Do Rangers Have the Right to Be Mad at Tatis Jr.?
Tony Gutierrez/AP
On Monday evening another story appeared of baseball’s “unwritten rules” being broken. Padres’ superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. launched a grand slam in the 8th inning, giving him the league-lead with 11 total on the young season. But his opponent, the Texas Rangers were none too happy about it. The Padres held a seven-run lead in the eighth inning when Tatis launched his home run on a 3-0 count. The Rangers felt Tatis broke an “unwritten rule” by swinging on a 3-0 count with a large lead that late in the game.
Smiley N. Poole/Dallas Morning News
Rangers’ pitcher Ian Gibaut was the one to send a message, following up the home run by throwing a pitch behind slugger Manny Machado. Gibaut was promptly suspended three games, and his manager Chris Woodward was also suspended a game for Gibaut’s actions.
First of all, I’m tired of hearing about the unwritten rules of baseball. I think that is an overhyped term used by the media to get as much attention as possible. And here they go again. This is not a case of unwritten rules being broken, but instead just a situation where competitors let frustrations get the best of them. Everyone has to remember that professional athletes are some of the fiercest competitors in the world, otherwise they wouldn’t be where they are. Sometimes frustrations boil over between competitors, which is totally ok. But to break out the term “unwritten rules” every time something like this happens is like beating a dead horse and does nothing but draw negative views on the sport of baseball with people generally commenting along the lines of, “this is why people don’t watch baseball anymore because of these ‘old fashioned’ unwritten rules.”
But did the Rangers actually have reason to get upset at the situation. The answer is no. Now, I would like to state that I’m generally a traditional guy when it comes to baseball and how it should be played. I’m not a supporter of bat flips, showing other players up, and things of that nature. But this is not one of those things. There is such a thing as running up the score, and I believe in it, but a seven-run lead doesn’t qualify as mercy time. We’ve all witnessed many, many times of teams overcoming a seven-run lead in the late innings of a ball game. What Tatis did was put the nail in the coffin, so to say, therefore putting the game in a situation that warrants a “running up the score” discussion.
Now, if the Padres would have had a 10 or 11-run lead before the home run, I think they would have a right to be upset. Most batters take on a 3-0 count in any situation throughout a game, but once the game can be considered “out of hand,” that’s something that really shouldn’t be done. In that situation I think it would be totally fine to throw at the next better and let the whole situation be taken care of, with no suspensions levied by the MLB.
All in all, this shouldn’t have even been much of a story. But the media loves to jump at a chance for what they consider “unwritten rules” being broken. I don’t think any suspensions should have been handed down, to the Rangers pitcher or their manager, and the whole situation would have just dwindled away. Like I said, players let frustrations get the best of them sometimes, and that’s exactly what this was all about. Tatis just took advantage of a 3-0 pitch, that wasn’t even that great of a pitch to hit, and did what he’s been doing all season long to help his team win. Can a team come back from seven runs in the 8th inning? Absolutely there’s a chance. Can they come back from 11 runs (after the grand slam) in the 8th inning? Probably not. Tatis Jr. just ended the game. We can’t forget that we play to win the game and not be concerned about the other team’s feelings…as long as we’re still professional-acting in doing so.
Garett