It certainly was a pair of rare scenes during MlB games between the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals on Monday night. In fact, neither had anything to do with the actual games being played.
During the eighth inning of the Orioles/Yankees game, a cat made its way onto the field in foul territory as play was going on. However, play eventually had to be stopped as the cat ran in the outfield at Yankee Stadium.
Here is three minutes of glorious cat-on-field footage. The fleet-footed feline even received "M-V-P!" chants at one point:
Members of the Yankees grounds crew came out to try and wrangle the cat, but the cat put on the afterburners and outran the grounds crew on a few occasions. Eventually, the cat ran off the field when a gate in foul territory was opened.
Meanwhile, a praying mantis made quite the appearance at Nationals Park. The praying mantis landed on the hat on Nationals outfielder Victor Robles in the late innings.
The praying mantis was on the hat of Robles when he was in the dugout. However, when Robles ran out to the outfield for the top of the ninth inning, the praying mantis stayed attached to Robles' hat.
Robles didn't appear to realize that the praying mantis was on his hat at first. Even once his teammates pointed it out to him, Robles was content to just let the insect stay there.
The Phillies -- who scored five runs in a game-winning rally during the mantis-hat ninth inning -- and the Orioles might have new good-luck charms.