What Is Going On?!?!

I’m glad you asked, reader! Let’s go back to game five of the 2015 American League Division Series. The Blue Jays were hosting the Texas Rangers in Toronto. Whoever won this game would eventually move on to the American League Championship Series. It was the bottom of the seventh inning, two runners on for Toronto’s homerun slugger, Jose Bautista. Well, Bautista hit an absolute bomb to left field to give the Blue Jays a 6-3 lead which ultimately led them to the ALCS against the Royals. The Rangers saw this as an unprofessional thing for Bautista to do and have not forgiven him for it.

What Was So Different About This Bat Flip?

Well let me tell you, reader. A normal bat flip is just a nice little toss or flip of the bat off into foul territory when a hitter knows they just hit a home run. A bat flip is essentially a "screw you” to the other team. In a big game like an elimination game a bat flip which was more of a bat throw was not just an screw you to the other team, it was a screw you and your entire team too! The difference here is that Jose Bautista absolutely pounded the ball deep into the left field stands and he stood there for a few moments, acknowledged the gravity of the situation and threw his bat towards the Blue Jays dugout. The Texas Rangers saw this a big one finger salute towards them and did not think it was a classy move. The animosity boiled over from last year into the game on Sunday, May 15th.

Can You Stop Dragging On And Tell Me What Happened?

Okay, fine! Bautista was hit by a pitch as a sign saying, “We don’t like you so we’ll throw a pitch at you.” The next batter hits a ground ball and Bautista bolts from first base to second and he slides a little late in my opinion and him sliding almost took out the second baseman, Rougned Odor. Well this did not sit well with Odor. Bautista and Odor exchange some words and before you know it...

BAM!!!

Rougned Odor sucker punches Jose Bautista across the face. I have seen my fair share of fights so watch out Mike Tyson, Odor may be coming for you next. Bautista does not even get a chance to swing back, he gets restrained by Adrian Beltre, a player for the Texas Rangers. Now, at this point, everyone is all riled up and the benches clear out and there is just a mess of professional baseball players out there pounding one another.

What Does This Mean For The MLB?

There's a lot of media coverage! Who wasn’t talking about this on Monday? Social media blew up and this brought both positive and negative attention to Major League Baseball. Jose Bautista, Elvis Andrus and Tim Leiper received one game suspensions. John Gibbons and Jesse Chavez earned three game suspensions and Rougned Odor earned an eight game suspension. The positive is that people are going to start watching and attending games to see if it happens again. This can generate excitement for people who may not like baseball or for those who haven’t been keeping up. On the flip side, having people fighting is not really a positive thing, especially a star like Jose Bautista. Also, children tend to love baseball and they look up to these players and may think that it is OK to fight. In the words of Pink Floyd, “All in all it’s just another brick in the wall.” Now, they meant something completely different, but in this context, it’s just another day in baseball and we’ll move on until the next fight happens.