Wednesday featured plenty of storylines for the New York Yankees as they looked to clinch the series against the St. Louis Cardinals at home. They had evened the series the previous night, and positive updates regarding Aaron Judge’s recovery only added to the optimism. That’s why a brief rain delay wasn’t expected to overshadow the action. Instead, something far more unusual unfolded, literally taking the spotlight away from the game itself.

“The entire first base side of the stadium, the lights went out,” the broadcasting booth said, as per the 41-second clip uploaded by Jomboy Media on X. “Now they’re flickering back on in a couple of places, but not everywhere.”

Will Warren walked JJ Wetherholt on four pitches in the first inning, and then Ivan Herrera stepped into the batter’s box. Before Warren could throw the payoff pitch on a full count, part of Yankee Stadium plunged into darkness. The lights then began flickering, and while some came back on, most remained out along the first-base side. The players and stadium crew looked visibly confused.

As per the broadcasters, George Lombard Jr., New York’s most recent call-up, was seen asking someone if this was a regular occurrence in the Bronx. And while they were discussing the unusual situation, the banks of lights came back on.

“I don’t know that I ever heard the crowd cheer for the lights,” the commentator said as the stadium erupted. 

However, this wasn’t the only holdup of the evening. 

The first pitch was originally scheduled for 7:05 p.m., but the field had to be covered with tarps to protect it from the rain. Forecasts had called for much heavier rain tonight. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, and the commentators were “expecting baseball.”

The game finally started at 8:13 after the crew cleared the field, and within a few minutes, the light outs disrupted it again, even before the game could settle in. 

Eventually, the Yankees lost 3-1, dropping the series. There was a lot of excitement surrounding Lombard, and he went 1-for-4 in his major league debut. Jazz Chisholm Jr. recorded the only RBI for the Yankees as the entire lineup managed only 4 hits. While it reignited the conversation regarding New York’s offensive struggles, social media was already flooded with reactions to the lights-out moment. The incident only added to the long list of bizarre stoppages in baseball. 

MLB has experienced weirder events before

From wildlife interventions to mechanical issues in the stadiums, Major League players have been forced into stoppages more often than most could imagine. One of the earliest interruptions in MLB games dates back to July 13, 1977. A lightning strike in New York City caused a citywide blackout, and the matchup between the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium ended up being suspended. 

A less critical incident took place at Dodger Stadium in 2018. During a July game against the Milwaukee Brewers, the stadium was plunged into darkness, much like tonight at Yankee Stadium, and the players had to wait for 20 minutes before the game could resume. 

However, blackouts aren’t the only examples of game interruptions.

Just 10 days ago, a squirrel gave the ground crew of 10-15 people a hard time at Comerica Park. People were trying to immobilize its free spirit with a bunch of towels while it ran rampant in right field during a Detroit Tigers-Baltimore Orioles matchup on July 27. 

Before that, we had seen another squirrel, a goose, and even a swarm of bees bring MLB games to a halt. Unlike those wildlife interventions and a postponed game, the incident on Wednesday night was fairly minor. And the 37,425 loyalists who waited an hour in the rain didn’t mind waiting for the power to return.

The Yankees are still second in the AL East with a 64-51 record, but they have slipped to 28th in the league with a .231 batting average. That is not a good sign for a team hoping to win the World Series.