The Washington Nationals are alone at the bottom of the National League, and it’s easy to see why. They make mistakes that simply would never happen to good teams.
But hey, at least some of those errors offer comedic value. We certainly saw that on Monday night.
With the score tied in the fifth inning against the Mariners, Teoscar Hernandez hit a hard grounder that ricochetted off the foot of pitcher Cory Abbott and went towards Dominic Smith at first base. Smith went to retrieve the ball with his bare hand, and then it got real weird. Smith tossed the ball to an empty first base as if he expected Abbott to be covering the bag. But he was facing Abbott. Like, he had to know the bag was empty.
A very nifty throw to no one pic.twitter.com/vjHfTWNILn
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 27, 2023
Since nobody was around to catch that toss, Hernandez advanced to second on the throwing error. He would later score in the inning, and the Mariners went on to win, 8-4.
As far as errors go, you won’t see many funnier mistakes this season. The throw itself wasn’t bad, but Smith had to know that first base was empty. Who did he think was going to be there?
You can’t blame MLB fans for making plenty of jokes about the blunder.
This was how Twitter reacted
You’ve heard of the “Ghost Fork”, now it’s the “Ghost Infielder” https://t.co/EVvxrzmiI4
— Jason Alan McLain (@JasonWFD) June 27, 2023
Who did the first basemen think was there 😭😭😭 https://t.co/E979VG8cY2
— Jboom (@jboomer77) June 27, 2023
Who did he think was going to be there? 😂 https://t.co/c8LE0WcqUS
— jadyn. (@itsJadynNow) June 27, 2023
Ah yes the ol’ “1-3-nobody” https://t.co/DMpekAs9aB
— Markatron (@Markatron55) June 27, 2023
This actually made me laugh out loud for quite a while.
I miss the old blooper reels they used to show. This is funny! #baseball #bloopers https://t.co/tpUjIiWlRG— Bridge to Buctober Podcast (@bridge2buctober) June 27, 2023
Someone tell Dom he’s no longer on the Mets. https://t.co/xaVOf73tvN
— Mills (@MillManner) June 27, 2023
Listen to the announcer dying of laughter lol https://t.co/LttAwFxvJ6 pic.twitter.com/iDHa3iTMjc
— somebody told me score (@youdontknowell) June 27, 2023
Who is on first?? https://t.co/ChEXyTXKDW
— Yumi_Jaymesme (@Yumi_Jaymesme) June 27, 2023
We lost a series to that team. https://t.co/xAUomuAu3i
— Chris (@aguirre237) June 27, 2023