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The Cleveland Indians find themselves just two wins away from reaching the World Series, but their incredible postseason run has not come without controversy.

Well, “controversy.”

Back in the American League Division Series, the Boston Red Sox hinted that they believed the Indians were stealing signs on their way to a sweep. Cleveland responded to that accusation with this awesome tweet:

Toronto Blue Jays star Jose Bautista apparently didn’t learn from that situation—because he set himself up to get trolled.

Cleveland defended its home field by winning the first two games of the American League Championship Series. As the series headed north, Bautista told Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star there were “circumstances” the Blue Jays have had to deal with to start the series.

Per the Indians, those “circumstances” were dominant Cleveland pitchers:

But wait…there’s more!

Whether you like the Tribe or not, there is no denying they have the best Twitter account in all of baseball. Anyone who decides to run their mouth better be prepared to deal with the consequences—because the Indians will clap black.

[Cleveland Indians]

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Sunday morning brought the news of Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez‘s death in a boating accident.

While the news came as a shock to everyone, those who knew the 24-year-old were especially saddened. That held true for ESPN analyst Eduardo Perez, who has provided color commentary for the Marlins on Fox Sports Florida this season. 

Perez appeared on SportsCenter and gave a tribute to Fernandez:

Rest in peace, Jose.

[ESPN]

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Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz will receive his share of unique send-offs as he makes his way through his retirement tour, but no farewell present will top the one his former Minnesota Twins teammates gave him during his final trip to the Twin Cities.

Ortiz made his MLB debut with the Twins in 1997 and spent the first six years of his big league career in Minnesota. During his time there, he formed plenty of close bonds with his teammates—bonds that led to hilarious stories. And there is no better time to reflect on the good times than a farewell tour.

In a piece for the Players’ Tribune in January, five-time American League All-Star Torii Hunter revealed that former Twins third baseman Corey Koskie once pulled an epic prank on Big Papi, which involved putting peanut butter in the slugger’s drawers. Somehow, it took Ortiz a few moments to realize what his teammate had done, making the joke all the better.

Before Friday’s game between his current and former employers, Ortiz’s ex-teammates honored his career by presenting him with a memento of the prank:

Perfect. Just perfect.

[MLB.com, h/t Cut4]

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As much as baseball fans may get outraged when a hitter gets suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs, imagine how a (non-PED-using) pitcher feels.

Pitchers put in an incredible amount of work to develop their stuff and strike batters out. When an opponent tries to beat the system and takes PEDs, it makes a pitcher’s job even tougher. And for pitchers without much job security, a home run here and there can see them reassigned to the minor leagues.

That’s why when Cleveland Indians outfielder Marlon Byrd got suspended again for PEDs on Wednesday, pitcher Jeremy Guthrie couldn’t help but speak out.

Guthrie has never been an ace by any means, but he has been more than serviceable throughout his career. He has put in a lot of work to stick in the majors, so when he sees someone benefiting from using a banned substance, it gets under his skin. After all, he has to go head-to-head with those players, and his contract status can be greatly affected as a result.

Just look at reliever Layne Somsen to see what can happen to a young pitcher facing a PED user.

On May 16 (a week or two after Byrd tested positive, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports), the 26-year-old Somsen—then with the Cincinnati Reds—got taken deep by Byrd in his second big-league game. Somsen was optioned to the minors two days later and put on waivers, where he would be claimed by the New York Yankees.

But it’s not just the younger players who are affected. Former MLB pitcher Dan Haren certainly wishes he could take Byrd’s at-bats against him out of his career numbers:

Detroit Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander was also irked by the latest suspension:

Byrd, as Rosenthal notes, has made $38 million in his career. One could make an argument that PEDs have helped him make the majority of that money, especially in the later stages of his career.

While he may have benefited from using banned substances, other major league players, like Somsen, have been negatively affected. And that’s why many players have taken strong stances against PEDs in recent years.

[Twitter]

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The Boston Red Sox are set to retire Wade Boggs’ No. 26 on Thursday night, but after what he did on Wednesday, the team may be rethinking that special honor.

