Major League Baseball’s 2021 regular season is only on its third day, but the mood between the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals flared up, resulting in the banks cleaning for the first time. The incident occurred during the fourth innings and led to the ouster of Reds fielder Nicholas Castellanos.
With the base full of reds and two overs in the innings, Cardinals pitcher Jake Woodford opened up a wild field that kicked him and forerunner Nicholas Castellanos. The pair met and Castellanos slipped under Woodford’s disc to give the Reds a 7-2 lead. That’s when good manners and sportsmanship left the park.
Before we go to the fireworks, it is important to give some context here. Castellanos originally reached the base after being hit by a first ball from Woodford. After being hit, Castellanos apparently had a long conversation with catcher Yadier Molina. He then picked up the baseball and threw it, after saying a few words to Woodford, into the Reds excavation.
Now, back to the event that made everything stand out: once Castellanos was called safe, he popped up and posed over Woodford, bending his arms like one could do in a bodybuilding competition. Predictably, Woodford and Molina made an exception to Castellanos’ gesture and chased him on his way to the dugout. The benches and bullpen are then cleaned and gathered around the home board.
Eventually, the line moves down to the outfield, as Justin Williams and reliever Jordan Hicks have a sensitive conversation with the Cardinals with an unidentifiable Reds player. Castellanos’ well-cut hair, in turn, remained perfect throughout the episode. Castellanos did return to the field and talked to Molina without any visible histrionics before the referees sorted everything out and considered him the only player whose actions deserved the removal.
This is not the first time the Reds and Cardinals have grown tired of each other. Their shared history includes an incident in 2010 spurred on by Brandon Phillips, the then second husband of Mol.