An ugly brawl took place on Sunday afternoon between the Seattle Mariners and the Los Angeles Angels.
When Jesse Winker was hit by a 91-mph fastball from Angels right-hander Andrew Wantz, tempers began to flare.
Mariners manager Scott Servais called for Wantz to be ejected, while Winker charged towards the Angels dugout and began throwing hands with Anthony Rendon.
After the mess had been somewhat cleaned up and Winker was ejected, he flipped the double bird to Angels fans as he was walking back into the Mariners dugout.
The tweet below, courtesy of Bob Nightengale, includes Winker’s postgame comments, including an apology for flipping off the fans.
Jesse Winkler on brawl: The only thing I’m going to apologize for is flipping the fans off. That’s it. As fans, they’re spending their hard-earned money to come watch us play a game, and they didn’t deserve that, so I apologize to the fans, especially the women and children.”
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 27, 2022
Winker Apologizes
It’s understandable as to why Winker was upset.
He was hit with a 91-mph fastball after all and Julio Rodriguez had a pitch go over his head.
But Winker is at least doing the right thing by apologizing for showing off his middle fingers.
At the same time, that’s really all he needs to apologize for.
Tensions had been high for most of the series, and at a certain point, even if a team knows it isn’t intentional, they get tired of pitches being thrown up and in and hitters being hit.
Winker’s emotions just got the better of him in that moment and he acted out on them.
Winker is a guy who plays with a high level of intensity and isn’t afraid to show his emotions.
At the very least, it’s honorable of him to apologize for flipping the double bird to the fans.
That’s better than what it could’ve been.
It could’ve turned out to be a Connor McGregor style of apology, but Winker didn’t go that far and instead took the high road.
