Last night’s matchup between the Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox saw tempers flare. Rockies right-hander Cal Quantrill worked Red Sox’s Reese McGuire to a pop fly, but not before mouthing off in the direction of McGuire as he ran towards first. Other Rockies and Red Sox players intervened, and soon enough, both benches and bullpens cleared. A pretty mild bench clearing in the MLB and International scene compared to the ten bench clearing brawls listed below.
Before this matchup between the Orioles and Royals in 2016, Machado and Ventura had no known animosity towards each other, but that soon changed as Machado stepped up to the plate. During Machado’s second at-bat, Ventura launched two two-seamers that were too close for comfort for Machado, having to jump backward. After hitting the next pitch, Machado stared down Ventura and issued him a warning in Spanish.
Top of the fifth, and Machado steps up the plate. Ventura beans him with a fastball right in the back. Machado got up and charged the mound. Ventura threw a punch but was blocked by Machado, who then put Ventura in a headlock. Both benches cleared, but no more punches were thrown.
Everyone remembers Jose Bautista’s iconic bat flip in the ALDS against the Texas Rangers, but for Rougned Odor, it was something he couldn’t forget. After high tensions between the two teams, their 2016 meeting spiraled into an all-out brawl. Top of the eighth inning, Jose Bautista stepped up to the plate. Rangers pitcher Matt Bush beaned Bautista in the back, sending him to first. Blue Jays first baseman Justin Smoak would hit a ground ball to third, with the Rangers looking for a double play. With Bautista running to second, with his bean-ball fresh on his mind, he slid into second baseman Rougned Odor.
Both men got up, and Odor swung at Bautista, knocking him back. Both benches cleared as other plays got in on the action, including Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson. All three players would be ejected, but the tensions didn’t end there! When the game finally resumed, Blue Jays reliever Jesse Chavez hit Prince Fielder with the next pitch to have the benches clear again!
Tensions rose in the KBO just like in the MLB, and in this brawl between the Samsung Lions and Hanwha Eagles, both teams got after it. Bottom of the third and Lion’s pitcher Yoon Sung-hwan beans Eagles’ Kim Tae-kyun. A staredown ensues, and the benches clear, but nothing further happens. After everyone returns to their benches, Yoon Sung-hwan hits Lion’s Wilin Rosario on the very next pitch. Benches clear once again as both teams go at it as shoving and punches fly. Eagles pitcher Carlos Villanueva tore a ligament in his pinkie during the fight. As a result, multiple players and coaches were hit with hefty fines and suspensions.
Top of the eighth inning in an intense winter league game between Naranjeros de Hermosillo and Cañeros de los Mochis. Daniel Duarte on the mound for Cañeros, and he beans Hermosillo’s outfielder Yadiel Hernandez in the leg. Hernandez immediately gets up and flings his bat at Duarte, who narrowly misses getting hit. Duarte then charges the plate and throws his glove into Hernandez’s face. Both benches clear as punches are thrown from both sides. Finally the umpires get the game under control and back to their benches.
Now, in the bottom of the eight, Hermosillo’s Raul Barron beans Cañeros’ Josuán Hernández, and both benches clear again with more punches being thrown. Hermosillo’s Catcher Julián León and Cañeros’ pitcher Daniel Duarte were suspended for one game, while Yadiel Hernandez was suspended for four games.
Yasiel Puig steps up to the plate at the bottom of the eighth inning of the Venezuelan Winter League Finals between Tiburones de La Guaira and Cardenales de Lara. With scores notched at 8, Puig launches a homer to put Tiburones ahead. Puig strutted the bases slowly and celebrated as he rounded third in front of the Cardenales dugout.
Puig’s teammate, Maikel Garcia, was equally as excited and celebrated his team’s home run right in the face of Cardenales catcher Carlos Narvaez. Narvaez exchanged some choice words with Tiburones players, resulting in some pushing and shoving. This tension rose among numerous players from each side, who were throwing punches. Even fans escalated the situation by throwing beer at the players fighting on the field.
As the situation seems to de-escalate, a Cardenales player pushes and punches Puig, who responds by rushing the player. This escalated tensions again, and players from both Cardenales and Tiburones began fighting again.
The Yankees and Red-Sox are like oil and water….they don’t mix well. In 2004, these tensions boiled into one of the craziest fights this rivalry has ever seen. In the top of the third inning, Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez is up to the plate. Red-Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo beans Rodriguez, who gets up and stares Arroyo down as he walks to first. Red-Sox catcher Jason Varitek got between Rodriguez and Arroyo to de-escalate the situation.
