Nick Piccone
We mentioned earlier in the Morning Brew that the news came out on Sunday that Chase Utley wouldn’t be suspended for his slide back in October during the MLB playoffs that broke the leg of the Mets’ Ruben Tejada. He was originally suspended by MLB for two games. In case you’ve forgotten about the slide – which I’m sure you haven’t – here it is:
Utley was ruled safe, despite never touching the base, and Tejada missed the remainder of the playoffs. Many Mets fans called for Utley’s head, notably forgetting David Wright tried taking out Utley before – but, you know, homerism and stuff.
The fact of the matter is slides like this have existed since the beginning of time, for all intents and purposes. Utley was suspended for two games most likely due to the public outcry and social media reaction, even though slides like Utley’s in October haven’t been looked at twice most times. Sure, the fact that it was nationally televised and because it was the MLB playoffs played a huge role in the outcry, but when people are telling Utley plays like that are OK, then it’s OK until it isn’t.
While Utley doesn’t face a two-game suspension anymore, a new rule was implemented during the offseason that will unofficially bear his name.
On Thursday, MLB and the Players Association agreed that “slides on potential double plays will require runners to make a bona fide attempt to reach and remain on the base. Runners may still initiate contact with the fielder as a consequence of an otherwise permissible slide. A runner will be specifically prohibited from changing his pathway to the base or utilizing a ‘roll block’ for the purpose of initiating contact with the fielder.”
Potential violations are reviewable by replay, as is the “neighborhood play” in which a middle infielder straddles the base or glides past it on a double-play pivot. That play was previously not eligible for replay review, and this change will mean an end to the tactic, meaning middle infielders will need to touch the base while in possession of the ball.
So while Mets fans can continue to bitch and complain about Utley’s slide, the fact of the matter is it was legal at the time and if you wanna get mad at someone or something, focus your anger towards MLB for waiting until 2016 to make a change in sliding rules. But something tells me if that was a Met sliding into second base into Utley, their tune would be much different.
Utley is slated to speak to the media later today, and we’ll update this post with his comments when he does.