In June 2015, the Red Sox benched Sandoval for one game during a series in Atlanta when he was caught “liking” photos of a woman on Instagram.
It’s not his taste in who he decides to follow on social media that irked the Red Sox. The problem was the time stamp could clearly be traced to occurring during a game. Sandoval would attempt to defend his actions by stating he was merely checking Instagram on this phone while he was taking a bathroom break.
Not to blow up the dude's spot, but uh...is Pablo Sandoval on Instagram during the game? pic.twitter.com/q8X4HoFDOT
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) June 18, 2015
The story was wildly overblown, although you can’t blame Red Sox Nation for being skeptical of players in the wake of the Chicken and Beer fiasco a few years prior. The pitching staff took the brunt of the blame for the September collapse in 2011 when it was revealed that they spent their off days drinking in the clubhouse during games rather than sitting alongside the rest of their teammates in the dugout.
While this wasn’t quite on the same level as those shenanigans, the image of Sandoval sitting on a toilet checking out ladies on Instagram was an embarrassing look for him and the team.