#7 – Chase Utley
The Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets are not necessarily on the best of terms. Dodgers infielder Chase Utley saw to that, when he made a horrific decision in last year’s NLDS.
In the seventh inning of game two, Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy fielded a ground ball up the middle, flipping the ball to shortstop Ruben Tejada to start the double play. Utley slide hard and late, in an attempt to take Tejada out. He did – for the rest of the playoffs. Tejada was carted off the field with a broken leg, as the Dodgers scored a run on the play:
The slide was so awful that it forced MLB to revise their rules in the offseason, to the point that a late slide now results in an automatic out. While some fans might argue that this change was unnecessary, Tejada and the Mets might beg to differ.
Fans and fellow players lined up to call Utley a dirty player in the moments and weeks following the slide, and even his Dodgers teammates seemed hesitant to call the slide legitimate.
Utley’s status as a villain was further increased earlier this month when he faced the New York Mets. Noah Syndergaard was tossed from the game after throwing a fastball behind Utley’s back in his second at-bat, as young umpire Adam Hamari took issue with Syndergaard’s obvious intent.
Utley proceeded to hit a pair of home runs and collect five RBIs, which may have helped win the game for the Dodgers, but hardly helped his reputation.
Next: The Veteran Cheater