“Baseball’s a game…and games are supposed to be fun.”
However, all is fun and games until it starts interfering with the game itself. Such was the case in Kansas City yesterday afternoon.
A trend that has unexplainably started to occur in sports over the past decade are one player from each team refusing to be the last one off the court after pre-game practice has concluded. In the NHL, one player might be waiting on the ice by the door to their bench to be the last one off. This means the zamboni(s) cannot clean the ice before the first period begins. The NBA has seen some players stand with a foot still on the floor, while the rest of their team has retreated to the locker room.
We do not see this often in the NFL, for good reason.
In baseball, the issue are players remaining on the edge of the grass outside of their own dugout, engaging in what can only be described as a “staring contest” with someone from the opposing squad. The players will remain with their caps over their heart, and oftentimes are not in that day’s starting lineup.
The Kansas City Royals have 90 losses in 2022, putting them 23 games back in the American League Central Division, entering Monday’s MLB action. The Seattle Mariners on the other hand, are eliminated from winning the AL West, but sit four games up for the third--and final--Wild Card spot.
Seattle starting pitcher Robbie Ray and Royal reliever Luke Weaver engaged in one of the more epic battles you will ever see. With the heat index in Kansas City well over 90 degrees, Ray was given towels, sunscreen and even a back massager in effort to wait out Weaver. Weaver, sporting long sleeves, did not seem to receive much support, as his teammates were warming up defensively.
Home plate umpire Adrian Johnson warned Weaver, while third base umpire Marvin Hudson issued an identical warning to Ray to get off the field so the game could begin. Both players did not flinch, prompting a second warning. Finally, Johnson emphatically waived both players to end the standoff, so that J.P. Crawford could step in as the first hitter of the game.
It turned out a few seconds later that Johnson had actually ejected both Weaver and Ray before the first pitch was even thrown.
Ray (12-10, 3.60 ERA) is not scheduled to pitch until Monday night, when the Mariners host the Texas Rangers, who are fresh off being swept at home by the Cleveland Guardians. Cleveland clinched the AL Central Division with Sunday’s 10-4 victory, combined with the Chicago White Sox losing 4-1 to the Detroit Tigers. Weaver has only appeared in 11 games for the Royals, sporting eight strikeouts in 14.0 innings, with a 6.43 ERA.
Both teams used five relievers, which saw the Royals topple the Mariners 13-12, in a game that Seattle led 11-2 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. Kansas City proceeded to put 11 runs on the board, harkening back memories of when the Mariners blew a 12-run lead in August of 2001, losing 14-12 to the then-Cleveland Indians on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.
If players want to get into this level of tomfoolery, then MLB needs to step in and say if you are not off the field by the time the first warmup pitch is thrown, you are automatically ejected. This fiasco from Ray and Weaver, who were teammates in Arizona, caused the game to be delayed nearly two minutes. Let the two step off to the top step of the dugout, or just behind the screen in the dugout, and they can stand at attention for the next 2-3 hours for all we care.
Johnson literally told both parties to get off the lawn, which was an embarrassment to begin with.
-JC24