The A's and Tigers just ripped a hole in the space-time continuum
OK kids, gather 'round. It's time for a science lesson.*
Please note that I am not a scientist, nor a doctor, but I feel qualified to identify when something is just flat-out bizarre -- and Friday night's A's-Tigers game qualifies. The two clubs were picking up where they left off on May 19 at Detroit's Comerica Park, where a rainstorm forced the postponement of their game.
Circumstances of travel and schedule issues meant they had to resume the game on Friday, in Oakland, with the A's as the VISITING team and the Tigers the HOME team. Again, in OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.
Got it? It's OK if you don't. Just keep reading.
Here's the Coliseum on Friday afternoon -- er, I mean Comerica Park. I think? I dunno. I'm confused.
Welcome to Comerica Park. At the Coliseum? pic.twitter.com/KskpqJeh0B
— Subscribe to Cut4 on YouTube!!!! (@Cut4) September 6, 2019
OK, let's get even weirder. A's catcher Sean Murphy was in the game when it resumed on Friday night in the second Major League game of his career, after debuting earlier this week. But Friday's game is technically a game from May 19.
Sean Murphy is a time traveler. I'm pretty sure that's what this means. A time-traveling, home run-mashing rookie catcher playing two games in three days, but four months apart. (Kinda. Just go with it, please).
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Tigers infielder Josh Harrison struck out without even being at the ballpark. He was released by the Tigers on August 9, but the first out of the seventh was a strikeout by Jordy Mercer, but credited to Harrison, per baseball rules. That's a rough Friday night for Josh, wherever he may be.
This is SO weird. My brain is tying itself in knots as I type each sentence.
Josh Harrison hasn’t played for the Tigers since May 27th.
— Subscribe to Cut4 on YouTube!!!! (@Cut4) September 7, 2019
Josh Harrison just technically struck out on September 6th. pic.twitter.com/ZPJRnywNi9
For even MORE weirdness, check out how current Cubs slugger Nicholas Castellanos also became involved in Friday night's shenanigans in Oakland while he was in Milwaukee:
Nicholas Castellanos just homered for the Cubs in MIL. This one counts for September 6 of course, no funky business, but it IS fun to think about this...
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 7, 2019
he homered on May 19 for the Tigers against the A's and that game *just* ended.
(also both HR were in the 3rd inning!) pic.twitter.com/CTciGXwzbC
I have some questions regarding the time situation regarding this game, but from a fan's perspective. Namely, does the rip in the space-time continuum apply to fans as well? If, back on May 19, I had a mustache, but I don't have one on the date of the game's resumption, did I ever really have that mustache?
If I got a tattoo pertaining to the A's during that suspended game four months ago, does that tattoo disappear off my body now? Or does it get bigger? Seriously, I don't know the answers to these questions, but I'm getting anxious thinking about it. Maybe I should go lie down.
Ridiculous hypothetical butterfly effect questions aside, the concept of picking up a suspended game months later in a different ballpark isn't unheard of in baseball, but that doesn't take away from the head-scratching oddness of what's going on in this make-up situation.
Time-traveling catchers, disappearing infielders, and -- oh yeah, this one's pretty good too -- pitcher Jake Diekman has now technically pitched in two separate games both taking place on May 19.
Jake Diekman has pitched for two teams in two different cities on May 19...he is pitching in Oakland now after pitching for Kansas City at Los Angeles on May 19
— Mike Selleck (@MikeSelleck) September 7, 2019
If I can impart any wisdom after taking in this surreal scene in Oakland tonight, it's this: Let's just not think about this too much. If we do, the space-time continuum might fully explode (or implode, or whatever the space-time continuum does when things get REALLY insane), and you know what happens then, right?
Adrian Garro joined MLB.com in 2016. Throughout his travels, both Bartolo Colon and Vin Scully have placed their hands on his shoulders. Not at the same time, though. That'd be amazing.
