Josh Naylor was doing everything that he could to give his team an advantage in Game 7 of the ALCS.
The Seattle Mariners first baseman Naylor had a bizarre moment on the basepaths during Monday’s winner-take-all game against the Toronto Blue Jays. During the first inning at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ont., Naylor hit a one-out RBI single to score the first run of the game and give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
But Seattle’s Jorge Polanco followed up Naylor’s hit with a tailor-made double-play ball to Toronto third baseman Ernie Clement. After ranging deep to his left to cut off the ball, Clement stepped on second base himself and then attempted to fire back to first to complete the double play.
Unfortunately, the ball ended striking the helmet of Naylor, who had strangely jumped up into the path of the throw. After briefly conferring with one another, the umpires ruled that Naylor had committed runner interference and thus called out Polanco to end the inning,
Here is the full video of the unusual sequence.
Blue Jays get the inning-ending double play after the umpires rule that Josh Naylor deliberately got in the way of the throw to first pic.twitter.com/q5O4i41TWt
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 21, 2025
Naylor was clearly trying to get creative there to break up the double play. While the move was obviously highly illegal (according to the MLB rulebook), you can’t knock Naylor for his effort.
The 2024 All-Star Naylor has been a monster at the plate this postseason and entered play on Monday with a .429 batting average overall, including three homers and four RBIs. But you never know quite what is going to happen when Naylor gets on the basepaths as he was also called out for stealing signs earlier during the playoffs.
