When the New York Yankees signed left-handed ace Max Fried to a eight-year, $218 million contract this past winter, this is what they envisioned. Whether Fried makes history or not during his tenure, he has been as advertised, if not better than his days with the Atlanta Braves.
Fried is as crafty as they come, relying less on velocity and spin rate and more on location and outsmarting opposing hitters. That approach worked wonderfully against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon at George Steinbrenner Field, which is ironically enough the Yankees spring training complex.
In the Yankees home away from home, Fried spun an absolute gem, and was pacing with history through seven innings. Much of that was due to the attributes Fried possesses on the mound, many of which I've already mentioned. However, one play in particular stood out which gifted Fried a second chance at history, if you will.
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Max Fried nearly gifted a Yankees no-hitter thanks to overzealous official scorer
Tampa Bay Rays speedster Chandler Simpson hit a dribbler in between the mound and first base. Fried ran after the ball, as did several Yankees infielders, but there was no chance either would make a play on the ball in time. Again, Simpson is incredibly fast. The ball went under Paul Goldschmidt's glove and was thus ruled an error. I have some questions.
Fried carrying a no-no and this just got ruled an error with speedster Chandler Simpson running.
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) April 20, 2025
Will be interesting to see if it gets flipped to a hit and if that messes up the no-no.
Hit or error what say you? pic.twitter.com/2pWZiPPGSL
Nope! Not buying it. Thankfully, the official scorekeeper overturned his ruling. Even so, in the moment, ruling it an error is a disservice to all of those who have thrown nine hitless innings prior to Fried. There are no gimme no-hitters. The last thing Fried needs is more help, or an asterisk next to his accomplishment.
Now, had an infielder had a clear path to the ball AND a realistic shot at throwing Simpson out, you'd have an argument, Yet, much of the reason no-hitters and perfect games are so uncommon is because baseball is an unpredictable sport. A ball can travel nearly 400 feet with an incredible exit velocity and end in an out, or a short dribbler like Simpson's can be ruled a hit.
The official scorer got it right in the end, but baseball fans shouldn't have had to sweat it out in the first place.