A gust of wind helped Carlos Santana lead off ALDS Game 3 with a bizarre popup single

Both infielders and outfielders are no strangers to battling the elements to make a play. Usually, though, the enemy is the sun -- that giant ball of fire that allows for life on Earth and occasionally makes even the best fielders look like part of a slapstick routine:

As the leaves change color and the calendar turns to October, though, a new menace emerges: the wind. Poor Xander Bogaerts found this out the hard way during the very first at-bat of Boston's 4-3 loss in ALDS Game 3 at Fenway Park.
Carlos Santana lifted a popup into foul territory down the third-base line. Bogaerts -- the only man on the left side of the infield because Boston had the shift on -- drifted over, comfortable that he was making a routine play. And then the ball started to drift ... and drift ... and drift, until, suddenly, it was headed toward fair territory. Bogaerts tried to make a diving recovery, but the ball fell, and Santana was safely at first with a single.
Santana wouldn't come around to score, but the Indians got the last laugh -- they advanced to the ALCS with the win, and will face off against the Blue Jays on Friday at 8 p.m. ET on TBS and Sportsnet. And, as always, Mother Nature remains undefeated.