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Baseball is a game of unwritten rules. It’s a game rich in retaliations, redemptions and never forgetting the past.
Last November, Jose Bautista’s bat flip after hitting a three-run homer to beat the Rangers in ALCS made all of baseball want to call Bautista a bleeeeping douche!
The Blue Jays’ and the Rangers met for the first time this year for a four game series in Toronto at the beginning of May. There was speculation that retaliation sparks could fly, but nothing made baseball news. The beauty of baseball is that the game never forgets, especially when you come to Texas!
By the eighth inning the Blue Jays’ were leading 6-3. Jose Bautista was hit by relief pitcher, Matt Bush’s 96 MPH fastball. Of course Bush was following clubhouse orders. It’s baseball’s way of saying F-U with a smile. Both teams were issued warnings.
Next batter, Justin Smoak, hit a grounder to third baseman, Adrian Beltre. Beltre goes for the play at second and threw to Rougned Odor for the out and he pivots to get the double play at first. Simple-baseball-101. But, Jose’ still wants to play dirty and made a late slide into Odor. Being on the receiving end of these slides can ruin your career. Oh to have these players mic’d up and hear all the trash talk! Before the ball even make it to first base Odor had landed one of the best punches in baseball history.
According to the eye test, Odor is about six inches shorter than Bautista and still hit him solid and square and sent Bautista stumbling (while seeing those Texas stars). Adrian Beltre quickly came to grab Bautista (kept him from falling) and had him locked up while the benches cleared. Bautista didn’t even try to fight Beltre; he knew he lost by unanimous decision.
It took a while to clear the field (almost ten minutes) and to start the bottom of the eighth. The Blue Jays’ couldn’t let it go and Jesse Chavez hit Rangers’ Prince Fielder with the first pitch. Chavez was ejected and benches cleared, again.
The Rangers won 7-6.
The punch heard all around baseball quickly became national news. And the more attention the brawl got, the worse the suspensions became.
•Rougned Odor, eight games for fighting, including punching Jose Bautista. Odor will appeal. (EIGHT GAMES?!?!?)
•Elvis Andrus, one game for aggressive actions during the incident. Andrus did not appeal and served his suspension Tuesday. (Can someone please define “aggressive actions”??)
•Toronto right-hander Jesse Chavez, three games for throwing at Prince Fielder after the first bench clearing.
•Bautista, one game for his actions during the incident and post-game comments. Bautista will appeal. (Only ONE GAME?!?!?!)
•Toronto manager John Gibbons, three games for returning to the field after being ejected and inciting additional fighting.
•Toronto first base coach Tim Leiper, one game for returning to the field after being ejected.
The Rangers clearly got the harsher punishment. Odor received the biggest suspension since Carlos Quentin in 2013 (also eight games) after he charged the mound and tackled pitcher Zack Greinke; which broke his collarbone! Odor got eight games for one (awesome) punch and they only thing he broke was Bautista’s ego.
The Rangers and Blue Jays won’t face each other for the remainder of the regular season. The unwritten rules of baseball will tell us if this feud is settled in time. But if the Blue Jays’ learned anything, they know not to mess with Texas!