Baseball has been around forever. Well over a century, roughly 450,000 games played — enough history that almost everything has happened at least once. Baseball fans aren't used to hearing the words "first time ever."

That’s what this was.

Jo Adell robbed Cal Raleigh in the first inning, did it again to Josh Naylor in the eighth, and then capped it by taking one away from J.P. Crawford in the ninth — the last one ending with him disappearing into the stands and popping back up with the ball — to preserve a 1-0 Angels win over Seattle.

Three Swings That Should’ve Changed the Game

Cal Raleigh — the same guy who hit 60 home runs last season and became one of the most dangerous bats in the American League — launched a ball 370 feet off the bat at 104.7 mph in that same first inning, Angels fans probably flinched. That's a rocket from one of the game's premier power hitters with the game still scoreless.

Adell flinched too — except his version of flinching is sprinting toward the wall and leaping above the yellow line to pull it back. Catch number one. Inning over. Angels still up 1-0.

For six innings, nothing. The Angels' bullpen kept Seattle off the board, and Adell went back to just being an outfielder in a tight game. Then in the eighth, with Sam Bachman on the mound protecting a one-run lead, Josh Naylor teed off on a hanging slider. 368 feet, 98 mph exit velocity. Would have been a home run in 10 parks. In Anaheim, it was the second robbery of the night — Adell going up above the wall again in nearly the exact same spot. Same read, same angle, same result. The lead survived.

And then came the ninth.

Jordan Romano on the mound trying to close it out. J.P. Crawford at the plate — playing just his second game back off the injured list — rips a 2-1 slider toward the right-field corner. It hangs in the air.

Adell takes off. He gets to the warning track, reaches up, catches the ball — and keeps going. Right over the low wall and into somebody's lap.

For a second, he just disappeared from the camera. The crowd froze. And then his glove came up over the wall, the ball still in it, and Angel Stadium went absolutely insane.

The catch was reviewed and upheld. Third robbery. Final out. Game over.

How Rare Is This, Actually?

The outfielders with the most home run robberies in all of 2025 were Jacob Young of the Nationals and Fernando Tatis of the Padres. Both had four — for the entire season. Adell did three in a single night.

To put it more into perspective: the odds of the average outfielder doing this are about 190-million-to-one. Those are about the same odds as you winning the lottery back in 2015.

Maybe that wasn't clear enough, so let me word that another way. That's like looking for someone in Bagledesh and randomly choosing the right one from the entire population of the country.

According to Inside Edge, Adell has 10 home run robberies going back to 2020, which ties him with Kyle Tucker for the most in the majors over that stretch. That's six seasons worth of elite outfield work.

Cal Raleigh — a guy who hit 60 home runs last year and probably felt pretty good about that swing — said it best afterward:

"I don't think I've ever seen a guy rob two homers in a game, much less three. So it's just one of those things where baseball can amaze you night in and night out."

Torii Hunter — nine-time Gold Glove winner, one of the best defensive outfielders in the history of the position, a guy who has made some of the most iconic catches you've ever seen — was sitting in the dugout watching. Hunter's now a special assistant with the Angels, and he's worked closely with Adell on his defense over the last couple years. He had a front-row seat for all three of them.

"It was probably the greatest defensive game I've ever seen. I've never seen three home run robberies in one game, and I've never seen a guy on the third one fall into the stands, catch the ball, and keep his feet in like he's a wide receiver. I was jumping up and down. I almost passed out. I'm 50. I can't have that kind of pressure."

A Night That Actually Makes You Pay Attention

The Angels are 4-5. Not exactly a team anyone’s circling right now. Mike Trout is still Mike Trout, but the rest of it has felt stuck for a while, especially with the AL West pushing forward. And this one? A tight 1-0 win where the pitching had to dance out of trouble, and the closer nearly gave it away.

But Jo Adell did something you can’t ignore.

This is the clearest sign yet that the defensive work they've been doing behind the scenes is working — that the prospect who couldn’t quite put it together is now a guy who can take over a game with his glove. Nights like this don’t fix everything, but they make people look up.

Nobody’s ever done what he did on Saturday.