Major League Baseball has handed out the suspensions for the recent brawl between the Houston Astros and Oakland Athletics. Astros hitting coach Alex Clintrón will be done for twenty games after being deemed the ignitor of the fight. For the Athletics, Ramó Laureano will be on the bench for five games as he did take off running, truly starting the brawl, which may have been “justified” to some degree.
The league has, as Marly suggested, given Alex Cintron a 20-game suspension. https://t.co/TFNB1B0m7S
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 11, 2020
The brawl began after Laureano was hit for the third time and was being taunted as he got to first base. At this time, Laureano took off towards Clintrón and the Astros dugout. Here’s a look at how things went down:
Here’s the video of the @Athletics–@Astros melee #ForTheH pic.twitter.com/AgkVfvuvak
— SportsTalk 790 (@SportsTalk790) August 9, 2020
Now, it has been noted that Laureano’s suspension comes from charging the Astros dugout, but Clintrón’s is more significant due to the instigation aspect. Amid a global pandemic, this type of behavior is even more discouraged than it usually is. Given that these players are playing and not testing positive, the likelihood of spreading COVID-19 is lower, but letting players get face-to-face in a brawl is not a good look.
The league has already had to heighten protocols, as it is, with that, came some punishments from the Indians towards two of their starters after violating these protocols. But for the Astros and Athletics, it seems that these suspensions are all it will bring.
