Juan Soto took an unreal amount of time returning to the field in the 9th inning: ‘Is this the big leagues?’

It was the ninth inning! What was he doing???

The end of the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants’ battle on Tuesday was that of a weird instant classic — a walk-off walk win for the Giants.

But before the bases could even get loaded up for the Giants, every position player for the Padres had to be in place in the field. That includes, you know, Juan Soto, San Diego’s best player. For whatever reason, Soto took so long to return to the field between innings.

He was so late that he even drew the ire of the broadcasters, who pondered whether Soto was breaking some kind of rule:

I don’t know what Soto got up to during his break, but it had to be pretty unusual to stop the game, draw criticism from the broadcast, and even see Giants manager Gabe Kapler advocate for his team.

In a way, the Giants later winning on their walk-off walk was fitting, given how long everyone had to wait for Soto.