MLB has to twist the Yankees' arm to get them to finally punish interfering fans

The New York Yankees entered Game 4 of the World Series in as desperate a spot as you can imagine, down 3-0 and facing the prospect of a sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers — as well as the humiliation of an opposing team popping champagne on their home field. A couple of Yankees fans in particular, however, took that desperation (and the frustration of how this series has played out) a little too far.

In the bottom of the first inning, Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts ran towards the foul line to try and reel in a fly ball off the bat of Gleyber Torres. Betts reached over the wall and seemed to be in position to make the play ... until a Yankees fan grabbed his wrist and ripped the ball out of his glove. Torres was correctly ruled out due to fan interference, and the fan in question, Austin Capobianco, was ejected from the ballpark.

It should go without saying that this sort of thing cannot be allowed or encouraged. It's all too easy to identify with a fan taking advantage of a chance to help his team on the sport's biggest stage, but making contact with a player on the field — let alone this kind of very intentional and aggressive contact — is a line that can never be crossed. And the only way to make that point clear moving forward is to come down hard on Capobianco, letting every other fan know what the consequences will be.

Someone needs to tell that to the New York Yankees, though, because the way they've handled the aftermath of this situation has been about as bad as can be.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

MLB has to ask Yankees to ban fans who interfered with Mookie Betts

Bafflingly, the Yankees didn't seem to object all that strongly to Capobianco's behavior. While they ejected him along with another fan, that's an iron-clad rule: If you interfere with a ball in play, you're gone. Beyond that, it's up to the team's discretion, and New York initially chose to do ... basically nothing. According to ESPN's Jesse Rogers, the team told the two fans — both season-ticket holders — that they would be allowed back at Yankee Stadium for Game 5 the next night.

As far as we know, that was the situation until mid-afternoon Wednesday, just hours before the game was scheduled to start. And things only changed then because, per Rogers, MLB asked the Yankees to ban the two.

Rogers later issued a clarification that the league and the Yankees were both on the same page, but come on: That clearly reads like New York's PR machine kicking into overdrive and trying to make sure they don't wind up with egg on their face. If the Yankees had wanted to punish the two fans, they would've done so right after Game 4. They didn't, which leads us one of two conclusions: Either the team didn't think what Capobianco did was wrong, or it didn't want to deal with the negative PR of coming down hard on a fan.

Both of which make the Yankees look even worse. Imagine applying this standard to any other behavior: Sure, you may have done something wrong, but don't worry about it, because you'll be right back in position to do the same thing 24 hours later with no repercussions — and the adoration of autograph-seeking fans. The fact that New York waited for the league to step in here is a bad, bad look, and one that certainly won't help the team and its fans beat its reputation.