Benches clear in game between Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs
By Hayden Kane
Aroldis Chapman of the Cincinnati Reds throws the hardest fastball in all of baseball. The fact that he lost a couple fastballs near the head of Chicago Cubs’ outfielder Nate Schierholtz, then, was understandably a point of contention, even if they did not appear to be intentional.
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When the second 100+ mph fastball buzzed to the screen close to Schierholtz’s head, the Cubs did not like it. Then Chapman did not like that the Cubs did not like it. As the top half of the ninth inning of the tie game concluded, Chapman took it upon himself to stare down the Cubs’ dugout and then wave dismissively toward them as he walked off the field after the third out.
Not surprisingly, those actions did not sit well with the Cubs; newly minted All-Star Anthony Rizzo was especially upset. The jawing continued as the Cubs took the field for the bottom half of the inning, with Rizzo eventually deciding to walk towards the dugout to confront either Chapman or some other member of the Reds.
The scuffle did not result in anything too awful; it mostly consisted of yelling, cursing, pointing, teammates holding each other back and various combinations thereof. If this bad blood carries over, however, the Reds need to at least have somebody besides Chapman doing the plunking. In a practice that is already dangerous, having Chapman involved would be flat-out stupid.
Here is video of the benches clearing, courtesy of MLB.com: