Epic post-anthem standoff in Australian Baseball League lasts until third inning
While Major League Baseball executives get serious at the Winter Meetings this week in Nashville, players in the Australian Baseball League are getting a little silly on the other side of the world.
During an ABL game over the weekend, the bullpens for the Melbourne Aces and Brisbane Bandits engaged in a standoff following the national anthem that last into the game’s third inning.
[Elsewhere: MLB Winter Meetings journal: Greetings from Nashville]
You might be asking “are these guys crazy?”
Yes, they absolutely are. But they’re obviously committed to winning, first and foremost, and perhaps even providing unique in-game entertainment, which they certainly accomplished here.
Of course, weve already seen a handful of these standoffs over the years in MLB, with the most famous coming prior to Game 6 of the NLCS in 2013. Scott Van Slyke of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Joe Kelly, then of the St. Louis Cardinals, went face-to-face right up until the game’s first pitch. Only an annoyed Greg Gibson, the game’s home-plate umpire, could stop it by ordering both players to the dugout.
In Australia, they’re obviously much more lenient when it comes to these things. As long as they weren’t interfering with play, they were going to let it continue.
On the plus side, Melbourne went on to win the game in large part due to its bullpen. The Aces won 6-5 in 11 innings thanks to seven innings of scoreless relief from Ryohei Fujiwara and Virgil Vasquez.
[StewPod: The MLB Winter Meetings through the eyes of agent John Boggs]
Redemption was ultimately theirs, but after seeing their reaction we can’t but feel like the losing the standoff weighed more heavily on their minds. And really, who could blame them?
BLS H/N: Cut 4
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