OK, maybe not. But when someone wears a New York Yankees World Series ring to Fenway Park, Red Sox Nation tends to raise an eyebrow—or two.

Boston celebrated the 30th anniversary of the 1986 Red Sox team—which lost to the New York Mets in the World Series on Bill Buckner’s error—on Wednesday night. Thirteen years or so ago, it might have stung to have such a ceremony. However, given the Curse of the Bambino has been broken, this was a night to honor one of the most memorable teams in franchise history.

Boggs, who spent the first 11 seasons of his major league career with Boston, donned a Red Sox jersey once again. But he also sported an interesting piece of jewelry:

A Yankees ring with a Red Sox jersey at Fenway Park? That just seems so wrong.

Boggs went into Cooperstown wearing a Red Sox hat, so Boston fans will forgive him for this. In the future, though, they would prefer he just leave his World Series ring at home. It doesn’t matter how many titles the Red Sox win—reminders of the Yankees’ success make the people of Beantown sick.

[Twitter]

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Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor may have cost himself some money with his actions in Sunday’s brawl with the Toronto Blue Jays, but he can make it up by eating at Heim Barbecue every meal.

The owner of the restaurant wants to reward the infielder with free food for life.

Many Rangers fans have held a grudge against Blue Jays star Jose Bautista for his legendary bat flip in Game 5 of the 2015 American League Division Series. When Odor punched Bautista in the face to ignite Sunday’s brawl, it represented everything Texas fans had been wanting to do for months. That’s why Travis Heim, the owner of Heim Barbecue, wants to thank the Rangers player in his own special way.

“We just thought it would be a funny thing if we [gave] Rougie free food because he wasn’t the only one who wanted to punch Bautista after last year, so you know, it’s kind of a justice, a little bit,” Heim said, per Scott Gordon of NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.

If Odor takes Heim up on the offer every once in a while, it would be cool for the business. Of course, if the second baseman really takes advantage of the deal, Heim Barbecue could be out quite a bit of money on all the free food.

“Hopefully, he doesn’t like barbecue too much, because then we might be in the red,” Heim said. “It’s just a fun deal, you know.”

While Odor will lose a few games in terms of playing time (through a suspension) as a result of the brawl, some good has come from the fight—especially if he likes barbecue.

[NBC 5 Dallas-Forth Worth]

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Ozzie Guillen is best known for being an outspoken baseball manager, not a basketball player. But there was a time he had a chance to prove himself on the court against Michael Jordan.

The former major league skipper learned that day not to mess with the GOAT—even when you have strength in numbers.

Guillen recently reflected on the pickup game from the mid-1990s in a video for ESPN. Anybody who knows anything about the former Chicago White Sox manager knows “Storytime with Ozzie” is sure to be entertaining.

During 1994 spring training, Guillen—then a White Sox shortstop—decided to team up with teammate Joey Cora (5’7″) in a game of two-on-one against Jordan, who had signed a minor-league contract with the team. That may not seem like a fair battle, but it is Michael Jordan after all.

The Guillen-Cora duo jumped out to a 5-0 lead, giving the amateur hoopsters some confidence—enough confidence to put $100 on the game. That turned out to be a big mistake. After taking a 7-1 lead, they never saw the ball again.

Jordan took over and dominated the rest of the game. The then, three-time NBA MVP ran off nine straight points to pull out a 10-7 victory. Here’s how Guillen tells the story after all these years, via Mark Townsend of Big League Stew:

After the 100 bucks, we score two more and he’s down by seven-one. We missed and he grabbed the ball, and we never touched the ball again. We hand the ball back — check — and he just went crazy. He wasn’t checking nothing. He ain’t checking s***. He would just dunk. One after another. We went to stop him and he would run through us. He would grab the ball, dribble, and go through like nothing was around him. He would push me around. He would dunk. He would push Joey around. It’s funny because I don’t see his back, I see his crotch. Every time he would go around us, I would just see his lower body. I wouldn’t see his hands. His lower body was over my face seven times. We tried to push him back and play dirty against him. He don’t care. We can put three Joeys and seven Ozzies and he going to keep going.

