Red Sox vs Blue Jays postponed in protest of Jacob Blake shooting
On Sunday evening Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by the police and is now paralyzed. Since the shooting, the world as a whole has had their eyes glued to Kenosha, WI, and the protests that are currently going on. Athletes throughout the sports world have begun to raise their voices and stand as a united front in hopes that we see the end of social injustice. Many teams around all of America’s sports leagues have opted to not play in protest, the Boston Red Sox included.
Earlier today, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Red Sox players were leaning towards not playing tonight in protest of the ongoing social issues in America. Boston outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. was already planning to sit out tonight’s game against the Blue Jays, and his teammates showed their support. Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe was the first to report that the team had fully decided to postpone tonight’s clash in Buffalo.
Tonight’s game between the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays has been postponed. pic.twitter.com/K5YqRm9SCF
— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 27, 2020
"“We talk about equality and yet there isn’t equality going on,” Roenicke said. “You read the Constitution and how it was written and it’s not equal for everybody.”"
As protests and demonstrations continue in Wisconsin, the American sports world is joining in on the efforts. Several NBA playoff games were postponed over the last two days, six matchups in total. As black players have heard enough about just playing the game, they’re now making sure their voices are heard.
To some, it may seem like they’re just overpaid players choosing to not play a game. But they’re the best of the best at what they do and their names and influence can go farther than can be seen on the surface.
In the NFL, there were several practices and a scrimmage that were called off as players boycotted in the name of Jacob Blake. Last night, MLB joined the conversation and though the league has yet to make a major statement as the NBA and NFL have, they’ve given the teams full power to boycott games in protest.
More than baseball. pic.twitter.com/es8KTw5r9p
— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 27, 2020
On Wednesday night, three MLB games were postponed with another four games being boycotted today. As I mentioned above, JBJ was already planning to sit out tonight’s game if it were to have been played. Unfortunately, we haven’t quite seen the outpouring of support for Jackie as we have seen other teams put forth towards their black teammates. Granted we don’t know what’s going on in the clubhouse and behind the scenes but it is a stark contrast from other teams around the league.
"“Whatever Jackie (Bradley Jr.) and whatever (Blue Jays) players feel like is right to do, and I know Chaim (Bloom) is certainly behind all this and our organization, too. Sam Kennedy has addressed it,” Roenicke said. “It’s not going away until we do something about it.”"
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It’s sad to turn on the news each and every night and see another tragedy or story of a shooting come across the headlines. Until something in this country changes, and the entire world for that matter changes, we’ll keep having these things happen. And they shouldn’t be. In the year 2020, there shouldn’t be racial inequalities, and that sounds naive, but it’s true. We may have all of the luxuries of a 21st-century world but we still follow too many of the topes of centuries ago.
The Red Sox will return to Fenway Park on Friday evening to battle it out with the reigning World Champion Washington Nationals. Interestingly enough both the Sox and Nationals are at the bottom of their divisions. It’s not often that the last two World Series winners find themselves hanging out together in the basement.
Tomorrow night, Boston will be potentially trotting out Martin Perez to the bump to get back into the win column. The star lefty has found himself in plenty of trade rumors as of late since his strong start has vaulted him to the top of the Sox rotation. As Boston enters the final half of the season and the final days of the trade window, we may see some big moves come out of Fenway Park.