Blue Jays’ Yusei Kikuchi accidentally tackled Tyler Soderstrom on a pop fly and MLB fans had so many jokes

Who says baseball isn’t a contact sport?

If anybody tries to claim that baseball isn’t a contact sport, all you have to do is show them some Yusei Kikuchi tackling highlights. You’ll win that argument.

Among the many issues at the Oakland Athletics’ home field of Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum is that there is a preposterous amount of foul territory. So, you’ll actually find players hanging out at the edge of the dugout and bullpen in order to catch a glimpse of the action on the field.

Even with that in mind, though, I’m not exactly sure what Kikuchi was doing with Davis Schneider up in the 10th inning.

Schneider hit a pop up down the first base line into foul territory, and as Oakland’s Tyler Soderstrom tracked the ball for what should have been a routine catch, he was de-cleated by Kikuchi.

Kikuchi seemingly panicked when he saw the pop up heading in his direction. But rather than staying put in the bench area, he elected to run forward onto the field and accidentally collided with Soderstrom.

Schneider was called out on the play due to Kikuchi’s obstruction. But that didn’t stop MLB fans from making jokes about the tackle.

This was how Twitter/X reacted

Keep that head on a swivel when Yusei is around.

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