MLB Bullets Talks About Royals Fight Club

The Indians used to be known as the "Naps" after their manager and best player, Napoleon Lajoie. It would be nice if they'd dump the Indians name and go back to that, but assuming they don't, can I suggest that the Royals change their name to the "Naps" after the massive Napoleon complex the team seems to have developed over the past year?

Has anyone here purchased a Kris Bryant or Addison Russell jersey or shirsey yet? Just curious.

• The Royals are at it again, this time with the White Sox. In a baseball brawl reminiscent of those from the 1970s, the White Sox and Royals got into it after words were exchanged between Adam Eaton and Yordano Ventura. Watch the whole thing. I apologize for Hawk Harrelson.
• The Royals think they're sending a message that they won't back down. That's not the message that other teams say they're receiving.
• The Athletics' Brett Lawrie, who was the focus of the Royals aggression in the previous series, blasted both the Royals and their fans, whom Lawrie blames for helping to create the atmosphere where things like this happen. And Lawrie said this before the fight with the White Sox.
• David Schoenfield thinks the Royals are baseball's most despised team.
• The Royals even managed to knock this story out of my lede, which otherwise has been the thing that has attracted the most attention the past two days. Comedian Chris Rock gives his take on why baseball is losing African-American fans and why this is such a big problem. Rock makes clear that he's coming at this problem as a big fan of both baseball and the Mets.
• And it's a shame that I can't even get in a #LOLMets joke here, because the Amazin's have won 11 in a row. Kirk Semple says that Mets fans have a funny feeling right now called "optimism."
• Jonah Keri asks if this is a sign of a good team or just a fluke small sample. His answer is that the signs look good for the Mets right now.
• Ted Berg thinks the Mets make the playoffs.
• Tim Healy explains why of all the Amazin's, Bartolo Colon is the most amazin' of them all.
• On the other side of town, Andrew Marchand thinks the Yankees are pretty good right now and could end up being better if some underperforming players turn things around.
• C.J. Nitkowski notes that Masahiro Tanaka seems to be abandoning his plan to abandon his four-seam fastball.
• One team that isn't hot right now is the Milwaukee Brewers. Owner Mark Attanasio said that manager Ron Roenicke and GM Doug Melvin's jobs are safe "for now." That doesn't sound good. It's literally always true, because managers are hired to be fired, but it certainly doesn't sound good when you say it out loud.
• Cliff Corcoran asks if the Brewers are already fated to finish last. "It's getting late early" for the Brewers, he writes.
• Forty-year-old Joe Nathan needs Tommy John surgery and will miss the rest of the season. He says he's not retiring.
• Grant Brisbee has a retrospective on Nathan's career. You know, just in case this is the last time we see him pitch.
• Bernie Williams retired. Seriously. I had no idea he wasn't retired. He hasn't played since 2006. I guess he's finally accepted that no team is going to call. Maybe he thought he missed hearing the phone ring while he was recording his jazz albums.
• David Schoenfield thinks that Williams' "retirement" and entombment enshrinement in Monument Park is a sign that the last Yankees dynasty is finally dead and buried.
• Following up on last time's big story, Matthew Trueblood thinks his use of profane language isn't anywhere close to Bryan Price's biggest weakness while managing the Reds.
• Another outfielder has left Cuba.
• Commissioner Rob Manfred says MLB is working hard to play exhibition games in Cuba next year.
• Also, Manfred says that no one has complained to him about metal detectors at games. Rob, Rob, Rob. That "Pretending To Be A Clueless Old Guy Who Can't Even Use A Computer" was Bud Selig's schtick. Come up with your own method for ignoring problems you don't want to deal with.
• Manfred will permit Pete Rose to participate in the All-Star festivities in Cincinnati this summer.
• Richard Justice emphasizes what I've been saying about the "DH in the NL" controversy all along: There's just no support among any NL owners for adopting it.
• Jack Thompson discusses the pros and cons of expansion.
• C.J. Nitkowski got his minor-league pension check. I didn't even know minor leaguers had a pension. After reading this article, I now know why I didn't know minor leaguers had a pension.
• Rob Neyer weighs in on the "batting around" controversy. I'm on his side, actually.
• The average age in baseball is getting younger. Anthony Castrovince looks at the reasons players are getting younger. In general. Actual individual players aren't getting younger. Baseball isn't some sort of magic anti-aging tonic. It would be cool if it was though. I bet more people would play then.
• Peter Gammons talks about Bryce Harper and the curse of unrealistic expectations. Don't forget, Harper is younger than Kris Bryant and Mookie Betts.
• Games are getting shorter! It's working!
• The independent Atlantic League tried out those radical game-shortening ideas (three balls for a walk, two strikes for an out). They work in that the game is shorter. It also sounded great if what you love about baseball is strikeouts and walks. Not so good if you like anything else.
• Sometime today, Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez will become an American citizen. Congratulations, Jose!
• Former major leaguer Julio Lugo has been charged with kidnapping in the Dominican Republic.
• Barry Bonds is a free man. His obstruction of justice conviction has been tossed out on appeal. For the Giants, Black is the new orange.
• Craig Calcaterra is trolling Phillies phans with his Jeff Francoeur shirsey.
• Rob Neyer isn't a fan of the voting for MLB's "Franchise Four" promotion.
• Joe Posnanski thinks Sandy Koufax has no business being ranked with the top players (or pitchers) in the game. I'll go one farther than Posnanski. There is a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers right now who is a better pitcher than Koufax was. Don't forget Koufax only had five seasons as a dominant pitcher. Tim Lincecum had four. I wonder what we'd write about Lincecum if he retired after the 2011 season. Heck, Johan Santana had five dominant seasons.
• Dayn Perry decides to rank all 30 team's primary home uniforms.
• Paul Lukas looks at the history of headgear in baseball.
• And finally, Julio Teheran tried to eat a baseball on the mound.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.