This is only the start and it's going to get even stickier than it already is. Rob Manfred is determined to crackdown on pitchers' use of foreign substances on the baseball only adds fuel to the fire. Pitchers are already angry and it will only make agreeing on a new CBA that expires on December 1st virtually impossible.
I really don't want to think about the possibility of a lockout but....I believe CBA talks were going to go sideways anyway, so this only makes it worse. The players were already frustrated with Manfred unilaterally deciding how to handle last season due to the pandemic so if 2022 Spring Training starts on time it will be a miracle.
MLB headlines Tuesday night were not pretty. The Yankees lost on Tuesday 6-5 to the Royals and umpires checked Gerrit Cole's hat and glove for foreign substances after the third and sixth innings. You can read about it more HERE, but a picture says a thousand words.
And if a picture says a thousand words, videos tell us even more. Nationals ace Max Scherzer also wasn't very happy when he was checked by umpires three times in four innings. Then in a crazier turn of events Phillies manager Joe Girardi gets ejected from the game after he instigates a fight with him.
By the way, after the game Scherzer had a lot to say to the press. The most interesting part of this is he is a member of the MLBPA executive subcommittee which is the highest level of player involvement in the union. Scherzer is going to have a lot more to say in the coming months.
And there's still more! Oakland A's pitcher Sergio Romo was also checked for sticky stuff and he was a little less PG-13 when he removed his belt. It's highly unlikely that he saw Scherzer's reaction so I doubt he was playing copycat here, just in case anyone thinks so.
This circus is what Manfred has created. This isn't baseball at all. The ASSTROS cheated to win a tainted championship and players weren't punished at all, but pitchers who use a foreign substance will face a 10-game suspension. You can't fix stupid.
Manfred has turned baseball into a circus. He's destroyed this game and infuriated fans but now he's pissed off the players to the point of a rebellion. This is only the start, and as tensions rise it will only get worse. Manfred has destroyed baseball and until the owners are financially crippled by MLB's frustrated fanbase we will be stuck with him. So I hope it happens sooner rather than later otherwise baseball is dead.
Manfred has turned baseball into a circus. He's destroyed this game and infuriated fans but now he's pissed off the players to the point of a rebellion. This is only the start, and as tensions rise it will only get worse. Manfred has destroyed baseball and until the owners are financially crippled by MLB's frustrated fanbase we will be stuck with him. So I hope it happens sooner rather than later otherwise baseball is dead.
