Fighting in sports is stupid period. It’s really stupid, especially when in happens in a sport like baseball, it’s not a part of the game and frankly it’s quite pathetic when it happens. Sunday May 15, a game between the Rangers and the Blue Jays got heated. If you don’t know, Jose Bautista got hit by a pitch, then he decided to slide hard into Rougned Odor, then Odor punched Bautista, then the benches cleared, Kevin Pillar and Josh Donaldson threw a few punches and everyone’s time was wasted, oh and a bunch of people got ejected.
It was moronic to say the least, both men are at fault, but the Rangers look more pathetic between the two teams. This all started, because of hurt feelings the Rangers had towards Bautista due to the infamous bat flip heard around the world in last years ALDS. It also shows that the Rangers apparently don’t know how to leave things in the past, which is kind of sad. Oh and if they ever celebrate dramatically this year they will be the biggest hypocrites in sports, so please keep an eye out for when they celebrate something.
It boggles the mind how people can’t seem to let something go and of course we’ve had to deal with the constant debate between the old school and new school ideals when it comes to celebrating, but let’s make something clear. Baseball needs new fans, baseball needs to be appealing to all different kinds of fans, not just one old school type and to do that you need moments like the bat flip and if you don’t like it find a new sport. It’ll probably be hard to find a sport that doesn’t have a bunch of celebrations, so enjoy that search.
Clearing the benches like this is also and awful image for new young fans who are learning baseball, it’s telling them that it’s ok to get your revenge on someone if you feel they deserve. When in reality, the players should be turning the other cheek and getting on with their lives. Granted, maybe giving players like this so much money is making their brains melt and common sense goes right out the door.
Unfortunately it will take some time, before more people get used to the celebrations, but people need to understand that when you are in the moment, sometimes you get lost in that moment and things happen. People shouldn’t be turned into the bad guys, just because they are happy with a job well done, or a come back win, or a good inning pitched. Hopefully now that this is all said in done, the Rangers can let it go, unfortunately the next time these two teams meet, there will be a bunch of players hit by pitches and more benches cleared and more punches thrown. This is the side of baseball you don’t want or need to promote, it’s just dumb, maybe the league step in a bit more when it comes to bench clearing brawls, granted, old school fans might get mad and you don’t want them to get upset right?
Luckily, or maybe it’s unlucky in this situation, but the Blue Jays and Rangers will not face each other again this season, unless they meet in the post season, which the Jays need to string together a few more wins before the Yankees and Orioles pull away from Toronto.
Nick’s Note: On a much lighter and happier not, Michael Saunders is having a renaissance of a season so far, which is a great story seeing as he was almost traded away for Jay Bruce and last year injuries allowed him to play only 9 games. He leads the team in batting average with a .328, he has 17 runs, 40 hits, 5 homeruns and 12 RBIs, and a .934 OPS, right now it’s a really good thing that the Jays never traded him away.
Main Photo:
