Outside The Confines: Joe Kelly’s suspension creates shockwaves

If the first part of this week was dominated in discussion of the Marlins COVID outbreak, the latter part of the week was all about Joe Kelly and the suspension that came as a result of his on field antics against the Houston Astros.

Kelly received an eight-game suspension for throwing behind Alex Bregman and for making comments towards the Astros dugout. For many, this seemed like an unfair punishment as the Dodgers were probably the team most likely to take a little revenge on their 2017 World Series rivals (and noted cheaters) the Astros.

Some tried to compare the suspension suggesting it was equal to roughly 22 games in a normal season, while others suspected that the length of Kelly’s suspension was meant to serve as a warning to others who might try to get even against Astros players who were not suspended for their part in the cheating scandal.

However you choose to interpret the suspension, writers had a lot to say about it, so let’s dive in.

• Stephanie Asptein talks about MLB’s punishment failures surrounding both the Astros scandal and the Kelly suspension.
• Is eight games too much? asks Alden Gonzalez (and almost every baseball fan on Twitter.)
• Not everyone has moved on from the Marlins outbreak, and Megan Montemurro and Jayson Stark want to know why MLB didn’t stop the Phillies-Marlins series. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• It’s a season unlike any other, and that goes for rookie players making their debut without their families in the stands, writes Zach Buchanan. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Ben Clemens spends an awful lot of time dissecting Michael Wacha’s curveball.
• So far this whole “runner on second in extras” rule has proven to be pretty fun, writes Sam Miller.
• mhatter106 of our sister Astros site Crawfish Boxes looks at the pros and cons of bunting with that extra runner on base in extras.
• And for fans with no option to attend games, baseball on the radio has become more popular than ever, says Will Leitch.
• Andy McCullough takes the unusual approach of looking at the bright side of the season. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• I have nothing to add here, this is just very cute.

• Emma Baccellieri asks what “Home” means, as the Blue Jays are without their home country and were almost without a home field.
• Without fans to dampen crowd noise, we’re going to have to start an MLB swear jar. Story by Marc Carig.
• On the note of fake crowd noises, Scott Allen shares that the faux crowd at Nationals stadium will be cheering for the Blue Jays for two games.
• Rachael McDaniel writes, as only Rachael McDaniel can, about the path that brought Nate Pearson to the big leagues.
• And from a more analytical bent, Tony Wolfe breaks down Pearson’s debut against the Nationals.
• Basically everyone was all over the Nate Pearson debut this week.

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