Brewers-Pirates Brawl Brings Suspensions & Protection

As expected, Major League Baseball delivered the hammer on the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh
Pirates brawl on Tuesday afternoon levying suspensions to Martin Maldonado, Carlos Gomez, Travis Snider and Russell Martin. All four were also fined for the scuffle. Gomez and the two Pirate players are appealing their suspensions while Maldonado began his on Tuesday night. As you can see Pittsburgh's starting pitcher Gerrit Cole avoided any sort of suspension or fine, is that okay?  Many believe it is as Cole just trash talked Gomez, but are we certain this is not setting a precedent for the rest of the season?

There are always two sides to every story. It could be a relationship issue where you are friends with both the boyfriend and girlfriend of the relationship, the story always sounds different depending on what aisle you're on. It could be a fight between friends, neighbor dispute or anything else meaning Gomez and Cole saw how this played out very differently. We all know the background of the situation. The Brewers outfielder poised for a triple and Cole took exception leading him to say something. But let's watch the video, shall we? 

Cole clearly says something that has to do with 'Fuck' where it is guided at Gomez or what he did is unknown, but it is pretty clear that's the word he says as even the home Pirates broadcast apologizes for the language used by Cole.  Gomez yells some things at Cole being restrained by an umpire in almost a fake tough guy move where he is using the umpire as a shield for why he doesn't bury Cole. It becomes more than just a shouting matchup when Snider makes his way to Gomez and then all hell breaks loose leading to the reason why the four players got suspended.  Many Brewers fans were surprised to hear the news Cole did not receive even a fine from the league, but do you really want to suspend a guy for running his mouth? 

Many people believed what Cole did was trash talk. Just like we see in all sorts of professional sports. Cole attempted to get Gomez fired up and possibly see if it could lead to him being thrown out of the baseball game. He did just that.  Remember Cole came nowhere near the actual fight was happening. He hung out by the pitching mound and minded his business like he did nothing wrong. Many are saying if you are going to suspend trash talkers, there will be more outrage than people praising Major League Baseball actions. But there is a difference between trash talking and throwing a can of gasoline on a fire. 

Cole incited the fight. Not to go to extremes, but if one incites a riot, but doesn't really riot, they still get arrested. There is no question about it. None of this happens if Cole keeps his mouth shut out there. This would be an entire different story if Gomez and the third baseman starting jawing right from the get go. It happened to be the pitcher who threw the meatball hovering over Gomez and saying something with the word 'fuck' in it. Cole can act like he is the goodie two-shoes in the whole ordeal, but in reality, none of this shit happens without him. Although to his defense, he realized this was a smarter technique than hitting Gomez in his next at-bat because Cole knew a suspension for him would be highly unlikely.   

Well any pitchers moving forward use the 'Gerrit Cole defense' when batters show them up and it does not end up being a home run. Could they run over to second base say something, get the player pissed and lead to others fighting their battles?  It's probable. I don't know how often it will happen, but at the same time, the idea pitchers have the free reign to run their mouth and be expressive just like Gomez was when he that baseball is a pure double standard. Cole probably should not have been suspended, but the fact, he gets off clean speaks volume of what Major League Baseball is willing to allow on the mound. It will be interesting trend to monitor in the coming months. 

Brewers-Pirates get together in mid-May. Hopefully, we will see Gomez and Cole again meet at the mound. We will definitely see the other players in action against each other, and I have a weird feeling the fireworks are not over with these two teams. 

Charlie.