Minnesota Twins announce first unwritten rules violation of MLB season

The Minnesota Twins are not pleased that Baltimore Orioles catcher Chance Sisco was playing baseball in the ninth inning of yesterday’s game.

Major League Baseball’s unwritten rules are an ever-changing collection of fun-sucking restrictions that date back to the early days of the sport, where fine, hard-working men toiled on the diamond for a few months out of the year before returning to their jobs in the steel mill or coal mine. Most players no longer know they have broken one of these sacred commandments — like admiring a home run for too long or sliding too hard (it was previously unwritten that you must slide hard every time, try and keep up) — until after it’s too late and a fastball is barreling towards their rib cage.

With the first weekend of the MLB regular season in the books, there are plenty of leaguewide firsts worth mentioning. First robbed home run of the season went to Craig Gentry of the Baltimore Orioles. First walk-off home run of the year went to Adam Jones, also of the Orioles. Now, according to Brian Dozier and Jose Berrios of the Minnesota Twins, O’s rookie catcher Chance Sisco can be credited with the first violation of baseball’s unwritten rules of the 2018 season.

Congratulations are in order for Mr. Sisco, and we will have to consult with the fine folks at Elias Sports Bureau for confirmation that this is the earliest violation of baseball’s code to start a season.

Dozier and the Twins have their knickers in a twist because Sisco dared to bunt against the shift with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday. Berrios was twirling a one-hitter on the mound, and was on the verge of completing a Maddux — complete-game shutout, fewer than 100 pitches. Playing in only his 12th MLB contest, Sisco, who had the only other Orioles hit to that point, laid down a perfect bunt down the third-base line to beat the shift.

From there, the Orioles mounted a minor rally that amounted to nothing more than a nuisance, loading the bases and pushing Berrios to nearly 110 pitches before going down without a run.

Cue the hysterics from Dozier.

"“Obviously, we’re not a fan of it. He’s a young kid. I could’ve said something at 2nd base but they have tremendous veteran leadership over there.”"

Berrios, who, it should be noted, was absolutely electric on the mound, also chimed in on the bunt.

When it’s all said and done, this may stand up as the pettiest moment of the MLB season, and we’ve only played one series. Berrios wasn’t working on a no-hitter (and even if he was, why should a team allow themselves to be no-hit because of a loose honor code?). The Twins were deploying a shift with the sole purpose of taking a hit away from Sisco, a rookie who is trying to secure more playing time for himself in his first full season in the big leagues. It’s understandable if Minnesota just wanted the game to end. The Orioles would probably agree if they were given truth serum, but that’s not how baseball works. The shift (whose merits as a fair-play strategy can also be debated) is an open invitation for a player to take a free base — all he has to do is drop a bunt into no-man’s land and not trip on his way down the line.

Outside of a plate umpire adding a few inches to his strike zone in the latter innings of a blowout, there is no “running out the clock” in baseball. It made sense on multiple levels for Sisco to drop that bunt down when he did yesterday. For starters, the Orioles offense had been handcuffed for two straight days. Any little spark helps. Secondly, the young catcher is working to get himself in the good graces of Buck Showalter, who values scrappy players. Additionally, showing his willingness and ability to plop down a bunt might lead to Sisco seeing fewer shifts in the future.

At the end of the day, this latest violation of baseball’s unwritten rules looks an awful lot like every violation in the history of the game. One team felt slighted and felt the need to complain about it. All the Twins needed to do was celebrate their season-opening series win and a dominant performance from Berrios as he looks to ascend to the next level. It was, after all, just last season that Minnesota bunted New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia (age 37 and generously listed at 300 pounds with bad knees and hamstrings) to death.

There may never be a more perfect encapsulation of the silliness of baseball’s unwritten rules than this complaint. The rules are a moving target, set by whichever veteran player has a perceived slight. The Twins haven’t quite reached Brian McCann Atlanta Braves Fun Police status yet, but they’re not far off.