Instead, Varitek got into it with Rodriguez, and the two wrestled each other to the ground as both sides benches cleared. Both Varitek and Rodriguez got some punches in before being separated by their teammates. This scuffle led to numerous other fights between Yankees and Red-Sox players, including Tanyon Strutze, Gabe Kapler, Trot Nixon, Kenny Lofton, Curt Schilling, and David Ortiz. This resulted in Strutze leaving the fight with blood dripping from his left ear. This would be a precursor for one of the craziest ALCS that saw the Red Sox come back from down 3-0 to beat the Yankees and advance to the World Series.
Top of the ninth with, Canada dominating Mexico, 9-3, and Canadian Rene Tosoni stepped up to the plate. Mexican pitcher Arnold Leon took issue with Canada running up the score and threw two balls close to hitting Tosoni. Despite a warning from the umpire, Leon beaned Tosoni on the third pitch, and chaos ensued. Tosoni rushed at Leon as the benches cleared. Mexico’s Alfredo Aceves, Oliver Perez, and Eduardo Arredondo, as well as Canada’s Tosoni, Pete Orr, and Jay Johnson, traded blows, leading to an all-out brawl.
The majority of the Mexican crowd got into it as Canadian pitching coach Denis Boucher was hit in the face by a full water bottle thrown from the crowd. The crowd’s antics heightened the animosity between the two nations as police officers came onto the field and into the stands, trying to restore order and stop the few fights occurring in the stands. Even after the umpires regained control and cleared the field, a fan threw a baseball onto the field, almost hitting Canadian first base coach Larry Walker. Both managers pulled their teams, ending the game in a disaster.
No one likes over-the-top home run celebrations, but Asdrubal Cabrera might just hate them the most. In a matchup between Cabrera ‘s Caribes de Anzoátegui and Tiburones de La Guaira (making their second appearance on this list) in the Venezuelan Winter League, both teams got hot after some showboating went wrong. Tiburones’ Carlos Castro was having a monster outing, already hitting two homers before his at-bat in the top of the eight. Castro heads to the plate and hits yet another homer, making it three on the game. As he heads towards first, Castro hits a bat flip and stares down the Caribes dugout. An angry Cabrera ran over to Torres as he rounded first base and clotheslined Castros, knocking him to the ground and setting off a wild brawl between both teams. Fans made tensions even worse by throwing baseballs into the mosh-pit of players fighting.
This matchup between the Braves and Padres still holds the record for most ejections in a single game. Pascual Perez was on the mound for the Braves and wanted to set the tone early. In the previous game, Padre’s Alan Wiggins bunted twice, leading to some banter between Perez and Wiggins. On the first pitch, Perez beaned Wiggins. When Perez came to the plate to bat, San Diego pitcher Ed Whitson’s first pitch to him was behind his back. The umpire warned both teams that anyone else hit would be ejected. Despite the umps warning, in the fourth inning, Whitson threw three consecutive pitches at Perez, missing all. Whitson and San Diego manager Dick Williams were then ejected. Then, in the sixth, Padres reliever Greg Booker’s pitch almost hit Perez, causing him to be ejected.
Then, finally, in the seventh, as Perez walked up the plate again, reliever Craig Lefferts beaned Perez. Chaos ensued as both benches cleared. Crazier than the fight was an injured Bob Horner with a cast on his arm, rushing from the press box to the locker room to suit up in case a fight broke loose. After ten minutes, the order was restored until another brawl took place in the bottom of the ninth. Braves pitcher Donnie Moore beaned Graig Nettles, setting off a second brawl. After the second brawl was resolved, 17 players and coaches had been ejected. The umpires sent both dugouts to the locker room to ensure no other brawls could break out.
Nothing else could have topped this list other than what may have been the ugliest moment in MLB history. The Dodgers and Giants were fierce rivals, and every game had tension. Giants Maury Wills led off the series finale with a bunt single. At his next at-bat, Juan Marichal beaned him with a fastball. To return the favor, Sandy Koufax would respond with a ball that almost hit Willie Mays head. Marichal would respond once more with a bean to Ron Fairly. To avoid Koufax being ejected, Dodger’s catcher John Roseboro moved behind Marichal when he was at the plate and threw the ball back, coming close to hitting Marichal.
The two got into a heated argument before Marichal took his bat and slammed it onto Roseboro’s head. Chaos ensued as both benches cleared. Roseboro’ went after Marichal, who continued to swing his bat before being tackled by the umpire. While on the ground, Marichal kept kicking and cutting Howie Reed and Lou Johnson with his cleat spikes. The scuffle resulted in a 15-minute struggle to get both teams under control. Marichal was ejected, and Roseboro left the game injured and would go on to need 14 stitches to patch up his wound.
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WBN MLB: https://worldbaseball.com/league/mlb/
Photo Credit: Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, right, strikes New York Yankees batter Alex Rodriguez at Fenway Park in Boston. The two fought after Rodriguez was hit by a pitch by Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo. The Red Sox won, 11-10, with a 9th-inning game winning home run by Bill Mueller. (Photo by J Rogash/Getty Images)
