The suspension of Astros outfielder Bryan Abreu has been sustained but postponed until 2024.
HOUSTON, TEXAS — An independent arbitrator affirmed Bryan Abreu’s two-game ban but deferred it until the beginning of the 2024 season.
As a result, the key setup reliever for the Houston Astros will be available for Game 7 in the American League Championship Series late Monday night. The game will be played at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
In the sixth inning of the Astros’ game against the Texas Rangers, which Houston lost 11-4, Abreu entered the game with Houston trailing 8-2 he hit his second batter, Mitch Garver, in the left side with a fastball that was 97.2 miles per hour.
After that, he allowed Nathaniel Lowe to hit a two-run homer after getting two outs, which brought his earned run average for the postseason up to 4.32 in nine outings.
After throwing a first-pitch fastball directly at the left arm of Texas Rangers fielder Adolis Garcia during the eighth inning for Game 5 on Friday, which led to a bench-clearing altercation, Abreu was given a suspension as a result of the event.
Garcia, who had boisterously celebrated the victory with a home run two innings earlier, immediately turned to Astros catchers Martin Maldonado, seemingly assuming that he had called over the pitch inside, and then went after himself again after players from both sides spilled onto the playing surface during a 12-minute delay before play resumed. Play was resumed after the delay.
After concluding that Houston Astros right-handed pitcher Bryan Abreu intentionally dropped Texas Rangers outfielder Adolis Garca during Friday’s Game 5 of the American League Finals, Major League Baseball has decided to sustain and delay the two-game suspension until the 2024 season. This decision comes as a result of the league’s finding that the incident occurred.
The judgment was made public by the league only a few hours before the opening pitch of Game 7. Before Game 7, Abreu told reporters, “Of course, it’s nice to be here and try to contribute to the team win.” “Of course, am glad to being here and try to assist the team win.”
Fines were handed out to Dusty Baker, Jose Abreu, and Garca, as well as the Astros manager. In addition to receiving fines, inactive pitcher Matt Bush or Lance McCullers Jr. will not be allowed to sit on the benches of their respective clubs for the remainder of the American League Championship Series (ALCS).
“Well, that’s kind of what I had hoped for when I didn’t use zack in a down game two inning yesterday,” said Baker further.
“He disclosed to me that in the event that he was had to endure a suspension, he was planning to throw every single one that was humanly possible. Therefore, it is a privilege to be able to count on him today.
The occurrence took place in the bottom of the eighth inning, while there was a runner in first base. The first pitch that Abreu threw was a fastball that was 98.9 miles per hour and it hit Garcia.
Garca, who had already enjoyed a home run early in the game and taken a leisurely celebratory walk around the bases, instantly challenged Martn Maldonado, who was playing the position of catcher. Abreu, Garca, and Baker were kicked off the field once the umpiring crew got together.
Therefore, Major League Baseball done the best thing it possibly could do in this present era of police perceived vigilante justice, in which umpires are empowered to expel first, ask questions later, but the league was hellbent on imposing mandatory minimums. In other words, Major City Baseball did the greatest thing it could do.
They affirmed Abreu’s two-game punishment for hitting Garcia, but they moved it to the beginning of the 2024 season so that he would serve it then. It’s a good thing.
L’affair Abreu did, however, bring to light several flaws in the way that Major League Baseball handles on-field discipline, particularly in regard to the postseason.
Therefore, Abreu should not have any problems playing the Rangers’ Game 7 of the ALCS on Monday night. Should the Astros go on to win the World Series, we won’t have to be concerned about the lengthy and severe suspension that will be handed down to him at that time.
To begin, it is to everyone’s advantage that the system permits accelerated rulings to be made within forty-eight hours, as specified by the contract of collective bargaining.
There is no reason for any matter to hang over anyone’s head, such as Chase Utley’s takeout slide during the 2015 NL Division Series which shattered Ruben Tejada’s leg. There is no need for this to happen.
And it is not surprising that MLB would stand by its umpires; the six-person crew that officiated this ALCS was placed in a split-second situation in which they had to determine intent and make rulings that would leave nobody satisfied.
They eventually dismissed Abreu, Garcia, and the manager of the Astros, Dusty Baker; but, the manager of the Rangers, Bruce Bochy, was still angry, just because it took so long, and his own relief was left to play it all out.
It is evident that because Abreu will, in actually, serve his two-game sentence, the Major League Baseball was determined to enforce the ban—to maintain a precedent, to discourage future headhunting, and everything else like that.
However, the need to keep order inside the game shouldn’t stop one from being pragmatic. In addition, there should be some breathing room within this cycle of 72 hours so that people might say something like, “You Know What? The motivations of Abreu are completely opaque to us at this point.