#360USA: Odor’s punch brought intrigue back to MLB

Steve Brenner 08:00 24/05/2016
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  • Everything’s bigger in Texas: The fight between the Rangers and Blue Jays.

    Revenge is a dish best served cold.

    If , however, your name is Rougned Odor, it involves a thumping right hook Muhammad Ali would have been proud of.

    All hell broke loose in Texas last week and catapulted baseball into clickbait dreamland.

    YouTube the punch.

    It was a remarkable swing, one which wouldn’t look out of place in the UFC. Yet trained skilled fighters weren’t the protagonists.

    Odor, a second baseman, and big-hitting Jose Bautista occupied each corner just weeks after commissioner Rob Manfred had aired public feelings of wanting America’s favourite pastime to become more exciting and speed up with the times.

    The simmering background to Odor’s violent snap was there for all to see.

    Back in October, Blue Jays star Bautista had destroyed the Rangers’ hopes of reaching the World Series with some astonishing game-deciding hitting in front of a raucous home crowd in Canada.

    As the thumping three-run homer screamed off his bat, Bautista threw his weapon of choice high into the air. For some, it was a wild, deserved celebration.

    For others, however, it was tantamount to sticking two fingers up firmly in the face of those slumped onto their knees in defeat.

    Clearly it ruffled Texan feathers.

    Tensions had already been sparked – Matt Bush, the Texan pitcher who was playing his second ever MLB game following a recent release from prison, smacked the Blue Jays batter on the elbow, therefore allowing him to walk to first base. Bush was later accused of obeying team orders.

    So when Bautista flung himself, admittedly dangerously and illegally following a change in law after Chase Utley broke Ruben Tejada’s leg last season, studs flying into second base, Odor, once he’d evaded the potentially leg-breaking play, took matters furiously into his own hands.

    Scuffles were breaking out all over the place. An impressive 14 players and staff members were either suspended or fined.

    The man sweetly known as Stink has a violent history, most notably causing a near riot in 2011 in the minor leagues.

    In the history of on-field punches though, Odor v Bautista has screamed its way straight to number one. Of course, repercussions have been swift. Odor has been banned for eight games – a mere drop in the water swirling around a 162-game season. Bautista will sit out just one game.

    Some sports would have thrown the book at Odor – imagine the outcry in the Premier League – so at least MLB are not overreacting and able to maintain a level of sensibility.

    Yet aside from bans and fines this was all fuel to the fire of a debate which was sparked earlier in the month by Washington Nationals superstar Bryce Harper.

    He wants to see emotion, excitement and, providing everyone keeps cool, overreaction.

    The old guard want more respect. The proud traditions of the game should be upheld.

    “Baseball’s tired. It’s a tired sport because you can’t express yourself,” Harper told ESPN. “If a guy pumps his fist on the mound I’m gonna go, ‘Yeah, you got me. Good for you. Hopefully, I get you next time.’ That’s what makes the game fun.”

    Fair point. In a severely saturated sporting market, baseball is fighting to remain relevant.

    Eight game ban: Rougned Odor.

    Eight game ban: Rougned Odor.

    Smacking the hell out of each other perhaps isn’t the answer.

    Bat flips and general displays of pumped-up madness keep the fans interested and the stadium seats occupied.

    “Bautista is a f****** disgrace to the game,” legendary Yankees pitcher Richard ‘Goose’ Gossage countered. “He’s embarrassing to all the Latin players, whoever played before him. Throwing his bat and acting like a fool.

    “It is a joke.The game is becoming a freaking joke because of the nerds who are running it. I’d like to knock some of these f****** on their ass and see how they would do against pitchers in the old days.”

    The good old days debate will never be settled, yet Odor has earned widespread support from fans within the Lone Star State. Indeed, so impressed were the owners of a Fort Worth barbecue joint, the Venezuelan has been given free meals for life.

    “Hopefully he doesn’t like barbecue too much because then we might be in the red,” said Travis Heim, owner of Heim barbeque.

    “It’s just a fun deal, you know.” Excuse Bautista, his face still pounding, for failing to see the funny side.

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