Sometimes in baseball, we value weird things.
This week, J.T. Realmuto did something no Phillies player had done since David Bell in 2004. He hit a single, double, triple, and home run, all in the same game — a cycle.
Cycles in baseball are pretty rare, happening in under 1% of all games played. Realmuto’s teammate, Trea Turner, is one of the few players to have done it multiple times (three, in fact)
The Phillies don’t do this often — and it had been a loooooong drought. Just think of all the things that happened between Bell’s cycle and Realmuto’s:
- The Phillies went to three World Series and won one of them.
- The Eagles won a Super Bowl beating Tom Brady and the Patriots on a trick play.
- I got married and had three children.
- The world went through the worst economic recession in history.
- The United States elected the first Black president and then, eight years later, Donald Trump.
- Artificial intelligence was created to destroy us all. Or, at best, lay us all off.
- We went through a global pandemic.
- Apple continued making more and more complex devices none of us can afford or find a good use for.
- The Marvel Cinematic Universe came into existence.
- Streaming surpassed cable TV as a preferred method of watching shows.
- Podcasts became a thing!
Aaaaaaand… that’s pretty much it.
So yeah, some stuff has gone down in the 19 years between Phils players hitting for the cycle. What will happen between J.T.’s and the next one?
