Mitch Garver May Be The Smartest Man In Baseball After Forcing Chris Bassitt Into a Balk Last Night

If this would've failed, Mitch Garver would've looked like a complete knucklehead. But it worked, so Garver is officially a genius. I was watching the live, and even I was confused. For people who may not be familiar, a pitcher is allowed two disengagements per at bat. On the third disengagement, if a runner is not picked off, they're allowed an extra base. Bassitt seemed a little bit unsure of himself during this at bat. He stepped off multiple times. With the third baseman playing back, and Mitch Garver not having to worry about getting picked off, he broke for home, forcing Chris Bassitt to step off the mound. By the time he made it back to third base, it was all but too late. By rule, Garver scored from third. 

There are two ways to look at this. Either Chris Bassitt is really stupid and committed a brain fart, or Mitch Garver is brilliant. I'm going to go with the latter here. This is a big-brain baseball move. I feel like Garver is playing into a pitcher's natural instinct here. Even with multiple disengagements, if you see a runner that far off of third base, it's human nature to want to hop off the mound. That's a smart fucking move by Garver. He can look forward to seeing that on 1000 IQ baseball play compilations for the next hundred years. 

I'm kind of stunned that we're almost halfway through September, and we're yet to see a play like this in Major League Baseball. Maybe there is an example that I'm missing, but I feel like Garver may have found a loophole here. No matter the circumstance, this would've been impressive, but this is a huge series for these two teams. The Rangers have been reeling, but they're only a half-game back of the Blue Jays for that last Wild Card spot. This is the kind of big-brain shit that gets you into October. Good for Mitch Garver. The Rangers would go on to destroy the Blue Jays last night.