The Astros and A's had a bench-clearing brawl despite MLB's stern warning

Heading into the restarted 2020 baseball season, MLB made it clear in its healthy and safety guidelines that fighting would not be tolerated.

After all, the season was going to be played outside of a bubble setting with teams both traveling and not facing restrictions on the road (which is already proving problematic). The last thing MLB wanted to see was two teams come into extremely close contact and start fighting.

Well, MLB will have a chance to show the baseball world how serious it was about that warning.

During the seventh inning of the Athletics’ game against the Astros on Sunday, Ramon Laureano was furious after being hit with a pitch for the second time in the game. He exchanged words with the Astros as he made his way to first base, but chatter from the Astros dugout set Laureano off.

We could see as Astros hitting coach Alex Cintron challenged Laureano to a fight, calling him over. And Laureano charged after Cintron after that.

MLB has come under fire this season for protecting the Astros amid their cheating scandal. Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly was hit with an eight-game suspension earlier in the year for throwing at (and mocking) Astros players. But Cintron and Laureano both deserve a harsh punishment here.

These brawls simply can’t happen with MLB’s current season setup during an ongoing pandemic.