You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone more excited about Francisco Alvarez pimping a walk-off home run than Francisco Alvarez himself. But we managed to do so, and none of them were at Citi Field to experience the Mets’ 4-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.
But it didn’t matter that MLB Network’s MLB Tonight crew wasn’t in Flushing. As soon as the New York Mets catcher lifted a 421-foot home run into the wind, Dan Plesac, Adnan Virk and Harold Reynolds all went absolutely nuts.
🗣️ “YOU ARE THE MAN! BOOM! THAT’S WHY WE DO THIS!”
The #MLBTonight crew went NUTS for this Francisco Alvarez walk-off home run 😱@Plesac19 | @adnansvirk | @Mets | #LGM pic.twitter.com/A6pShMEhUS
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) August 20, 2024
And here’s a look at that with some shots of the in-studio reaction:
Here's video of the "MLB Tonight" cast commentary ahead of and after Francisco Alvarez's walk-off HR. Ahead: "Do you give him a green light on 3-0?" "Oh, absolutely, turn him loose, tie game, absolutely." After: "Oh, yes! You are the man! Boom! That's why we do this!" https://t.co/a4b997w1C6 pic.twitter.com/sRVONTXh0Q
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 20, 2024
It was hard to make out what was said as they were all screaming over one another in jubilation, but we’ll do our best. And being that they aren’t in the broadcast booths themselves, none of them have to worry about stepping on the play-by-play guy’s toes. Instead, it just made for pure, unadulterated chaos as they soaked in the magic of a walk-off home run during a pennant race between two potential playoff teams.
Plesac, in particular, lost his mind.
“You are the man! You are the man! Boom! That’s why we do this!”
Alvarez, who has largely struggled at the plate since returning from the injured list in June and hadn’t hit a home run in nearly three weeks, got the green light from his manager at 3-0. And if you’re gonna swing on 3-0, you best not miss. Well, he got all of Seranthony Domínguez’s 3-0 letter-high fastball and then some.
“It’s only his sixth homer of the year and his first career walk-off home run,” Virk added. “You saw it here on MLB Tonight.”
“Man!” Plesac exclaimed. “This feels like a Friday night, and it’s Monday!”
“Look, that’s big league baseball,” said Reynolds. “3-0, green light, let it go, man. I really appreciate that. That was awesome.”
Indeed, it was.
“That’s why it’s the beauty of this network; you got live look-ins, right?” added Plesac. ” 3-0 count, tie game, bottom of the ninth, Citi Field, pennant race. This can turn them loose. Hell yeah, you turn ’em loose!”
Plesac turned loose alright, and it made for great TV.