The best sports photos of 2020 from Getty Images

27. An airborne robbery

Manuel Margot of the Tampa Bay Rays catches a fly ball as he crashes over the wall on a foul by George Springer of the Houston Astros during the second inning in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series at PETCO Park on Oct. 12, 2020, in San Diego, California.

Throughout the MLB season, photographers were forced to shoot outside of their normal shooting positions, which meant shooting through a protective netting in baseball stadiums. During the American League Championship Series, many of the games were held during the day, which made it tricky to shoot with the sunlight shining on the netting, making it much more visible and difficult to focus through. On this play, Manuel Margo of the Tampa Bay Rays made a leaping play to catch a foul ball in right field. It was one of the more dramatic catches I have seen in baseball in a long time. As I was watching the play develop, I was very concentrated on keeping the play in focus. After the play, I checked my camera to make sure it was sharp and that the netting hadn’t caused it to look blurry. The whole sequence was in focus and it was clearly the play of the day for that game.

— Sean M. Haffey