The National League Division Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves wrapped up with the Phillies’ 3-1 victory in Game 4 Thursday night. The whole series carried some odd discussions, though, particularly around Fox Sports’ Jake Mintz and The Washington Post‘s Chelsea Janes reporting on “Attaboy, Bryce” comments Atlanta shortstop Orlando Arcia made in the clubhouse after Monday’s Game 2, Braves’ fans and players and some local and national media bashing the reporting of those comments, and many more media chiming in in defense of the reporters.
And the latest odd media discussion came after Game 4. There, long-time MLB.com Braves’ beat writer Mark Bowman reported that star Atlanta right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. declined to speak to media afterwards. And that simple factual report somehow led to a lot of outrage from some fans. (Language warning.)
If Bowman’s tweet here had criticized Acuña for not speaking to media afterwards, that would have been one thing. That’s the approach The Athletic’s Jeff Schultz took in a “The Braves’ two playoff flops can’t be coincidence. This group needs to change” column:
“No habla,” Acuña said.
Maybe he just didn’t want to talk about the loss or the playoff exit — although that didn’t stop his teammates from answering questions like professionals. Maybe he didn’t want to revisit how he went from an MVP-caliber regular season to hitting .143 (2-for-14) in the series and going 0-for-4 while stranding five baserunners in the elimination game. Maybe not talking is just a page out of his own, secret leadership handbook. If so, he should burn it.
It’s understandable to see blowback from fans to suggestions like Schultz’s that emotional players should have to “answer questions like professionals.” And debate over the merits of a player’s decision to talk or not is fair. But the amount of vitriol that wound up aimed at Bowman, a MLB.com Braves beat reporter since 2001, for the mere factual report that Acuña had declined to talk was remarkable.
Acuña, who became just the fifth member of the 40-40 (home runs/stolen bases) club this year (and the first-ever member of the 30-60 and 40-70 clubs) and is the betting favorite for NL MVP, is obviously someone many fans and media would be interested in hearing from. That’s especially true after a game where he had some notable moments, including showing an iPad replay to the TBS broadcast and saying “Not a strike” and hitting a bases-loaded fly in the seventh that led to a great catch from Johan Rojas.
Thus, reporting that Acuña declined to talk is notable. That explains to fans why they wouldn’t see comments from him. (Apart from the fake ones made up by @NYPorchSport, which got their own attention.) And Bowman did so with no judgement attached. And it’s very strange that this led to so much backlash.
And this added to what wound up being quite an odd series on the media side. From the “Attaboy Bryce” to the giant media kerfuffle that produced to even radio discussions of Harper’s staredown of Arcia, Twitter arguments between Braves’ mascot Blooper and the Phillie Phanatic, reports of the Braves’ bullpen complaining about hecklers, and Acuña’s iPad, a lot of the discussion around this series took on media dimensions. And the latest one is this argument about Acuña talking to media or not.
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