Terrible umpiring helped spark a massive bench-clearing brawl between the Angels and Mariners
This brawl was WILD.
Heading into Sunday’s game with the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels, there was an expectation of fireworks between the two teams. And, oh man, it didn’t take long for those tensions to boil over.
Saturday’s game ended with Mike Trout taking issue with a pitch from Mariners closer Erik Swanson that came close to his head. Shohei Ohtani also avoided a high-and-tight fastball before his massive home run. So, the Angels went into the game ready to send a message — as lame as those unwritten rules are.
In the first inning, Andrew Wantz threw behind Julio Rodriguez’s head, and the Mariners wanted an ejection right there. They absolutely had a point because in the second inning, Wantz was able to get a shot in at Jesse Winker. It shouldn’t have happened, and a good umpire would have known that.
But just like that, the brawl was ON.
As Winker and the Mariners bench were calling for Wantz to be ejected, Winker took exception with something said from the Angels dugout. He charged through the weak restraint from the umpires, and benches cleared.
Now, this was a legitimate brawl. Anthony Rendon — who is out with a season-ending wrist injury — was involved in the action. J.P. Crawford also got right in the middle of the fight.
MLB is going to have to spend plenty of time looking at this film because discipline is definitely going to come down from the league office. Of course, this could have been avoided if umpire John Bacon took control of the game in the first inning, but it’s just another example of poor umpiring this season.
Fans also had plenty of thoughts on the brawl.