See (and Hear) a Camera Get Smashed by a Foul Ball in the First MLB Playoff Game of 2025

Just an hour after the first pitch of the first MLB playoff game of the season, a camera behind home plate was victimized by a glancing foul ball, loudly erupting into a shower of glass.

Cleveland Guardians center fielder Angel Martínez was at the plate, leading off in the bottom of the fourth inning, facing off against Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal. With a 0-2 count, Skubal hurled a 100 miles per hour four-seam fastball, high and inside. Martínez fought it off, fouling the pitch over the head of home plate umpire Shane Livensparger.

The foul ball, which kept Martínez alive in the at-bat, went straight into the lens of the remotely controlled camera behind home plate. While a foul ball hitting a camera lens is not an unusual event in baseball, today’s foul ball was especially fast and destructive. It also delivered an exceptionally satisfying (or horrifying if it’s your camera) crunching sound, since a television broadcast mic was positioned right next to the camera.

ESPN is broadcasting the game, but the commentators, Sean McDonough and Todd Frazier, noted that it was not their camera.

“Very scary moment, scary moment for our camera back there,” McDonough said. “Is that one of ours? I’m told, ‘No.’ That’s good.”

Some of the glass from the shattered lens landed on the warning track behind home plate, leading to the ground crew at Cleveland’s Progressive Field coming to clean it up.

After fouling the 0-2 fastball off, Martínez took a ball on the next pitch and then hit a single. Martínez then reached second base on a wall and scored on a single by shortstop Gabriel Arias, tying the game at one run apiece, which is where the game remains in the sixth inning at the time of writing.

As is always the case, this will likely be a relatively expensive repair. However, the damage appears to be primarily limited to the front glass, which should at least be replaceable. The shattering glass likely helped absorb most of the force of the foul ball.

Image credits: Header image created using screenshots from ESPN’s television broadcast.