Thursday night’s ugly brawl between the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox will leave both teams shorthanded for the next week or so.
MLB announced that a total of six players, four from the Royals and two from the White Sox, have been suspended for the melee.
Yordano Ventura (seven games), Edinson Volquez (five games), Lorenzo Cain (two games) and Kelvin Herrera (two games) were suspended for the Royals.
Meanwhile, Chris Sale and Jeff Samardzija (five games) were both suspended on Chicago’s side.
Considering the seriousness of the situation, it’s surprising that Ventura, Volquez, Sale and Samardzija will all miss just one start.
As it relates to Ventura, there are some out there who believe he should have received a much lengthier suspension. After all, this was his third incident in the past three weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMWDbhCVq_U
The brawl started when Ventura said something to White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton after the latter hit a ball back to the pitcher late in Thursday night’s game. It escalated to the point where Sale actually went to the Royals locker room after the game to fight Ventura.
This isn’t the type of incident MLB wants its season to be defined by. That’s why these suspensions seem like they could have been a bit harsher.
Photo: USA Today Sports