I was following the farm system action while watching the big league Cubs game, and here I thought the Brennen Davis homer was going to be the big highlight from the High-A South Bend Cubs game. Or the fact that the Cubs came back from a 7-0 deficit to ultimately win the game.
Nope. It was the benches-clearing brawl – actual brawling occurred – that just went down. It’s rare enough to see any kind of on-field fighting in the minors, but this was on another level.
This is madness, with punches thrown, guys tossed to the dirt, mini doggy piles happening. Heck, you can even see at one point someone from Fort Wayne throws a baseball that hits a South Bend player in the head (after ricocheting off his own teammate?):
The Fort Wayne Tin Caps and South Bend Cubs got in an action-packed brawl tonight pic.twitter.com/TUhAKHueL9
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 26, 2021
Bryan was watching when it went down:
Holy cow, the brawl in South Bend was crazy. Tensions were brewing from minutes earlier when a Fort Wayne player said, something, to Delvin Zinn. After a Brandon Hughes strikeout, Jake Washer and FW batter chirped. Then, total chaos. At one point, a baseball thrown by FW.
— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) May 26, 2021
This is absolutely unacceptable, and while I don’t want to jump to accusing anyone in particular of kicking things off, but the descriptions (which are context around the video) sure it make it sound like Fort Wayne was instigating earlier in the game. The game video will be reviewed extensively by MiLB, and you can bet suspensions are coming.
Hopefully everyone comes out of the scrap OK. The last thing you want to see is some nagging injury (let alone a serious one) that bugs a guy for a while all because some other people couldn’t keep their cool.
Assuming everyone is OK, and assuming no major suspensions come forth for the Cubs, then, hey, it was just a great night all around, since they came back from a 7-0 deficit to win the game 12-10. I guarantee they were thrilled to win that one. Last laugh and all that. Here are the highlights from the game, which notably don’t include the rumble: