The New York Mets and Seattle Mariners put on a show Sunday night at the Little League Classic. Young ballplayers competing for youth baseball's ultimate prize got a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see their favorite MLB stars up close and a tremendous amount of fun was had per usual.
The Mariners organization and its fans would have had a decidedly worse time had their cornerstone outfielder Julio Rodriguez suffered a significant injury while sledding down a hill on a piece of cardboard, which almost became a reality when a member of security took a spill and nearly landed on his ankle.
Here's the footage, which thankfully ends with everyone invovled getting up and getting on with their day.
Julio Rodriguez slides down the hill at the LLWS. Almost got taken out by the sweet security lady.
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) August 17, 2025
*nobody was harmed in this video* pic.twitter.com/SzIt6YSDED
That is too close for comfort. And you have to feel for the security person here who was simply trying to hustle to do the job and ended up losing to gravity. Before they were even able to get upright some unhelpful person is joking about a potential Rodriguez ACL injury. It's rough out there.
Rodriguez will be paramount to the Mariners' playoff hopes going forward and their ability to make a deep run if they get there. Plenty of people breathing a sigh of relief realizing this could have been worse.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Julio Rodriguez Had a Close Call While Sledding at the Little League World Series.
