MLB reporter Jeff Passan of ESPN took to Twitter to apologize to fellow reporter, Ben Verlander, for his rather savage jokes during Game 1 of the Houston Astros-Seattle Mariners ALDS on Tuesday.
For those who missed it, Passan delivered some nasty haymakers towards Verlander's way after reporting the struggles of Justin Verlander for the Astros against the Mariners. Ben and Justin are brothers.
Out of nowhere, Passan mentioned Ben and poked fun at his obsession on Shohei Ohtani. When Verlander replied by trolling the ESPN reporter for his height, Passan fired back with a cold and brutal Ohtani diss.
“When you're talking about Shohgei you're usually on your knees, though, right?” Passan wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
Of course the tweet quickly went viral. While the Twitter feud seemed to be the usual banter between friends and colleagues, Jeff Passan admitted he crossed the line with his words.
“Earlier, a tweet directed at Ben Verlander crossed the line and was hurtful to many. I deleted the tweet and sincerely apologize. Though Ben and I have known one another for a while and often joke on Twitter, it’s no excuse for my mistake. I will be better and learn from it,” Passan said.
Ben Verlander, for his part, has yet to respond to the apology. It doesn't seem he's bothered by it as he continues to tweet about the MLB playoffs games on Tuesday.
For what it's worth, despite Justin Verlander's early struggles with the Astros, Houston still came out on top with an 8-7 win to go 1-0 in the ALDS.
Follow Us
Subscribe