Last Friday's White Sox game against the Guardians won't be forgotten for a long while.
Tim Anderson and José Ramírez engaged in a glove-dropping, boxing stance, dukes-up-fight after Ramírez expressed his dismay with how Anderson tagged him at second base.
Many people across the league, inside and out, reacted to the fight; two MLB players, Mookie Betts and Corbin Carroll included.
Carroll admitted his team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, had a meeting about the fight, discussing the scenario hypothetically for future protocol.
"We had a team meeting about it. Players only," Carroll said to Mookie Betts. "Basically, we said that if someone gets knocked out on the field, there is no way that there is nothing thrown after that."
Certainly, the fight was an odd occurrence in baseball.
The umpires seemingly allowed Anderson and Ramírez to fight, which is rare in the sport. Rarely do two players engage in fighting stances and read their opponent before tossing haymakers and an over-the-top knockout punch.
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But, what Carroll and the Diamondbacks jointly observed was the aftermath.
"No one fought after," Carroll said.
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"They kind of just stood around," Betts said.
"You gotta protect your boy, right?" Carroll added.
"You gotta protect your boy," Betts said.
The fight did indeed escalate into a multi-round brawl between both AL Central teams. Though, no one rebelled against Ramírez, as his Guardian teammates kept him untouched after the fact. Not that continuing the violence is the right solution, but Carroll's observation holds some weight.
Anderson tried fighting after-the-fact, before being carried to the dugout by Andrew Vaughn. Eloy Jiménez slapped the dugout fence in anger after his foot seemingly was trampled from the brawl. Pedro Grifol also got in on the scuffle.
The fight resulted in multiple suspensions including six and three games suspensions to Anderson and Ramírez, respectfully. Emmanuel Clase, Terry Francona, Mike Sarbaugh, and Grifol were each suspended one game.
Ramírez claims he's attempted reaching out to Anderson to apologize, but Anderson hasn't responded, according to Ramírez. Anderson hasn't officially spoken on the matter, though he has released eight cryptic tweets following the fight.
