SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Alex Bregman’s first trip on the basepaths this spring resulted in a triple play Sunday at Scottsdale Stadium.
Welcome to the Chicago Cubs.
“Definitely spring training,” he later said with a grin.
Things like this happen in spring training, and weird stuff seems to happen when the Cubs and San Francisco Giants play any time of the year, from the Cactus League to the 1998 wild-card tiebreaker at Wrigley Field, when the giant Harry Caray balloon hovered over the bleachers.
Sunday’s adventure began when an emergency fire alarm sounded in the ballpark as Cubs utilityman Matt Shaw led off in the first inning.
“Attention, attention, an emergency has been reported in this building,” the automated announcement repeated as alarm bells went off.
“Everyone was just looking around like ‘What’s going on?’” Cubs starter Colin Rea said. “I don’t think people knew if we should continue to play, or if it was real. I didn’t know what to think, to be honest.”
Chicago Cubs right fielder Matt Shaw runs to first base after hitting a single during the first inning against the Texas Rangers in a Cactus League game at Sloan Park on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, in Mesa, Ariz. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Fans were instructed to proceed to the nearest exits, and a few hundred in the sun-baked crowd of 9,408 heeded that advice. But plate umpire Bruce Dreckman decided that it was nothing to be worried about, even in these strange times, and he instructed Giants starter Robbie Ray to pitch to Shaw. According to sources, the alarm went off because someone was smoking in one of the bathrooms.
Either way, Ray walked Shaw, and the announcements stopped during the at-bat. Fans streamed back into their seats in time to see Bregman walk, putting two on with no outs.
Then all hell broke loose.
As Hunter Thompson wrote, “When the going gets weird, the weird go pro.”
Seiya Suzuki flared a pop-up behind second base for a single. But Shaw held up after rounding third and went back to the bag as second baseman Luis Arraez threw home. First baseman Rafael Devers cut off the throw and saw Suzuki trying for second. He easily threw Suzuki out at second, with shortstop Willy Adames applying the tag.
Bregman, meanwhile, had gone from first to third and was in the process of going back when Adames ran toward him. Bregman retreated to the bag and stood there with Shaw.
“I got a good read off the bat and should’ve ran a little bit more with my head up,” Bregman said.
Adames tagged both runners, and since Shaw was the lead runner, Bregman was called out. Adames then flipped the ball a couple feet to third baseman Matt Chapman, as Shaw took off his batting gloves and helmet and casually walked off the bag. Third base coach Quintin Berry was turned the other way since the play was seemingly over.
Realizing Shaw was off the base, Chapman promptly tagged him to complete a rare 4-3-6-5 triple play. All three runners had reached base, and all were tagged out on one bizarre play.
Bregman said he’d never been involved on the offensive side of a triple play. Asked whether Shaw left the bag because he thought he was called out, Bregman took the fall.
“I think next time we get two guys on a base you just stay on the base until we fully understand,” he said. “I knew that since I was the trail runner I was out, but I’ve got to do a better job of staying on the base and just clarifying that. We’ll learn from it.”
Rea said he didn’t see the end of the triple play. But he looked up and realized it was time for him to pitch.
“I was confused by the fire drill, and then there were three outs, and I’m like ‘I don’t know what just happened, but here we go,’” he said. “I know that the guys were just being aggressive on the basepaths and that stuff happens.”
The last triple play in a real game involving the Cubs was in 2020, when Kris Bryant and Ian Happ combined to turn one against the Cincinnati Reds. They’ve had 40 turned against them in their 150-year history, with the last one coming in 2017 by the Philadelphia Phillies.
According to SABR, there have been 800 triple plays in major-league games since 1876. Exhibition games don’t count toward that total, so Sunday’s triple play was basically dust in the wind. Still, the fans in attendance who didn’t leave after the emergency alarm were treated to a moment they could brag about to friends and family. So there’s that.
Can everyone laugh at the Cubs’ base-running gaffes since it’s just a spring training game?
Rea gave a reporter his permission.
“It’s up to you,” he said with a smile. “Just a weird way to start a game.”
We’re only three days into the Cactus League, but at least the Cubs have proven they have a sense of humor.
“Yeah, we’ll figure it out,” Bregman said, grinning. “We’ll get it.”
The Cubs’ new marketing slogan for 2026 is “THIS,” which the team uses in social media videos attached to highlights, enticing fans to watch. The Cubs’ business operations department doesn’t find much humor in Cubbie Occurrences, so there was no post from the Cubs accounts about the triple play. That’s so Cub, as they say.
Fortunately, the Giants promoted it on their X account.
The Cubs lost 4-2 after a ninth-inning rally ended on a double play, ending a day that began with players and coaches gathered together to watch the end of the USA men’s hockey team’s 2-1, overtime win over Canada in the gold medal game in Milan.
“We were all fired up, we were going crazy in the clubhouse when they scored,” Bregman said.
Counsell recalled the 1980 Olympics, when he was 9 years old and found out the U.S. upset the U.S.S.R. while sledding in Wisconsin. “Everyone was going crazy… you knew you were not supposed to like Russia,” he said.
Can the patriotic atmosphere from the Olympics be replicated in the World Baseball Classic?
“It’s similar, right?” Counsell said. “It’s very much the same. One, you see the intensity of the game, and then you see the joy after winning, and the disappointment after losing. That’s why you do these things. That’s why you go after these things, why you want to be a part of them. Who could blame anyone for wanting to be a part of that?”
Bregman, who will play for Team USA with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matthew Boyd, believes the WBC can bring the same kind of passion as the U.S. hockey teams.
“Let’s do it, let’s go win,” he said. “USA, baby.”
Just another day in the Cactus League.