About That Jose Bautista Bat Flip...

The Blue Jays advanced to the American League Championship series Wednesday by defeating the Texas Rangers in one of the wackiest, most memorable postseason games ever. The seventh inning took 53 minutes, several umpire conferences, two bench clearings, and this:

Jose Bautista's bat flip has been the talk of baseball since it happened. Andrew Keh summed it all up in this New York Times article. I was particularly interested in this quote from Rangers pitcher Sam Dyson, who served up Bautista's home-run ball:

“He’s a huge role model for the younger generation that is coming up playing this game, and he’s doing stuff kids do in wiffle ball games and backyard baseball,” said Rangers reliever Sam Dyson, who helped incite the benches to clear when he voiced his objections on the field. “It shouldn’t be done.”

Sorry, but Dyson is utterly, completely wrong, in my view. Consider what went before this home run in this inning, that it's the deciding game of a playoff series, that Bautista just made his hometown crowd revved up beyond belief with the ball soaring into the seats (and I can only imagine how loud the Rogers Centre must have been with the roof closed). His home run immediately became the second-most-important in Blue Jays franchise history.

If a player wants to get exuberantly happy and do that in such a situation -- I'm all for it. Baseball needs moments like this. I'm not suggesting that MLB players ought to go over-the-top as some do in the NFL (for example, the "sack dances" some linemen do on any sacking of a quarterback, or some of the ridiculous touchdown celebrations), or that this sort of thing should become commonplace.

Celebrating a huge home run in an elimination game in your home ballpark in memorable fashion? Absolutely. Good for you, Joey Bats.

You, undoubtedly, have an opinion on this. I'd like to hear from you in the comments.