Several times when we hear ‘bench clearing brawl’ in Major League baseball, it simply means dozens of grown men charge out of their dugouts and scream at each other in the midst of another massive pile of grown men. However, the events that transpired Sunday evening in Texas truly does fit the definition of ‘bench clearing brawl,’ and features one of the best right hooks we’ve seen on the diamond in years.
In short, Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista gets hit by a Matt Bush fast ball, and, of course, takes it personally. During the next at-bat on a routine ground-ball, Bautista then makes a hard-slide into Rangers second-baseman Rougned Odor, not only trying to break up the double-play, but to also possibly hit Odor in response to getting hit by the fastball minutes earlier.
Odor didn’t like that too much.
The fight
Huge props to Odor for nearly knocking out Bautista with one punch. I mean, damn. That kid may have a future in MMA.
But why all the hostility?
It might have something to do with this — the bat flip for the ages.
Yup. Bautista drilled this epic shot against the Rangers last year in the ALDS, and the bat flip, God forbid, was a sign of disrespect. The Rangers never forgot, and had their new rookie callup drill the Blue Jays slugger in the last inning of the last game they’ll play the Blue Jays in this regular season.
For right now, this fight is all Major Leaguers are talking about:
Oh ya, and the Rangers won 7-6. But who cares?
Josh Helmuth is the editor of Crave Sports. Follow him on Twitter or like the channel on Facebook here.
Photo: Getty
