Dodgers' Max Muncy accuses the Cardinals of "bullying" umpires over the weekend

Max Muncy was critical of the Cardinals catcher's this weekend after frustration with pitches called against them

The St. Louis Cardinals came into the weekend facing a huge test in the Los Angeles Dodgers and came through in a huge way, winning the series three games to one. For what feels like the first time all year, things have started to break the Cardinals' way as of late, and they are putting together a ton of wins in the process.

One player who took exception to the recent results was Dodgers' infielder Max Muncy. Muncy, after feeling like the first few games in the series were not called well, blew up on the umpiring crew on Sunday and was ejected from the game. After the game, Muncy was asked about the incident, and he said the following (quote courtesy of Spectrum Sportsnet)

“He called it a ball, and for the catcher to sit there and tell him that’s a terrible call, he missed it, he needs to be better, and then the next one, he gives it to him, that to me, is where the frustration is coming from. I felt like that was happening all weekend long. I felt like they were getting bullied, and they gave into it. So for me, that was where the frustration was happening. I didn’t like it, but bottom line I need to be smarter about what I do. I said what needed to be said at home plate and it was over with, and then I took it too far by going to the third-base umpire.”

If you are familiar with Umpire Scorecards, they post the umpiring results of each game the day after and rate their consistency, the impact on the runs scored for each team, and even stats like the consistency of calls. If you look at Sunday's game report, the Dodgers were actually favored by the umpiring crew by 0.6 runs in the game.

For the series overall, the Cardinals were slightly favored when it came to balls in strikes, but not in a significant enough way that Muncy should have been as upset as he was. Saturday night's game did end though on a pitch outside that Willson Contreras framed perfectly for a strike-three call on Mookie Betts, so frustrations may have stemmed from that situation.

Muncy went on the "Foul Territory" podcast on Monday and further explained his thoughts on the situation. Although he was a bit calmer and cooler-headed during this conversation, it still feels like Muncy is fishing for reasons why his team struggled last weekend.