Some 2019 performances that deserve punishment from Santa this Christmas
The 2019 season may have been a very good one for most of baseball, but there were also instances of bad behavior of the kind Santa Claus isn’t likely to forget this Christmas.
So while good boys of the stripe of Stephen Strasburg and Anthony Rendon await some extremely choice presents under their trees, a few of the game’s notables can’t expect to be treated as kindly by the jolly man in the red suit.
Yes, there will be coal awaiting some of the game’s mischief-makers this holiday season … and we’re not talking about Gerrit, either.
While the bad deeds weren’t numerous, they were noteworthy. Some involved simple poor performance, while others were behavior-oriented. Yes, we mean you, Pirates and Reds. Now go and apologize to one another for being such spoiled brats.
One player’s suspension for PED use seriously compromised his team’s post-season plans. Another, following a frustrating inning in July, displayed his arm strength in an entirely inappropriate fashion.
A noteworthy relief pitcher sat out the entire first half of the season, insisting that he was worth a boatload of more money than anybody else thought. Then when he got it, he stunk up the place and sabotaged his team’s post-season prospects.
Nor were umpires immune to perdition. Sam Holbrook’s highly questionable call during the seventh inning of the sixth game of the World Series might have changed the entire event’s outcome.
Then there was the entire Houston Astros organization, subject at season’s end of an ongoing probe into allegations that they cheated their way to victories in 2017, possibly including that year’s World Series, and possibly since then.
Here’s a quick look at some of the game’s noteworthy figures who ought to be looking ahead to Santa’s trip down the chimney with more than a bit of trepidation.