MLB: doctoring the ball is fine

Did Noah Syndergaard rub a substance onto the baseballs during Monday night's game against the Phillies? That question is being asked after a video started spreading on Twitter that appeared to show the Mets pitcher using two fingers on the base of his glove before touching the baseball.

Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes ran into this same issue during the 2018 ALCS. In a video that gathered more than 1 million views, Barnes was accused of having pine tar on his arm. He rubbed his arm, his arm looked shiny and it certainly seemed like he was using a foreign substance.

But the fallout, aside from public speculation, was minimal. Even the manager of the team Barnes was facing, Astros' A.J. Hinch, didn't appear to care.

"Honestly it’s not even something that’s crossed my mind," Hinch said at the time. "There’s so much difference between doctoring a ball versus kind of what goes on nowadays. And we’re living by the rules in which we live by."

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said something similar.

“Seems like always those videos always come out in October — I wonder why. You have to ask the hitters. They like guys that can control their stuff. So I just leave it at that," he said. "It is what it is. Everybody knows.”

Basically: Everyone knows pitchers do this, but no one really cares.