The MLB offseason can arrive very quickly, as the Los Angeles Dodgers just showed with Justin Dean.
The Dodgers announced Thursday they had outrighted the young outfielder, one week after he made a heads-up play that helped save Game 6 of the World Series. The San Francisco Giants soon revealed they had claimed Dean off waivers, sending Dean to the other side of the NL West rivalry.
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The move was made to clear room on the 40-man roster, as the Dodgers also outrighted reliever Michael Grove and designated starting pitcher Tony Gonsolin for assignment.
Dean entered baseball lore last week when he chased down a long fly ball from Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Addison Barger that got wedged under the padding of the Rogers Centre outfield wall. At the time, Toronto was up 3-2 in the series and was trailing by two runs in Game 6.
With a runner already on base, Barger ran all the way around the bases for what many at Rogers Centre believed to be a game-tying inside-the-park homer. However, he was only free to run because Dean had decided not to field the ball. Instead, he raised his arms to signal a lodged ball, which caused the umpires to call the play a ground-rule double.
Had Dean tried to field the ball, a run would have likely scored for the Blue Jays.
That play wound up being rather significant when Ernie Clement popped out and Barger got caught by Kiké Hernández for a game-ending double play. After the game, Dean credited Hernández in left field for yelling at him to put his arms up rather than play the ball.
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The play remains controversial for some fans, but the rules, in both the MLB rulebook and the Rogers Centre ground rules, are clear. It was a ground-rule double, especially considering the ball was wedged in there enough that it deformed the padding.
Dean is a former 17th-round pick who spent most of his 20s in the minor-league system of the Atlanta Braves before signing a minor-league deal with the Dodgers last offseason. He had a very specific role on the roster as a dedicated pinch-runner and defensive specialist. He is still waiting for his first major-league hit, but already has a World Series ring.
The 2025 World Series was full of what-ifs for the Toronto Blue Jays. The Justin Dean play was one of them. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
(Gregory Shamus via Getty Images)
It’s fun to win a World Series ring, but Dean was also on a team that clearly didn’t see him as an MLB hitter, either now or in the future. The Giants are apparently a bit more confident.
