There’s your response, Gary.
With just a few games to go before the MLB postseason gets underway, the playoff picture is starting to solidify. As of right now, the Red Sox, Astros and Tigers are vying for the last 2 spots in the AL Wild Card, while the Tigers and Guardians battle for the division crown. Meanwhile in the NL, the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres have already locked up a playoff spot, leaving the Mets, Reds and Diamondbacks fighting over the final place there. There’s a few division races still underway, but with the exception of the previously mentioned AL Central, playoff spots are secure.
As a Cubs fan living in Wisconsin, I will say that I have no idea how the Brewers are this good, but I anticipate an early exit for them per usual. That has nothing to do with this blog, I just needed to speak it into existence…
Anyways, the Cubs put a beating on the Mets last night, after a pretty rough collapse the night before. The 10-3 victory was powered by rookie 3B, Matt Shaw, who went 3-4 with a home run, a stolen base, and 3 runs scored. And let’s just say that he might’ve had a little extra motivation going into the game. Why? Because of what Mets announcers Gary Cohen and Todd Zeile had to say about him attending the funeral of his good friend, Charlie Kirk.
Cohen said:
“Shaw had Cubs world in a tizzy this weekend when he was not here for the Cubs game with the Reds and they lost 1-0… it was later revealed that he was given permission to attend Charlie Kirk’s funeral. Now, I don’t want to talk about any of the politics of it, but the thought of leaving your team in the middle of a race for any reason other than a family emergency, really strikes me as weird.”
Todd Zeile responded saying:
“It’s unusual, I think it’s unprecedented at least from my experience as a player, and I think it made it a little more unusual that it was not revealed until after it came to issue because he was thought to be in the dugout and maybe available, and was not, and that’s how it was revealed.”
Cohen followed up asking if it was more “egregious” because he was a rookie player, and Zeile more or less chalked it up to being a different era that now offers paternity leave and bereavement leave for players.
Roll the tape:
Of course, a number of Conservatives took exception to that comment and you have to wonder if it would’ve even been made had it not been Charlie Kirk’s funeral. I’d suspect not…
Nevertheless, the real kicker is that Cubs had already clinched a playoff spot, the Brewers had all but clinched the division, and the Cubs currently have a 2.5 game lead for the top seed in the Wild Card… it’s not much of a race at all. And even if it was, Charlie Kirk was a personal friend of Matt Shaw’s. He was personally invited by Charlie’s widow, Erika Kirk, as Charlie was an avid Cubs fan who knew Matt going back to when Matt lived in Arizona (where Charlie lived as well).
In a locker room interview, Matt detailed the friendship, saying that their faith in Christ is what brought them together as friends:
“He’d text me after every game.”
Sounds so “weird” to me Gary…. God forbid a player attend a funeral of a close friend.
As many other have pointed out, Gary certainly didn’t think it was “weird” or “egregious” for the Mets and the Marlins to WALK OFF THE FIELD and quit the game when George Floyd died.
Gary Cohen also missed a Mets game earlier this season when their family dog passed away, and I assure you, nobody thought that was “weird” either. It’s called being compassionate.
Gotta love the response from Shaw though… nothing would make me happier than the Cubs helping to keep the Mets out of the playoffs now… sorry, Gary.
Go Cubs, GO.
