Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor expects to be suspended for his role in the Sunday brawl between his team and Jose Bautista’s Toronto Blue Jays.
Odor said on Monday, “I know I’m going to be suspended for a couple games, but I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing,” per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Odor punched Bautista in the face after the Blue Jays slugger executed a late slide in the eighth inning of Sunday’s contest. Both teams spilled onto the field, and Wilson noted “it is believed that Odor also punched reigning MVP Josh Donaldson” in the ensuing melee.
MLB provided a clip of the incident (starts around 17-second mark):
Odor and Bautista were both ejected from the 7-6 Texas win, as were Steve Buechele, Donaldson, DeMarlo Hale and Jesse Chavez, per MLB on Twitter.
The Rangers are in first place in the American League West but will be short-handed if and when Odor is suspended. He is hitting .286 with seven home runs and five stolen bases, and his average and .500 slugging percentage would both be career highs if he maintained them throughout the season.
For his part, Bautista said, “He got me pretty good, so I have to give him that. But it takes a little bit of a bigger man, I guess, to knock me down,” per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com.
Bautista was on base in the first place because Rangers pitcher Matt Bush drilled him with a pitch earlier in the eighth. The teams received warnings, but the Toronto right fielder slid into Odor anyway, which led to the fight. Blue Jays pitcher Chavez responded by hitting Prince Fielder in the bottom of the eighth, which cleared the benches once more.
While the Rangers and Blue Jays will not play again during the 2016 regular season, the tensions from last year’s playoffs likely carried over into Sunday’s game. Bautista connected on a go-ahead three-run home run in the decisive Game 5 of their American League Division Series showdown and proceeded to flip his bat in dramatic fashion.
After the brawl, Odor did say, “I think it’s over. It’s in the past. I respect him,” when talking about any potential lingering bad blood between himself and Bautista, per Jorge L. Ortiz of USA Today. However, his actions on the field—and those of his teammates—seemed to say otherwise.
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