So much for social distancing!
The Chinese Professional Baseball League restarted this week with robots with robots and cardboard cutouts in the stands — a bizarre sight for any baseball fan. However, Sunday’s Rakuten Monkeys-Fubon Guardians game, which took place in Taiwan, provided something many seamheads have seen far too many times: a benches-clearing “brawl.”
Check out what happened after Guardians pitcher Henry Sosa drilled Monkeys infielder Kuo Yen-Wen:
2020 4/19 CPBL #FubonGuardians vs #RakutenMonkeys #ForTheFans #CPBL pic.twitter.com/x9ZusXE2p5
— ELEVEN SPORTS TAIWAN (@ElevenSportsTW) April 19, 2020
There probably isn’t any good time for a benches-clearing fight, but having one in the middle of a global pandemic, with socially distancing of the utmost importance, is particularly non-ideal. That said, the CPBL has a reputation for being a very conservative, altercation-averse league, something the broadcasters pointed out.
But hey, these things happen when you intentionally nail somebody with a 91 MPH fastball.