You never know what you’ll get with Bauer

Trevor Bauer has had his moments over the years. But, as Mark Podolski points out, he was right on with his postgame comments about Fernando Tatis Jr.’s home run celebrations on April 24.

For most Indians fans, the enduring memories of Trevor Bauer are probably these two:

• Him on the mound in the 2016 playoffs against the Blue Jays and his right pinky a bloody mess. The effects of a drone mishap turned disastrous for the Indians’ World Series hopes. Bauer went 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in three appearances in the World Series. It’s a great what-if as the team came within one game of beating Cubs in the World Series.

• The other was of him throwing a baseball over the center-field fence in Kansas City during what has to be called a tantrum. The oddball decision by Bauer upset Manager

Terry Francona, and shortly after Bauer was traded to the Reds.

Bauer pitched in Cincinnati for a year before signing with the Dodgers for 2021.

So on April 24 while channel surfing, I landed on a Padres-Dodgers game on MLB Network. Bauer was pitching, and Fernando Tatis Jr. was hitting home runs off Bauer. Tatis was taking his good ole time around the bases. It was definitely celebration time for Tatis.

On the first home run, he covered one of his eyes, as a way of teasing Bauer. More on that in a bit. On the second four-bagger, Tatis at home plate imitated a strut UFC superstar Conor McGregor made popular. It’s a gesture Bauer sometimes uses.

It’s a safe bet an oldfashioned baseball fan was disgusted by Tatis’ antics.

Here we go, I thought. It’s coming — a fastball to Tatis’ back, maybe even his ear. It never happened.

The Dodgers won, 5-4, and in the postgame reporters wanted Bauer’s reaction. What he said was stunning.

“I like it,” Bauer told reporters. “I think that pitchers who have that done to them and react by throwing at people, or getting upset and hitting people or whatever — I think it’s pretty soft. If you give up a homer, the guy should celebrate it. It’s hard to hit in the big leagues.

“So, I’m all for it. And I think it’s important that the game moves in that direction, and we stop throwing at people because they celebrated having some success on the field.”

Bravo, Mr. Bauer. Thank you for saying that. Let’s be honest, Bauer is a different breed.

There are plenty of major-league pitchers — especially those in the American League who don’t have to bat — players and managers who cringed at Bauer’s comments, and that’s sad for the state of the game.

Pitchers who who intentionally throw at hitters for violating the so-called “unwritten rules” of baseball should really think long and hard and re-read or listen closely to Bauer’s comments.

Allowing a home run isn’t the end of the world. A hitter celebrating a home run isn’t the end-all, be-all. The nonsense of intentionally throwing at hitters needs to stop, and it needs to be out of baseball completely.

Let’s have more fun in baseball. Let’s have more of the Tatis-Bauer show.

“It’s just fun,” said Tatis. “When you know you’re facing a guy like that — he’s doing his stuff, he’s having fun on the mound, and when you get him you get him, and you celebrate, too.”

Tatis said his first celebration was in response to Bauer noticeably pitching with one eye closed against the Padres in spring training. It’s an oddball move by Bauer, but so what. Bauer had his fun in spring training, and Tatis had his on April 24.

No one was thrown at, benches were not cleared, and insults were not traded. It can work without adhering to baseball’s ridiculous and outdated “unwritten rules.”

Here’s what’s sad: The next time we see something similar in Major League Baseball, I expect to see a pitch thrown behind a batter, into their back and — worse — into their ear.

For all the heat Bauer takes — some of it deserved — in this instance he deserves a lot of credit for his restraint and his comments after the game.

Let’s hope it paves a new way and helps bury these “unwritten rules.”