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The biggest baseball punch since Michael Barrett and A.J. Pierzynski , or Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura , occurred Sunday. The participants this time around: Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista and Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor.  [ Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now ] As the Barrett and Ryan punches show, fights in baseball are nothing new. Since the game was invented, teams and players have taken exception to one thing or another, and have occasionally found themselves engaged in fisticuffs.  What separates those brawls from the Bautista/Odor dustup is that Twitter didn't exist back then. In the past, you might find video of the event on a local broadcast, or read about it in the paper. Now, gifs, memes and hot takes are immediately formed as the event unfolds. Unsurprisingly, the internet delivered on those fronts following the Blue Jays-Rangers brawl. There was, of course, a Chris Tucker from "Friday" mashup courtesy of our own Mike Oz.  This one also seemed pretty obvious:  This is my best work, it doesn't get any better from here https://t.co/oKaN07y5QL — RT Ohio (@RT_Ohio) May 16, 2016 Someone also took the time to compare the punch to "Sonic the Hedgehog:" This may shock you, but yes, Crying Jordan was invited to the party: Pretty rough day for Jose Bautista pic.twitter.com/J9HhA7GHUe — Jimmy Donofrio (@JimmyDonofrio) May 15, 2016 Since being Crying Jordan'd is now the pinnacle of failure during the Internet age, that seems like an ideal place to end the Vine portion of our reactions. None of the above Vines make Bautista look particularly great, but if you reverse the footage ... there's a way. @trillballins pic.twitter.com/kM1lNMvWsT — Jeanshorts (@JSBMjeanshorts) May 16, 2016 If Vines and memes aren't your thing, and you live for hot takes, don't worry, we've got you covered there. Odor didn't talk to the media following the game, but Bautista had a few opinions about how the Rangers operate.  More Jose Bautista: "I thought it was pretty cowardly of them to wait until my last at-bat to do that." — Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) May 16, 2016 That comment might seem silly considering it was a one-run game, but Rangers reliever Matt Bush didn't exactly issue a scathing denial when asked whether he threw a purpose pitch. Bush said "no comment" when he was asked if the pitch to Bautista was intentional. No surprise there. #BlueJays #Rangers — Gregor Chisholm (@gregorMLB) May 15, 2016 Bush's no comment proves nothing, but it's an interesting way to answer the question when he could have just denied any wrongdoing. Did you have a craving for a former ballplayer weighing in on the "wussification" of the game today? Don't worry, that happened too. See? We don't need these pansy new slide rules. Let the boys handle it themselves. Keep the nerds out, this game has always policed itself. — CJ Nitkowski (@CJNitkowski) May 15, 2016 Nitkowski may have been the first, but he certainly won't be the last. We're going to guess Goose Gossage's phone is ringing off the hook right now. More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: The StewPod: A baseball podcast by Yahoo Sports Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS feed - - - - - - - Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik Continue to Article

May 15, 2016 9:35:pm EST

The biggest baseball punch since Michael Barrett and A.J. Pierzynski , or Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura , occurred Sunday. The participants this time around: Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista and Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor.  [ Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now ] As the Barrett and Ryan punches show, fights in baseball are nothing new. Since the game was invented, teams and players have taken exception to one thing or another, and have occasionally found themselves engaged in fisticuffs.  What separates those brawls from the Bautista/Odor dustup is that Twitter didn't exist back then. In the past, you might find video of the event on a local broadcast, or read about it in the paper. Now, gifs, memes and hot takes are immediately formed as the event unfolds. Unsurprisingly, the Internet delivered on those fronts following the Blue Jays-Rangers brawl. There was, of course, a Chris Tucker from "Friday" mashup courtesy of our own Mike Oz.  This one also seemed pretty obvious:  This is my best work, it doesn't get any better from here https://t.co/oKaN07y5QL — RT Ohio (@RT_Ohio) May 16, 2016 Someone also took the time to compare the punch to "Sonic the Hedgehog:" This may shock you, but yes, Crying Jordan was invited to the party: Pretty rough day for Jose Bautista pic.twitter.com/J9HhA7GHUe — Jimmy Donofrio (@JimmyDonofrio) May 15, 2016 Since being Crying Jordan'd is now the pinnacle of failure during the Internet age, that seems like an ideal place to end the Vine portion of our reactions. None of the above Vines make Bautista look particularly great, but if you reverse the footage ... there's a way. @trillballins pic.twitter.com/kM1lNMvWsT — Jeanshorts (@JSBMjeanshorts) May 16, 2016 If Vines and memes aren't your thing, and you live for hot takes, don't worry, we've got you covered there. Odor didn't talk to the media following the game, but Bautista had a few opinions about how the Rangers operate.  More Jose Bautista: "I thought it was pretty cowardly of them to wait until my last at-bat to do that." — Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) May 16, 2016 That comment might seem silly considering it was a one-run game, but Rangers reliever Matt Bush didn't exactly issue a scathing denial when asked whether he threw a purpose pitch. Bush said "no comment" when he was asked if the pitch to Bautista was intentional. No surprise there. #BlueJays #Rangers — Gregor Chisholm (@gregorMLB) May 15, 2016 Bush's no comment proves nothing, but it's an interesting way to answer the question when he could have just denied any wrongdoing. Did you have a craving for a former ballplayer weighing in on the "wussification" of the game today? Don't worry, that happened too. See? We don't need these pansy new slide rules. Let the boys handle it themselves. Keep the nerds out, this game has always policed itself. — CJ Nitkowski (@CJNitkowski) May 15, 2016 Nitkowski may have been the first, but he certainly won't be the last. We're going to guess Goose Gossage's phone is ringing off the hook right now. More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: The StewPod: A baseball podcast by Yahoo Sports Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS feed - - - - - - - Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik Continue to Article

