The Best Moment of the 2016 MLB Season Was an Inconsequential First-Inning Home Run

With a 2-0 count in the first at bat of the first inning of Monday night's game between the Miami Marlins and New York Mets, Marlins second basemen Dee Gordon cranked a towering home run over the right field wall. Gordon is not known for his power. Standing 5-foot-11 and weighing a scant 160 pounds, the former all-star's strength is his speed. In six seasons in the league, he hasn't even hit 10 home runs. The one he hit Monday night was his first of 2016. The Marlins went on to win the game 7-3. The first-inning home run was a good start, but ultimately not a deciding factor in a late-season win by a team that has been eliminated from playoff contention. Regardless, the 372-foot blast was the greatest moment of the 2016 baseball season. It was also the greatest moment of the 28-year-old Gordon's life. "I don't have kids," he said after the game. "So that's best moment of my life to hit a home run for him."

The "him" Gordon is referring to is Jose´ Fernandez, the 24-year-old Marlins pitcher who died in a boating accident early Sunday morning. He was also a good friend of Gordon's. After the news of Fernandez's death broke and the Marlins announced that their game on Sunday would be canceled, an emotional Gordon was photographed kneeling by the pitcher's mound at Marlins Park.

The team dedicated Monday's game to Fernandez, a superstar pitcher whose importance to both Miami and the game of baseball was immeasurable. Each player wore his name and number on the back of their jersey. Before the game, they stood around the pitcher's mound, on which a "16" had been painted, to pay tribute to their fallen teammate. They knelt and drew his number in the dirt.

Gordon, the team's left-handed leadoff hitter, took the first pitch of the game from the right-handed batter's box as a nod to the right-handed Fernandez. He then exchanged the right-handed helmet for a left-handed one, stepped into the left-handed batter's box and took one more pitch before connecting on a fastball to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. Overcome with emotions, he kissed his fist and pointed to the sky as he crossed home plate, and was embraced by his teammates as he returned to the dugout. Cheers from the crowd swelled. Players cried. Fans cried. It was one of the most powerful moments in sports in recent memory.

After the game, the team once again congregated around the mound. They laid their caps down as the crowd chanted "Jose´! Jose´! Jose´!"

Truly significant moments are rare during baseball's seemingly endless regular season. Every day from April through September, games are played and teams inch their way closer to or slide farther away from the playoffs. It's pretty boring, to be honest. Every once in a while, though, the game will produce a truly transcendent moment that weighs far heavier than anything quantifiable through statistics or standings. These moments are why sports matter.

"I ain't never hit a ball that far, even in [batting practice]," Gordon said after the game of his home run, the evening's defining moment. "I told the boys, 'If ya'll don't believe in God, you better start.' For that to happen today, we had some help."'