The timing of the stadium lights turning off could not have been worse.
If you’re a baseball fan, or a sports fan in general, you’ve probably noticed that the stadium and arena lights have become a big part of a team’s presentation. Gone are the days when a floodlight needed a couple of minutes to warm up. Now, professional teams turn their lights on and off all the time to help create an exciting environment and atmosphere for fans.
However, this video below shows the negative aspect of doing in-game light shows. Though it might be cool for the MLB to turn the lights off and literally shine a spotlight on a relief pitcher entering into the game, maybe they should have some sort of signal to make sure that the bullpen catcher has enough time to catch the last warm-up pitch thrown. I’m no expert in baseball, but I’d assume you’d rather it not be pitch black (pun somewhat intended) when you are trying to catch a baseball.
During a matchup in San Francisco last night between the Giants and the New York Mets, pitcher Camilo Doval was summoned to the mound. The San Francisco team was introducing their new pitcher-entrance-spotlight, which requires for most of the stadium lights to be turned off. That made for a cool moment, but also an accidental living nightmare for the bullpen pitcher.
Only because the light operator shut the lights off right as Camilo was releasing his last practice pitch, as you can see in the video below:
That’s insane.
Social media is usually a mean, unjust, and unruly place, but this time around, those online couldn’t help but worry for the safety and well-being of the bullpen pitcher. Though some people still cracked a couple of jokes, a lot of people were just left to wonder if the catcher out in the bullpen was alright after the horribly timed cutting of the lights:
Lmaooo imagine you’re catching in the bullpen and this guy is throwing 100 mph cutters and all of a sudden, as he releases the ball, the lights go out completely 💀 https://t.co/3v8oTI0uS0
— 𝕏 legend VinRBI ✝️ (@VinRBI) April 23, 2024
So… did he just light up his bullpen catcher’s guts? Lmao lights went out right when he threw!! lol
— John Kirkish (@kirkish_john) April 23, 2024
Bullpen catcher pic.twitter.com/UUXHs0Q6gH
— AJ (@Arock49) April 23, 2024
Dying to know if the bullpen catcher caught the fastball he threw just as the lights went out https://t.co/NAJtxDFu3z
— Dave (@gggiants) April 23, 2024
The bullpen catcher prolly caught that fastball from Doval like this once the lights went out 😆 https://t.co/vSltnqcr8A pic.twitter.com/odLC2Eo9bM
— ✊🏼 (@BigLou559) April 23, 2024
Bullpen catcher: https://t.co/X5iNgQkQtL pic.twitter.com/XUFsYQcNvi
— Ty (@tymitt19) April 23, 2024
