Let’s remember, once again, that the catalyst for Rougned Odor’s shot at Jose Bautista and subsequent Toronto Blue Jays-Texas Rangers brawl that kept the baseball world captivated Monday was a celebratory bat flip. It was such a big deal in Texas that a Rangers fan created a T-shirt depicting the right hook Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor landed on Blue Jays outfielder José Bautista.
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Assigning blame in bench-clearing brawls such as the Toronto Blue Jays-Texas Rangers fracas on Sunday is hard.
When asked Monday if Odor regretted anything that happened, he said, “No”, according to ESPN. Although, Major League Baseball (MLB) officials have yet to decide on how long his suspension will be, Odor is showing no signs of backing down after his unlikely stunt. Any time I see a bunch of players out on the field (in a brawl), you just hold your breath. “Players talk, y’know. They hear things”. That’s what was chosen by Rangers pitcher Matt Bush on Sunday.
“I think you saw what happened yesterday”.
Until the disciplinary issues plays out, Odor is the Rangers’ second baseman.
You’ve undoubtedly seen the video by now – the back-story being Joey Bautista’s emphatic bat flip after his pivotal Division Series Game 5 home run off Rangers reliever Sam Dyson.
Odor said he expected Bautista to come into the base hard on a force play. “I tried to send a message that I didn’t appreciate getting hit [by the pitch]”.
The game was the final one of the regular season between the two teams, who had played each other six times before that.
Rodriguez took batting practice with the team in Phoenix and Manager Joe Girardi said he expects Rodriguez to be activated in Oakland on Thursday, the day he is eligible to come off the 15-day DL. “I said, ‘What’s this?'” he added. It got escalated because they’re two guys who have a lot of passion for the game.
“It certainly wasn’t pretty and I hate seeing that stuff”, said Joe Torre, MLB’s Chief Baseball Officer who was in town to take part in a pregame tribute for the late Joe Garagiola, who passed away in March at the age of 90. It’s more or less inarguable that the way they went about it was a total disaster. We like to give the clubs the benefit of the doubt.
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“I’m not going to criticize players for playing hard”, he said. “I don’t pay attention to what they say”. “I just try to be a good teammate, to do the best I can to win games”.
