Did MLB umpires eject the wrong player in Reds-Cardinals brawl?

MLB umpires screwed up by ejecting Nicholas Castellanos after the Reds-Cardinals brawl while leaving other instigators unpunished.

Baseball is back, which means so are silly bench-clearing brawls.

Even worse? Bad umpire rulings have also returned.

On Saturday, the Cardinals and Reds got into it after Nicholas Castellanos slid into pitcher Jake Woodford at home plate.

Here’s how it all went down.

After all that, one player was ejected…Castellanos?

Yeah, that doesn’t seem fair.

Did MLB umpires get the Reds-Cardinals brawl all wrong?

The umpires absolutely messed this one up, though not necessarily because they ejected Castellanos. It’s ridiculous that he was the only one thrown out.

Castellanos’ slide may have set off Yadier Molina, whose reaction started the whole thing, but he wasn’t involved in the brawl at all. He backed off immediately and stayed out of the action.

The right thing to do would be to eject both Castellanos and Molina, at the very least. The former slid into the plate and flexed over an opponent. It’s not the most egregious offense, but it did play a role in the fight.

However, it was Molina who took that tiny spark and poured a bucket of gasoline on it, encouraging his teammates to storm off their bench. He had no business rushing Castellanos.

Castellanos had been hit by a pitch earlier in the game. If he had rushed the mound, he would have deserved everything he got. What Molina did is the equivalent. He could have let his anger stew and gotten Castellanos back in some other way. Instead, he started a brawl.

It takes two to tango. By punishing Castellanos and letting Molina off, the umpires completely excused the behavior that resulted in benches clearing. That’s not a good precedent to set at the start of a new season.