If a brawl ever breaks out between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks, Mookie Betts and Corbin Carroll likely won’t participate.
The All-Star outfielders made a “truce” during an Aug. 9 episode of “On Base with Mookie Betts” that they’d “hold each other back,” unlike what unfolded during the Guardians-White Sox game last week when Tim Anderson and Jose Ramirez exchanged punches.
“If there’s a fight that breaks out with us, I love you guys to death,” Betts told Carroll. “I’m just gonna be pulling people out of there.”
Betts added that he would’ve acted in a similar manner as umpire Malachi Moore.
He would’ve started inching closer when the scuffle began, and then when the punches were thrown Betts would’ve “backed out of there” quickly.
That’s a different approach than Carroll initially described, though.
He said the Diamondbacks held a players-only meeting and spoke about the need to protect each other, adding that there shouldn’t be “nothing thrown after that.”
The altercation between Anderson and Ramirez unfolded after the latter slid into second base during the sixth inning of their Aug. 5 game.
Both held their hands up in front of their face, and then Anderson appeared to take the first swing before Ramirez landed a punch with his right hand — knocking the White Sox’s shortstop to the ground with the benches continuing to clear.
“Now Josey and Anderson square off! They’re fighting!” Guardians radio announcer Tom Hamilton said on the broadcast as the fight began. “They’re swinging! Down goes Anderson! Down goes Anderson!
Anderson and Ramirez were suspended six and three games, respectively, and both appealed.
Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase was suspended one game, while both managers — Pedro Grifol from the White Sox, Terry Francona from the Guardians — and Cleveland third base coach Mike Sarbaugh were suspended for one game too.
“You know, when you’re playing a sport, trying to feed your family, you’re around the boys all day, every day for eight months,” Betts told Carroll. “Things just kinda boil — it could be anything, right? That was kinda crazy.”
With around six weeks left in the regular season, Betts is well on his way to another strong campaign, hitting .283 with a .960 OPS — with 31 home runs and 77 RBIs — through 109 games and inching closer to surpassing his career-high marks for homers (35 in 2022) and OPS (1.078 in 2018).
Carroll, 22, emerged early in the season as a spark who helped the Diamondbacks threaten the Dodgers’ NL West reign.
He’s hitting .273 with an .867 OPS, launching 21 homers and recording 59 RBIs in his first full season.
Since that hot start, though, Arizona has cooled off.
The Diamondbacks have lost eight consecutive games and 19 of 24 since the All-Star break, though, and now trail the Dodgers by 11 1/2 games in the NL West and are 2 1/2 games behind the Marlins for the final NL wild card spot.