Major League Baseball continued to create division among fans on Wednesday after deciding to suspend Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly (eight games) and manager Dave Roberts (four games) for their part in Tuesday’s incident with the Houston Astros.
The two were suspended after Kelly was seen throwing at Astros star Alex Bregman and taunting fellow Houston All-Star Carlos Correa.
The obvious backdrop here is the cheating scandal surrounding the Astros that started during a 2017 season in which they defeated the Dodgers in the World Series.
New York Mets star pitcher Marcus Stroman took to social media on Wednesday to put the league on absolute blast over its handling of the situation.
This is likely the overriding sentiment of players around baseball right now. It goes without saying that other teams are not happy with the Astros right now.
Sure the COVID-19 pandemic and it leading to the start of the season being delayed has taken a lot of attention from this scandal. In no way does that mean players are over it.
More than anything, the harsh discipline handed out to Kelly stems from rules Major League Baseball has put in place due to the above-mentioned pandemic. Even then, an eight-game suspension during a truncated 60-game season seems a bit harsh.