Watch: Dodgers anger D-backs by celebrating NL West title in Chase Field pool
The Dodgers had a pool party after wrapping up their first division title since 2009. (Norm Hall/Getty Images)
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The Dodgers clinched the National League West title on Thursday by beating the second-place Diamondbacks in their ballpark, Chase Field. Their initial celebration was typical: an on-field scrum followed by locker room champagne showers. After that, however, the majority of the team headed back out to the field, scaled the outfield wall, and jumped into the Chase Field pool.
This did not sit well with Arizona's players, who were outspoken about their objections. Most notably, utilityman Willie Bloomquist called the Dodgers' actions "classless" and also said, "I doubt the New York Yankees would do something like that."
The Dodgers and the Diamondbacks, of course, were involved in an ugly on-field brawl in June, and in 2011, Clayton Kershaw and Gerardo Parra had a tiff over Parra admiring a home run, so it doesn't take much to get these two teams at each other's throats. As in those two incidents, neither team bothered to take the high road in this latest spat.
Bloomquist is right that the Dodgers jumping into the Chase Field pool wasn't the most respectful act but the Diamondbacks could have prevented it by not being the first second-place team to be eliminated from a division race this season, or at least not letting that happen in their own ballpark. To the victors go the spoils, and for Bloomquist and company to squawk about an ultimately harmless act, to my eye, shows similarly poor sportsmanship and lack of class.
