Bob Melvin thought he’d left the chaos behind when he traded San Diego’s threads for the supposed calm of San Francisco. Padres fans, meanwhile, are happy they'd finally get to sit one out. No late-night drama, no clubhouse whispers, no front office friction bleeding onto the field. Just quiet bystanders.
But baseball has a way of dragging familiar faces back into the mud. On September 2, Melvin and his Giants weren’t just playing a meaningless September game against the 100-loss Colorado Rockies, they were starring in one of the strangest afternoons of the season. What should have been background noise turned into the makings of throwback VHS-style brawl, complete with jawing, benches clearing, and actual punches thrown.