Ex-Chicago Cubs and White Sox Throw Haymakers in Benches-Clearing Brawl
OH BABY! We had our first real benches-clearing brawl of the 2026 MLB season, and it featured a couple of former players from the Chicago Cubs and White Sox. Who would have thought that a game in early April between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Angels would have promoted this, but maybe there’s some bad blood between right-handed pitcher Reynaldo Lopez and right-handed hitting slugger Jorge Soler that we don’t know about.
Both of these guys ended up throwing haymakers at each other, but it looks like Lopez was the one who ultimately landed the major blow on the side of Soler’s head. The fight began in the fifth inning, when Lopez threw a 97mph fastball up and slightly in on Soler that turned out to be a wild pitch. It was such an erratic delivery from Lopez that the ball bounced right back to Atlanta’s catcher off the backstop.
Soler homered off Lopez in the first inning, and in the third, Lopez drilled Soler with a 96mph fastball that obviously didn’t feel all that great. So, things were certainly brewing. Also, Lopez and Soler were teammates on the Braves during the 2024 season.
You’ll see in the clip of the brawl below that Soler did not take his eyes off Lopez after what he thought was an intentional pitch from the righty. Once the play at second base was over after the runner moved up on the wild pitch, Soler slowly made his way to the mound, where he confronted Lopez.
And then the haymakers came out.
A few things stand out here. Braves catcher Jonah Heim wanted nothing to do with the fight and did a terrible job of protecting his guy on the mound. Not only did Heim not get in front of Soler, but he also let him throw a huge first punch, and, luckily for Lopez, it didn’t connect.
By the way, Lopez kept the ball in his hand the entire time, and it turns out that he actually did land a blow to Soler’s head.
"that's dangerous…"
— MLBdream (@MLBdream) April 8, 2026
like soler wasn't trying to drop lopez https://t.co/EyVv6qGdYK pic.twitter.com/dtG3cFrHZ5
But the star of the benches-clearing fight was Braves manager Walt Weiss, who had the perfect tackle in the middle of the scrum to take down Soler.
Look at Walt Weiss shedding blockers.
— Dan Fetes (@danfetes) April 8, 2026
Gets low.
Great vision in the hole.
Perfect wrap up to bring down 6'3'' 235lb Jorge Solar.
Can't teach a form tackle any better. pic.twitter.com/z8CYk4py9e
That’s a football guy.
Here’s the entire fight.