Toronto Blue Jays go ballistic in yet another dispute with umpire

The Toronto Blue Jays may have swept their series with the Oakland Athletics, but they had to do it without three members after being ejected by the umpire.

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, starting pitcher Marcus Stroman and catcher Russell Martin were ejected by home plate umpire Will Little after numerous issues with the strike zone throughout the early frames of Thursday’s game. While the Blue Jays did win the game in extra innings by a walk-off grand slam home run, the focus stayed very much on the altercations that led to the three ejections.

Two were made on the very same pitch dispute. Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet reported that:

"“The seed was planted in the first inning. After walking [Athletics] leadoff hitter Matt Joyce on five pitches, two of them sinkers he thought were strikes, [Stroman] threw his arms out and paced off the mound toward home plate umpire Will Little to inquire about the strike zone.”"

The nicknamed “StroShow” put on a display of displeasure again at the end of the inning, while walking back to the dugout. The same could be said for Gibbons, as the cameras pointed toward the now-miserable-faced manager jawing at Little at different points of the game. At least, until the fifth inning.

For Gibbons, getting thrown out of a ball game is nothing new. It was the fourth time that Gibbons had been thrown out of a game this season. He is a player’s manager who is not afraid of venting at an umpire to stick up for his team. However, two pitches later, an enraged Stroman was ejected after disputing his sixth walk of the game. His catcher, Martin, was tossed quickly afterward.

Zwelling believes it was hard to know why the ejections took place solely for the Blue Jays, as the Athletics were disputing balls and strikes as well. He included a pitch graph of balls and strike calls for both starting pitchers, and argued that each team had a bone to pick. Many seemingly obvious strikes were called balls for both pitchers, and vice versa.

Yet, forget the strike zone, forget the calls, forget the bickering. The last straw was all of Little’s own doing. After yet another questionable pitch call that walked another Athletics batter, Stroman began gripping a new baseball while staring silently at the umpire. Instead of deescalating the situation, which seemed a tense but quiet one, Little walked out from behind the plate, removed his mask, and barked at Stroman. The 26-year-old fiery pitcher said something that was not easily heard by anyone, but it was enough for Little to eject him.

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To add insult to injury, Martin was thrown out immediately afterwards when he turned to Little and questioned the decision to throw his pitcher out for a situation that the umpire spurred on his own. Martin said, per Sportsnet, “It’s kind of like he was asking for, I don’t know, it’s like he was instigating almost.”

There’s arguing calls and there’s an actual sign of disrespect. In professional sports, whether right or wrong, grown men act like children (or, at least, verbally-embarrassing sports parents) when they disagree with the officials. This fact is nothing new; however, there is a difference between showing up an umpire and just venting frustration.

Neil Davidson of The Canadian Press stated, “An irate Stroman rushed to home plate and had to be restrained as he attempted to get at Little.” Nobody saw the Blue Jays pitcher running after the umpire with veins popping out of his neck over a pitch. Instead, hundreds of children in the Rogers Centre and thousands of children watching on their televisions got to witness a grown man try to attack another grown man who was too thin-skinned to deal with a frustrating situation.

Many media representatives, not just in Toronto, apparently agree with that assessment:

It has been widely publicized that many players and managers are getting ejected, seemingly, much too quickly. Players like Adrian Beltre and Bryce Harper have unleashed their rage in recent altercations. Thursday’s incident did not do much to quell the rising theory that having a camera decide balls and strikes, much like the system used in tennis to make line calls, may be the better alternative.

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Incidents like this may put umpires like Little out of a job. Was it worth it? It is easy to find fault with the managers and players who get paid so much more money to play a game than the officials do to officiate it. Players often are seen crying like babies for the most absurd reasons. However, in this case, children were only made to watch an aggressive and possibly frightening situation between supposed adults because the umpire allowed the situation to get away from him.

A young boy or girl, just starting to enjoy the sport and picking players as their heroes, may have left the Rogers Centre feeling anxious and decide not to learn more about the great game that we love. A youngster got to witness an embarrassing event that would make them turn the T.V. channel to cartoons or anything else that makes them feel safe and secure.

Is that what we want to leave our children with when they think about baseball?