Reading the words doesn’t do the story justice. If you have a few minutes, watch the video to get the full experience.

The best part of the story is the fact that Jordan didn’t flip the switch because of the $100 wager. The Chicago Bulls legend took control of the game because he didn’t want to give Guillen bragging rights, even if it was two-on-one. There’s no doubt Jordan would never hear the end of it if Guillen’s team had come out on top.

In the end, it really didn’t matter how many White Sox players were on the court—Jordan was not going to lose. That’s the day Guillen learned a valuable life lesson: “Don’t f–k with the wrong people.”

[ESPN]

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In this day and age, you can make a wager on just about anything.

Who wins a game, by how much, what color the Gatorade (in the Gatorade bath) will be, how long the national anthem will be—there is truly an endless number of things bookies will take bets on.

These days, Donald Trump and Curt Schilling have become hot topics in both the political and sports worlds, because both are as outspoken as it gets. Trump’s willingness to say what’s on his mind hasn’t hurt his run at the Republican presidential nomination, whereas Schilling’s social media posts recently cost him his job at ESPN.

Can you imagine a world in which Trump and Schilling are on the ballot together this fall? It’s unlikely, but that’s not stopping anyone from putting odds on it.

According to SportsBettingDime.com, the odds that Trump—should he win the Republican nomination—selects Schilling as his running mate are 12,000-1. In comparison, the odds that the six-time MLB All-Star gets another broadcasting gig by season’s end are 10-1.

As Matt Snyder of CBS Sports noted, these odds aren’t available for bettors to actually put money on. Regardless, it does go to show that there’s really nothing that can’t be turned into a prop bet.

If people could make wagers on whether the Trump-Schilling ticket becomes a reality, chances are someone would take those odds in hopes of cashing in big. After all, as we saw with Leicester City (5,000-1 odds to win the Premier League title), anything can happen.

The more important question here is, would you vote for a Trump-Schilling duo?

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While sports fans were tuned into the NBA playoffs or Major League Baseball games Monday evening, some sports-related news broke at the 2016 Met Gala.

Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander and model Kate Upton are engaged.

On Monday night, Upton showed up to the Met Gala sporting a pretty noticeable rock on her ring finger:

Verlander, 33, and Upton, 23, have dated for more than three years, according to E! News’ Rebecca Macatee and Jimmy Chairman. While some in the public eye may try to hide their personal lives, this couple never hid from the spotlight. That doesn’t mean the two shared every detail about their relationship, however.

“I’m really excited; he asked me right before season started, so we’ve been keeping it on the down-low for quite a while,” Upton said, per E! News. “So I’m excited to finally be able to share it with the world!”

In the social media age, it’s impressive that Verlander and Upton were able to hide their engagement for a month, perhaps even longer. Kudos to them for being able to keep it under wraps.

For those wondering, a wedding does not seem to be in the works anytime soon. Upton added that they are “enjoying the engagement period.” Regardless of when the happy couple ties the knot, taking the engagement public must take quite a bit of stress off the table.

[E! News]

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Professional athletes expect to get booed and jeered while playing on the road, but they hope to never encounter a hostile environment at their home stadium.

Detroit Tigers center fielder Tyler Collins recently had the unpleasant experience of getting booed at home—and it’s clear he didn’t like it.

Leading off the top of the sixth inning of Monday night’s game, Oakland Athletics shortstop Marcus Semien hit a routine fly ball to center field that should have been the first out of the inning. However, Collins lost the ball in the lights and had to let it fall in for a double. 

To make matters worse, Tigers left fielder Justin Upton dropped the ball right after he picked it up, allowing Semien to reach third.

The Detroit crowd didn’t like what it saw, so it let the players hear it. Rather than just brushing it off, Collins responded…by flipping the bird to the crowd and seemingly directing a profane message at the fans.

To his credit, the 25-year-old outfielder didn’t hide from the incident after the game. Collins faced reporters, apologized for his actions and took full responsibility.

[MLB.com]

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