Toronto Blue Jays: Jose Bautista fires back at Rougned Odor

A couple of weeks ago, Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor set the MLB world ablaze when he landed a punch on Toronto Blue Jays star Jose Bautista. Now the 36 year-old is putting his cards on the table about the brawl.

With Rougned Odor’s suspension being reduced from eight games to seven, Jose Bautista has started to challenge the 22 year-old second baseman for situation that occurred during the 7th inning of their game on May 15, and his words are not too kind.

"“Was [Odor] out to play baseball that day? Maybe partly,” Bautista said. “Part of me also thinks that he was looking for a fight.”"

Many people defending Odor have said that the Rangers’ second baseman had a right to get aggressive, pointing to Bautista’s slide, which seemed to target Odor’s legs. However, while Bautista admits that the slide was late, he was adamant that he had no intention to hurt Odor.

"“I could have hit him,” Bautista said. “I could have hurt him. I chose not to. My cleats were down. I slid through the bag. Was it late? Yes, a hundred percent.”"

Bautista also went onto say that Odor was the one trying to injure him by intentionally trying to throw at his head during the his relay throw to first base.

"“I’ve been playing baseball for a long time,” Bautista said. “I know exactly what he was trying to do when he threw the ball. He tried a hundred percent to hit me in the face. And it’s not the first time he’s done it against me or some of my teammates. And there’s video to prove that.”"

While Bautista is correct in saying that Odor has had a history of starting fights in the past. However, while Bautista is sticking with his story that he was not trying to injure Odor, it’s clear that Bautista wanted some kind of retaliation after getting hit by Rangers reliever Matt Bush.

"“But what can I do after they hit me? Should I ask my manager to let me pitch, which he is never going to let me do? Like, what am I supposed to do? Just sit there and take it?”"

Looking at the slide and some of Bautista’s comments about the incident, it’s pretty clear that Bautista was trying to inflict some type of damage to anyone on the Rangers, Odor just happened to be the guy that he could target. This type of mindset is dangerous for any player because it seems that just being on the same team may get someone hurt. While violence in the game may be entertaining and a good topic for conversation, trying to injure a player is never the answer, period.

In this situation, many people seem to be taking Odor’s side, but that’s because he was able to land the punch. People tend to gravitate toward the guy that wins the fight rather than loses it, but that by no means makes it right.

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First of all, Odor is going to hurt his team by missing a fair amount of games because of the punch. Is it worth losing one of your better hitters to make a point? Winning should be the most important thing and losing a hitter like Odor for two series certainly hurts the club’s chances of winning ballgames.

But Bautista is not in the right either. Clearly he wanted to cause some damage to the Rangers and this situation could have been much worse if Odor was seriously injured by the slide.

There is clearly some bad blood between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers, going back to Bautista’s bat flip in game 5 of the American League Divisional Round. And with players from both teams both backing their teammates, this newfound rivalry is not looking like it will go away.

This type of intensity between two teams is certainly good for interest the MLB. And there is most definitely a place for rivalries, energy, competitiveness and bat flips in the game; just look at that Red Sox and Yankees in the early 2000s. But players, just need to retaliate with a home run or a big strikeout, rather than with the intent to injure. It’s better off for the teams and the health of the players.

While that may seem like a lost cause with the way the teams have reacted to each other, nobody will have a chance to fight back on the field during the regular because the clubs are not scheduled face each other again. But, if the Rangers and Blue Jays happen to have a rematch in the playoffs, hopefully no players suffer any serious injuries because then we will have a much bigger problem on our hands.

Next: American League All-Star voting results released

What do you think about Bautista’s comments? Is their a place for violence in the game? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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