hits into double plays, gets tagged with the GIDP on a 404-foot fly that should have been a double.
