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Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor take part in Mic’d Up action during Nationals/Mets

New York- Major League Baseball’s progression to growing the game and its audience has been a difficult task in the last ten years or so. One action MLB and its entertainment industry hit the nail on the head-on was its creation of Play Loud. On MLB’s YouTube channel, the league releases mic’d-up moments from games the prior week in daily episodes. Play Loud is an inside glimpse of players and their way of approaching in-game fundamentals, creating chemistry with teammates and ultimately having fun on the field. To add to that, Play Loud was a fabulous idea and does an amazing job in the aspect of promoting the game. In less than five minutes, you learn so much about certain individuals. 

Regardless of how talented and impressive Juan Sotos skillset and statistics are. Soto is seen having fun, enjoying the sport by interacting with opponents and teammates consistently. Furthermore, you develop more of an idea of who he is as a person as well as a player. Soto loved watching Dragon Ball Z as a child growing up in the Dominican Republic. The baseball superstar is only 23 years old and basically has accomplished every milestone in the book. Soto is a World Series Champion (2019), All-Star (2021) and National League Batting Title (2020). To be honest, he is just beginning his dynamic, transcendent reign in Major League Baseball. 

Soto is seen using baseball fundamentals that players learned in the early years of little league. For example, calling “I got it” multiple times while tracking and catching a flyball. This shows current youngsters that the skills you learned in practice are supplemental to action in games throughout the big leagues. Another glimpse is the excitement in pregame and live interactions during the games. In the video, Soto chants “Let’s go” repeatedly hyping him and his teammates up to begin the game. Mets Pete Alonso says “hi” to his mom and dad, “I love you” to his wife on the microphone while Soto was on first base. These authentic moments in baseball catch the fun side of the game. 

To pair with Soto, Francisco Lindor chose to use the microphone for one of last week’s games in the nation’s capital, Washington D.C., at Nationals Park. Since his Cleveland playing days, Lindor has been known for always smiling and enjoying himself on the baseball diamond. In Play Loud, Lindor wishes the opposing catcher good luck plus, before his first at-bat, welcomes the home plate umpire. These little things make baseball more enjoyable for the viewer. 

When Lindor reached base, he greeted Nationals first baseman Josh Bell, informing him that he was currently mic’d up. Bell immediately said “Hi mom. Hi, dad. Love you guys.” With a laugh, “That’s real love right there” Bell hears as Lindor takes his lead. See, right there are the in-game interactions the fans tend to miss out due to the fact MLB did not provide viewers with this live, joyful entertainment until last season. 

The nasty brutal aspect of baseball took place during the Mets-Nationals game on Friday, April 8th. Lindor was caught on the chin-guard/part of the face from an 88 MPH fastball from Nats reliever, Steve Cishek. The 4x All-Star, Lindor looked in pain and shock at first. Fortunately enough, he was able to slowly grimace up to his feet.

The benches cleared as the Mets dugout showed they had their franchise players back at all costs. Tons of shouting and shoving occurred, but ultimately that was all. First up from the steps, manager Buck Showalter emphasizes the accidental and/or intentional cases of throwing up and it will not be tolerated against his squad. The scuffle only lasted five minutes at most. 

The microphone on Lindor catches Showalter stating his plea to Lindor for him to be removed from the game for evaluation and play it safe. With the baseball mindset in him, Lindor demands to stay in the game “No, no. You ain’t taking me out.” Showalter responds with “I don’t like it, let’s go see what we got. I wanna see what we’ve got”, regarding the status of the injury. Ultimately, Showalter won the battle in the end and Lindor exited the game saying “I appreciate you boys” to his teammates for stepping up for him and checking that he’s okay at the moment. He received x-rays and was all set to go back into game action the next day. 

These small, yet not often times in baseball are significant to a team’s development of chemistry and bond over the course of a162 game season. MLB’s concept of Play Loud was a grand slam. I look forward to tuning in and watching each released video from the Play Loud episodes. To catch all episodes of Play Loud, simply search for the MLB channel on YouTube.

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