Manny Machado becoming playoff villain comes as no surprise to Sox fans Originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Dodgers faithful, we feel your pain.
It’s another thing to lose as a favorite in the postseason. It’s another thing to lose to your biggest rival. But losing to Manny Machado? The suffering is far beyond what any fan base should endure.
With all due respect to Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, and the rest of the Yankees, if there’s one player left in this postseason that Red Sox fans can’t stand, it’s Machado.
He’s an irritant, an instigator, a boundary pusher, and that’s bad enough. But he’s also the player who ended Dustin Pedroia’s career at least five years early, which could dethrone the former MVP’s Hall of Fame spot.
Tuesday night, watching Machado legitimately stray from the baseline and wander into the gray area he calls home, dredged up painful memories. This play was the key to six points, giving the Padres a 6-5 victory over the Dodgers and a 2-1 series lead. Afterward, chants of “BEAT LA!” echoed through Petco Park. (This feeling can be forgotten in other ways).
“You can’t review interference or obstruction. They couldn’t do it once they weren’t called.”
The team will analyze the play when Manny Machado was hit by a throw from Freddie Freeman to second base in the second inning. pic.twitter.com/8VImcWdavl
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 9, 2024
Although this seemed like a blatant violation of the rules, many Dodgers agreed. But Machado was actually playing smart. If you don’t try to avoid tags, you are allowed to create your own running lanes. By moving onto the infield grass, he put his body directly in contact with Freddie Freeman’s throw from first base, and the throw went over his back and into the outfield.
Instead of a force out and a possible 3-6-1 double play, the Padres had two on and no one out. The impact of Machado’s play was then fully revealed when Fernando Tatis drove in the plunger with a game-breaking two-run home run, completing a revolt for several batters.
Just as Bill Belichick embarrassed the Ravens in the playoffs a decade ago with tackle-eligibility shenanigans and then smugly implied he had outsmarted Baltimore opponent John Harbaugh, Machado didn’t necessarily follow that spirit. However, he followed the letter of the law.
“Yeah, I mean, I just know the rules,” Machado told reporters with a laugh. “I’m just trying to make it harder for him to throw to second base. This is new to me. We’ve been doing it for years. I’ve been doing it for a long time.” BALTIMORE So you have to know the rules and you have to know what you have to do there. ”
By calling out Baltimore, the connection to the Red Sox was painfully direct.
After all, back in 2017, a young Machado spiked Pedroia trying to break up a double play. Like most things Machado does, the slide was over the line, but it wasn’t obviously terrible until replays showed him subtly lifting his spike to catch the back of Pedroia’s knee. The cartilage cushioning the femur and tibia paid the price as the second baseman landed awkwardly to take Xander Bogaerts’ relay from deep in the hole.
Pedroia was completely out for the rest of that season, hitting .295, but the damage remained. Surgery ensued, and Pedroia was only able to play nine more games. He retired in 2021 and underwent partial knee replacement surgery that will affect him for the rest of his life. It’s the Manny Machado effect, but Pedroia says he’s made peace with it.
This is an extreme example, but it fits the pattern. When Machado crosses boundaries, he tends to straddle them rather than erase them. For example, in Game 2 on Sunday, he chucked the ball toward the Dodgers’ dugout between innings. Enraged Los Angeles players believed he had targeted manager Dave Roberts, perhaps in retaliation for Tatis hitting him in the hip with a fastball.
Replays showed both that A) Machado threw the ball harder than necessary and B) that Roberts was in no real danger. That didn’t stop right-hander Jack Flaherty from shouting at Machado from the top row, and Roberts suggesting Machado was targeting him.
“I’m always throwing the ball into the dugouts. Both dugouts,” Machado said innocently, again playing his friend’s plausible deniability.
It would be absolutely infuriating if it wasn’t… No, it would be absolutely infuriating. The Padres could be an even bigger Cinderella story against the devastating Dodgers, who have a superstar team, but unfortunately Boston won’t be rooting for Machado.
Go, LA! Go, LA!
