ARLINGTON, TEXAS – AUGUST 07: Ian Gibaut #63 of the Texas Rangers throws against the Los Angeles Angels in the seventh inning at Globe Life Field on August 07, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Rangers received their punishments for being childish Monday night.
The Texas Rangers became MLB‘s latest sore loser Monday night in a game against the San Diego Padres. The final score was 14-4, but the source of the controversy came in the eighth inning when Fernando Tatis Jr. launched a grand slam on a 3-0 count.
Alas, another silly “unwritten” rule was broken, and the Rangers were upset. Reliever Ian Gibaut was brought in after the grand slam and proceeded to throw behind Manny Machado. This was all pointless and MLB slapped the two with two suspensions.
Rangers get the proper punishment
Gibaut gets three games for his dangerous pitching and manager Chris Woodward gets one game for likely commanding his pitcher to start a problem. The reliever is appealing his suspension, but MLB has been harsh this year for anything that could incite a brawl, so it is unlikely his already small ban gets reduced.
The Rangers come out of this situation looking like the bad guys. All Tatis did was his job, which is to hit the ball. Was he just supposed to take a pitch down the middle to make the Rangers feel better? The score was still 10-3 at that point, so it is not like the lead was insurmountable.
Gibaut losing three games of pay because his manager told him to throw behind Machado is ridiculous. It shows how pointless all these “unwritten” rules are and MLB is right to punish those enforcing these relics of the game.
Fans want to see grand slams. What they don’t want to see is players getting drilled with pitches and a star potentially getting injured all because one team is upset about losing. The easy solution is to play better baseball.
Tatis is receiving praise, the Rangers look foolish, and MLB may need to send a memo to teams about embracing players having just a little bit of fun on the field.