San Francisco Giants’ Camilo Doval unveils a closer entrance worthy of the ‘Drag Race’ crown

Welcome back to Talkin’ Gaysball, the only place on the internet where you can find a sentence like “Nymphia Wind just pulled off the biggest upset since Kirk Gibson’s Dodgers…”

One of the best parts about attending a “Drag Race” watch party is being part of a group exploding with emotion at the most dramatic moments. It’s the closest most gay bars get to a “sports bar watching a big game” vibe.

During last week’s Grand Finale, when RuPaul revealed that the lip sync for the crown would be set to Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam,” that was enough by itself to set my bar into an uproar. It was a capital-M Moment and the effect was spine tingling.

And a similar “giving me chills” vibe happens throughout baseball whenever there’s a tight game entering the ninth inning.

Major League Baseball has perfected the art of the closer entrance and it might be the closest the game comes to providing a crossover for “Drag Race” stans, at least until the day Bryce Harper comes to bat wearing a jersey made out of shopping bags.

(I know. Don’t give Nike any ideas.)

The idea of turning the closer entrance into a Moment first gained nationwide prominence in 1998 when the postseason shined a spotlight on Padres legend Trevor Hoffman taking the mound to AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” while the ballpark around him exploded.

As with most things in 1990s pro sports, it was hypermasculine and testosterone-driven as the Padres co-opted The Undertaker’s “tolling bells preceding your impending destruction” sound. Nonetheless, it still made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

For the next two decades, closer entrances were a medley for angry straight white males. The scoreboard would flash animated flames while the soundtrack seemingly consisted of asking “Which track should I play on the new Staind album?”

It felt like we were only a few months away from Josh Hader taking the mound to an Axe Body Spray commercial.

But then in 2022, All Star Edwin Díaz re-found his groove with the Mets, thanks in part to following his wife’s suggestion to return to an entrance featuring Blasterjaxx’s “Narco,” a pulsing Europop dance track with a Spaghetti western-style trumpet fanfare.

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It was different than any other closer entrance in baseball — more DJ-driven dance floor than mosh pit. Instead of turning the ninth into a rage fest, it became a festive party, exemplified by Mr. & Mrs. Mets’ brilliantly campy trumpet choreo. And Mets fans reveled in it.

Now in 2024, the Giants just revealed a brand new full production for relief pitcher Camilo Doval. It’s pretty amazing, especially if you like orange…

Over the top light shows set to a Latin-infused beat? These are the things lip syncs for your life are made from. When the spotlight hit the Oracle Park bullpen, fans might have been forgiven for thinking, “Did the Giants just sign…Jorgeous?”

The ingredients are all there to create a perfect signature baseball MOMENT for LGBTQ fans. All MLB needs to make it complete is to pick a genuine bop. 

Craig Kimbrel? Kenley Jansen? Raisel Iglesias? “Rain On Me” is just sitting there waiting to turn you into an icon.

The Tortured Pitchers Department

When Taylor Swift’s new album dropped last Friday, it was an unofficial gay national holiday.

As Baseball Twitter learned yesterday, our community was joined in celebrating by a future Hall of Famer…

When Joey Votto gets his plaque in Cooperstown, they should delete the endless text about his on base percentage or home runs and just replace it with a pair of heart hands.

MLB Thirst Trap of the Week

True baseball fans know that arriving early for batting practice is one of the subtle joys of the game. You get to see the best players on earth let their guard down and work on their craft while leisurely taking in some of the most beautiful sites in the game.

Right, Bo Bichette?

If I ran the Blue Jays, I’d have a foolproof plan to lead the league in attendance: open the gates three hours earlier.

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