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Tension between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers dates back to last year’s postseason, when Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista emphatically flipped his bat after he hit a home run. On Sunday, late in the final 2016 regular season game between the two teams, Rangers pitcher Matt Bush hit Bautista with a pitch and things got ugly soon after.
Bautista slid aggressively, but not egregiously, into second base to try to break up a double play. Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor clearly did not appreciate the move, shoving Bautista with both hands and then connecting with a right hook that would have made peak-level Mike Tyson envious. A benches-clearing brawl ensued, resulting in a few ejections.
He was not the only one in the wrong, and he probably won’t be only one to be suspended for his actions on Sunday, but Odor took the situation to a higher level by shoving and punching Bautista. So his punishment should be the most severe among anyone on the Rangers or Blue Jays, and without knowing any obvious precedents Odor should easily be suspended for five games at some point this week. A longer punishment is possible, and probably warranted, but I’m betting on an appeal that reduces Odor’s eventual suspension to five games.
Unless they have a second straight postseason matchup, we won’t see another game between Texas and Toronto this year. But you can bet that the hatred between the two teams will carry on for awhile, particularly if Bautista remains a Blue Jay beyond the final year of his contract this season.
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