Baseball has an umpire problem.
Last Saturday, Manny Machado was ejected for arguing a called third strike by home-plate umpire Bill Welke. Machado, who is not the most level-headed human being, threw a fit and his bat in response.
On Monday, MLB issued a ruling on the incident and suspended the San Diego Padres third baseman for one game.
On Tuesday, the Major League Baseball Umpires Association—the union that represents MLB umpires—lost its mind.
First, there was the tweet, and oh my god, what is going on with those hashtags:
About an hour later, the union double downed with an even longer Facebook post:
There is a lot to parse here—from the disturbing demand to make an example of Machado, to the comical, pearl-clutching “think of the children!