Watching live, I missed the momentary horror because I was so focused on willing Javy Báez’s blooper to drop into center field, which it did. Even on the replays, for whatever reason, I just didn’t track the huge broken bat piece that went flying up the third base line. I was all about the ball.
I guess I was not unlike Kris Bryant in that way, who was also wholly focused on the ball in that moment, and never even noticed that he nearly got Tyler Colvin’d by the flying shard that was within inches of striking him:
That’s as close as you can come to a truly nightmarish situation without anything bad happening.
Cubs fans, of course, remember what happened with Colvin, who was struck by a flying bat piece in the same kind of situation back in 2010, had his chest punctured, and had to be rushed to the hospital to avoid a collapsed lung. Thankfully he was ultimately OK. Colvin played another four seasons after that, including a really nice year in Colorado following the LeMaheu/Stewart trade, but he was never able to take spontaneous flight or imbue warm, flowing blood for sustenance ever again.
As for Bryant, he watched the ball fall in for a hit, ran home to score, and neither he nor Javy Báez will have to worry about being part of some terrifying team lore.