Punishing Rougned Odor for a punch — and Jose Bautista for getting punched?

9:48 PM ET

So we’ve entered the penalty phase from Sunday’s fracas in Texas: Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor drew an eight-game suspension for punching Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista, Jays manager John Gibbons got three games for going onto the field after previously getting tossed, Jays first-base coach Tim Leiper got chucked for a day for returning to the dugout after being ejected, Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus accepted a one-game suspension for his actions in the melee and … Bautista got suspended for one game for — what, getting punched in the face?

Does that seem just to you? Because remember, after Bautista slid hard and late into second base in a pretty straightforward old-school takeout slide, Odor stood up, shoved Bautista and threw a punch — not just any punch, but a great punch, a Rock’em Sock’em Robots punch, a “get your money’s worth if you’re going to be suspended” punch. It was totally not the sort of thing you see in baseball.

As punches go, it thoroughly deserves a heavy penalty. I buy Karl Ravech’s argument on SportsCenter that this is much like Cubs catcher Michael Barrett throwing a punch after a play at the plate with A.J. Pierzynski in 2006. Just as Odor had, Barrett had a key split second or two to think about it before clocking Pierzynski — and he then got rung up for a 10-game suspension.

Jose Bautista’s suspension is a sign …

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