St. Louis Cardinals: If you are going to clear benches, don’t just stand there

The St. Louis Cardinals have been party to benches-clearing brawls aplenty but only one that I can remember had real lasting impacts.

Baseball is a sport of aggression. It involves men with bats hitting balls that are thrown as hard as humanly possible as far as humanly possible. It involves testosterone enough for players to field their position and outperform their competition. The St. Louis Cardinals have shown this grit since the replacement of Mike Matheny.

Luckily, in that time, the pendulum of outcomes has swung in favor of the St. Louis Cardinals in winning ways such that the players are really enjoying themselves. So are the coaches. It appears that everyone is having a great time playing this sport right now in St. Louis.

Just look at the following picture. Both Paul DeJong AND Jose Oquendo are displaying genuine joy that only comes through hard-fought wins.

On the flip side of things are poor teams who are in the midst of frustrations. The St. Louis Cardinals were mired in frustrations all season until July 14. Oftentimes when teams are stuck in frustrating ruts, these frustrations erupt in other ways. The go-to eruption often appears in the way of benches-clearing brawls.

These are typically started by one or two hotheads and are then joined by the overzealous compatriots on the bench. Sometimes this overflows with the bullpen guys running in to join the fray.

Here’s a recent example from the Giants-Dodgers game on Tuesday night.

Notice that Yasiel Puig is the instigator but then Nick Hudley forces the issue. Then comes the teammates.

This is my take: I LOVE BENCHES-CLEARING BRAWLS. Simultaneously, I find them hilarious. Why? I think the explosions from a few are mitigated and minimized by the masses standing around like cattle in a cattle shoot.

Where else in the world would men flock to stand shoulder to shoulder without fighting just to mull around pressed tightly together? I cannot think of another instance outside of a pride parade or the running of the bulls.

Having said that, some benches-clearing brawls are dangerous and have lasting impacts. Think back to the St. Louis Cardinals-Reds brawls that pinned Jason LaRue against the netting in Cincinnati in 2010. This brawl had LaRue suffering cleat kicks to the head from Johnny Cueto. LaRue’s career would eventually come to an end thanks to his concussion suffered.

At the end of the day, I don’t want to see anyone hurt, but I do love a good brawl-induced laugh. I’m not encouraging brawls to increase, but when a team is stuck in lackluster performance and teeth-grinding, a good brawl can pull them right out of the funk.

What team should the St. Louis Cardinals fight with this season? Which would harm them and which would help them push to the postseason? Hold onto your hats as this race has just heated and doesn’t look to slow until October.