The Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays saw the benches clear when Genesis Cabrera and Jose Caballero got into it at third base.
After Caballero was thrown out trying to reach third base on a Rays hit, he took exception with contact made by the Blue Jays' Cabrera, who was backing up third. Then things broke lose, per Fox Sports:
The Blue Jays and Rays benches cleared immediately, and it took a couple several minutes for umpires to restore order.
The incident happened in the bottom of the 7th inning with the Blue Jays trailing the Rays 4-1.
The scrum follows a pair of incidents between the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers. On Friday, Rhys Hoskins – who formerly played for Mets rival Philadelphia Phillies – slid late at second base while Jeff McNeil was covering the bag. McNeil was covering the bag after a ground ball was hit to third base, and he was receiving the throw from the third baseman. McNeil lost the ball in the transfer but Hoskins was still called out.
McNeil immediately began shouting and pointing at Hoskins. That led to the bullpens and dugouts both clearing as the Mets fans booed Hoskins.
In the following game on Saturday afternoon, Mets pitcher Yohan Ramirez threw at Hoskins after he hit a home run for the Brewers on Saturday. Hoskins hit his first homer as a Brewer in an afternoon game against the Mets in Queens.
Blue Jays season outlook
The Blue Jays are going to be an intriguing team to follow through the 2024 season. Toronto features a significant amount of talent, but they have not been able to make a World Series run with their current group of players. Will 2024 be the year that changes?
There is reason to think that the Blue Jays could make a deep playoff run. Of course, playing in the American League East, possibly the deepest division in baseball, will make things tough. Earning a division title is the regular season goal for Toronto, but that won't be easy.
Toronto's offense could be one of the best in MLB. It all begins with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. The Blue Jays stars feature MVP-caliber ceilings. Guerrero had a down year by his standards last year, but it's reasonable to believe that he can bounce back and make an MVP run in 2024.
Players such as George Springer, Justin Turner, and Alejandro Kirk add substantial versatility to the lineup. And Toronto's offense is deep, with Daulton Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier, and Cavan Biggio in the lineup.
Varsho, Kiermaier, and Biggio aren't necessarily huge offensive threats, but they know how to make an impact with timely hitting.
One the mound, Kevin Gausman has become a consistent Cy Young candidate. He's finished no worse than ninth in Cy Young voting over the past three years and finished a career-high third in 2023.
Gausman led the league in strikeouts with a mark of 237 during the '23 campaign. He turned in a strong 3.16 ERA while leading an up-and-down Blue Jays rotation.
Toronto and the Rays are back it again on Sunday in a matinee game.
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