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With two outs and two on in the second inning of a scoreless second game of last year’s American League Championship Series, a popup sailed skyward.

Had pitcher Luis Severino adhered to tradition, to baseball dogma, he would have deferred to his defense, capitulated specifically to his catcher and let this precious potential out in a postseason game fall safely into the glove of an expert after being called off. Instead, the Yankees right-hander made the catch himself.

With that, he had ended the inning but broken an unwritten rule that pitchers aren’t supposed to field pop flies.

“To me,” Severino said later, “that [unwritten rule] is stupid.”

Apparently, he’s not alone in that assertion, because the rate of pitchers catching popups is popping.

The Rays officially debuted their new “Randy Land” seating section at Tropicana Field for their series opener against the Yankees, and fittingly, Randy Arozarena homered in his first at-bat.

Off to a 20-13 start and leading the NL Central, the Pirates have a chance to set a record for the most wins by a team coming off a 100-loss season.

On a night in which diving plays were all the rage, it was TJ Friedl’s spectacular grab at the fencethat stood out as yesterday’s top play.

To celebrate Willie Mays’ 92nd birthday today, here are 24 numbers that tell the story of one of the greatest players in baseball history.

The new show “Inside Stitch” debuts on MLB Network at 11 a.m. ET on Sunday, followed by the season three premiere of “MLB’s Carded” at 11:30. MLB.TV subscribers can stream both now.

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