The 60 game COVID season has passed, and the league is now onto post-season play. This season was unlike any other as playing in a pandemic called for change. Now, baseball needs to change its unwritten rules. From bat flipping to base running, there is always room for ridicule and rules to be broken.
Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr, the newest generation of players have their fun. But with a price. The cost of carrying the stigma that they've broken an unwritten rule.
Juan Soto is young, and fun to watch. Others disagree. Juan Soto- guilty for watching his homers exit the park rather than trotting the bases quickly. Just one of the many unwritten rules that need to be abolished. Get rid of the stigma around watching home runs leave the park.
Sitting with my Mom at the St. Louis Cardinals home opener in 2019, I pointed out Fernando Tatis Jr.
"He looks like one to look out for" I told my Mom.
In retrospect a year later, I was right. If you haven't heard about this kid by now he is taking the league by storm, following in his Dad's footsteps.
Fernando Tatis Jr swung on a 3-0 pitch. To his surprise, he hit a grand slam. Breaking the unwritten rule threw people into a spiral. As a result of everyone's disapproval, he felt the need to apologize for what he had done. And what did he really do? Had fun while playing the game? Boohoo.
Keep swinging for the fences kid, I love to see it.
Hand in hand with admiring home-runs is bat flipping. Quite literally baseball's stupidest unwritten rule. How are fans still not over this? Jose Bautista was the first to start the bat flipping trend in 2015.
2015.
It is 2020, and "fans" are still offended by bat flips. They are fun to watch. Admire the talent. Get over it.
Jose Bautista hammers go-ahead three-run shot in ALDS Game 5, delivers epic bat flipwww.youtube.com
Players need to be more like Ronald Acuña Jr of the Atlanta Braves. Per his last Instagram post (below), he is not apologizing for breaking the unwritten rules of baseball. As it should be.
Let the kids play.
