Major League Baseball has come down on Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Yordano Ventura. Per Jon Heyman, the Kansas City right-hander is facing a nine-game suspension.
yordano ventura gets 9 games
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 9, 2016
At a glance, this sounds harsh. Baltimore Orioles star Manny Machado was given four games for his role in the brawl. Nine games is more than twice that, so Ventura is definitely getting hit hard, right?
Not exactly. Since starting pitchers throw only once every five games, this actually amounts to a one-game suspension, maybe two if the games he actually serves break the right way.
Given that Ventura was obviously throwing at Machado, his history as a recidivist, and the fact that his own team didn’t even back him up that strongly, his punishment should have at least equaled Machado’s. If Machado gets four games, then Ventura should have gotten no less than four starts, or 20 games.
If baseball really wants to get this element out of the game, it needs to take a stand. They had a chance here and failed.