Anyone who's ever played baseball has dreamed about making a game-winning catch. Or robbing a home run. Or maybe both.
Baltimore Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser lived the dream on Monday night against the Colorado Rockies, making what could very well be the catch of the year in Major League Baseball.
With the Orioles clinging to a 2-1 lead over the Rockies and the tying run on second base in the bottom of the ninth inning, Jake McCarthy hit a deep fly ball to center field for what looked like a two-run, walk-off homer.
But Cowser intervened. Leaping high above the wall, he corraled the ball for the game's final out.
Predictably, the Orioles broadcast team went nuts.
WHEN COWS FLY COLTON COWSER HOME RUN ROBBERY TO END IT!! pic.twitter.com/3HRpWseLoM
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 1, 2026
"It’s the best play I’ve ever seen," Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said afterward.
But even the most diehard baseball fans might have missed seeing the catch in real time because it came a little after 1 a.m. ET (11 p.m. local) due to a 98-minute rain delay in the fifth inning.
"I was playing a little more shallow than I probably should have been in that situation. Just trying to cut down that runner," Cowser said, per MLB.com. "They have such a big outfield where your normal depth is way deeper than what it should be, so it was more than normal depth. And kind of before the play − just kind of the whole inning − it was like, ‘If there's a ball hit kind of deep, just get your head down and go.’"
The win, the Orioles' eighth in their last 10 games, moved them to an even .500 on the season for the first time since April 30.
With the entire month of September to play, the O's sit just one half game behind the Cleveland Guardians for the third and final wild-card playoff spot in the American League.
Not bad for a team that was one of the biggest sellers at the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Orioles' Colton Cowser makes spectacular game-ending catch vs. Rockies