May 15, 2016 9:35:pm EST

A feud simmering since Jose Bautista's bat flip in last year's AL Division Series boiled over into a wild brawl in the final game of the season between Toronto and Texas, a 7-6 victory for the Rangers on Sunday. Bautista and Texas second baseman Rougned Odor got into a fistfight behind the bag after a hard slide by the Toronto slugger in the eighth inning. Players from both teams rushed the field as Odor landed a punch to Bautista's face. Continue to Article

May 15, 2016 7:14:pm EST

It's no surprise that the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers aren't on the friendliest terms. Their rivalry started during Jose Bautista's now infamous bat-flip game. Tempers flared and benches cleared a few times during that contest, but cooler heads eventually won out. [ Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now ] That was not the case during Sunday's game. The two clubs engaged in a full-on brawl after Bautista engaged in a late slide at second base.  Well we knew Toronto was taking some type of L today https://t.co/WtsmMxuXjL — #DepressedHeatFan (@NicoSZN) May 15, 2016 With the Rangers up 7-6 in the eighth inning, Bautista was hit by a pitch to leadoff the frame. A few batters later, Justin Smoak hit a double-play ball to Adrian Beltre. Beltre threw to second for the force, and Bautista slid into the bag hard and late. Second baseman Rougned Odor was able to avoid the slide, but took offense to Bautista's actions. Immediately after he threw the ball to first (which was offline due to the slide), Odor pushed Bautista, and then landed a right hook squarely on Bautista's jaw.  Do NOT pull a late slide on Rougned Odor pic.twitter.com/fbjNMXNjDR — Brian (@brianmcnulty11) May 15, 2016 Beltre ran over and grabbed Bautista in an attempt to play peacekeeper, but benches had already cleared at this point. From that point, it became impossible to tell who was involved or what happened. Some players on both sides definitely engaged in shoving, at the very least. We probably won't know the full extent of the brawl until the footage is examined frame-by-frame. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, who had previously been ejected from the game, ran back on the field during the brawl and had words with Rangers manager Jeff Banister. Gibbons, like Bryce Harper, will probably receive a fine and a suspension for running out on the field following an ejection. Following the incident, both Bautista and third baseman Josh Donaldson were ejected from the contest .  On the Rangers side, Odor and bench coach Steve Buechele were ejected from the game.  Once the brawl had ended and the team went back to their dugout, the umpires met and determined Bautista's slide interfered with Odor's throw. The ruling on the field was a double-play, meaning the inning was over and the game would head to the bottom of the eighth. The game may have moved forward, but everyone involved was still focused on the brawl. Prince Fielder was hit in the thigh by the first pitch of the inning. Benches cleared once again, though no punches were thrown this time around. Fielder laughed off the hit by pitch and walked down the first base. Jays reliever Jesse Chavez was ejected for the incident. DeMarlo Hale, who had taken over for Gibbons, was also ejected for Toronto.  That brought the list of official ejections up to six. Ejections from Jays-Rangers incident: Rougned Odor, Steve Buechele, Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson, DeMarlo Hale, Jesse Chavez. — MLB (@MLB) May 15, 2016 The Rangers were able to hold onto the lead, eventually winning the game 7-6. While they were likely celebrating after the game, things won't be so rosy in a few days. Both Bautista and Odor should be subject to possible suspensions for their actions. Gibbons will likely also be suspended for returning to the field of play. As far as any other fines and suspensions, that's for the league to sort out. Given the amount of people involved, it wouldn't be surprising to see multiple players receive punishment once MLB has a chance to review all the footage. This wasn't a typical baseball brawl, this was something out of MMA.  More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: The StewPod: A baseball podcast by Yahoo Sports Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS feed - - - - - - - Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik Continue to Article

May 15, 2016 6:52:pm EST