There’s been many firsts in the year’s iteration of Major League Baseball spring training.

While the league is already experimenting with the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS), something seemingly unprecedented happened during Tuesday’s spring training game between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals.

In-game interviews, particularly with managers, are hardly a novelty. They’ve become a fixture of ESPN’s coverage, even if its presence might as well fade into the abyss after the 2025 season. While these interviews have become somewhat accepted as part of a broadcast norm for the MLB on ESPN, it’s no secret that not every baseball fan is thrilled about them.

Spring training, however, often seems like the perfect setting for these in-game chats. The stakes are lower, and sometimes, the banter between announcers and the interviewee is more entertaining than the action on the field — unless, of course, it’s Juan Soto stepping up to bat for the Mets for the first time.

That’s not what happened at Roger Dean Stadium on Tuesday in Jupiter, Florida, though.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was mid-interview with ESPN’s booth while his starter, Tylor Megill, faced Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn with one out in the third inning. As Winn grounded out to second, Mendoza shared his thoughts on ABS, offering valuable insights. But amid it all, he remembered something — he had a game to manage.

Megill had just thrown his 47th pitch of the afternoon, and with the Mets likely keeping him on a 50-pitch limit for his second outing of the spring, Mendoza knew it was time to pull him.

But before making the change, Mendoza had to press pause on his interview with the Worldwide Leader.

“Alright, I gotta go make a pitching change,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

Mendy really had to make a pitching change while he was talking to @espn 🤣🤣

Full conversation 👉 https://t.co/3eM7LWRGAH pic.twitter.com/2StkuvxXbj

— New York Mets (@Mets) March 4, 2025

Donning a headset and, fortunately for his sake, not mic’d up, Mendoza quickly handed off his audio equipment to an ESPN staffer and jogged out to the mound to make the change, bringing in reliever Connor Overton to replace Megill. The broadcast got a great look at his jog to the mound as former Mets managerial candidate Eduardo Perez quipped about his gait.

The interview didn’t pick back up until Mendoza made his way back to the dugout. However, he wasn’t quite able to settle back into the conversation for long, as Overton, now on the mound, faced just two batters.

Imagine if that happened in a real game that actually counted.