There have been plenty of rally animals that have made their way onto baseball fields before: cats, squirrels and even monkeys, to name a few.
But a goose?
That’s what happened late Wednesday night when one landed and stayed for a while in shallow right field of Dodger Stadium during the eighth inning of Game 2 of the NLDS between the Padres and Dodgers.
Despite the caption on that tweet above, the animal is indeed a goose and not a duck, as initially referred to on the broadcast. A greater white-fronted goose, to be exact. The bird got the crowd riled up, and it went into even more of a frenzy when Gavin Lux singled off Nick Martinez with the bird still on the field.
When the Padres took Martinez out of the game for Josh Hader, the bird went, too, though the removal process wasn’t as straightforward as the pitching change.
The Dodgers may have wished the goose had stayed, though. After Lux’s single, Trayce Thompson walked, but with two on and two out (and the goose now long gone), pinch hitter Austin Barnes flew out to deep center, ending the threat.
The internet, of course, had plenty of fun with the unexpected visitor.
