“Now, if a club has multiple offenses, they're going to feel it” - New York Mets brawl leads to backlash from MLB

The New York Mets are having a record-setting season. They have won six straight series, the most in franchise history to start a season. They have the best record in MLB and are leading their division comfortably.

However, the team is also leading the league in hit by pitches. The frustration is starting to boil for the club as players are becoming increasingly more exposed to injuries. Most recently, tempers flared in the series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Three Mets were hit on Tuesday night's matchup including star first baseman Pete Alonso who was struck the head for the second time in two weeks). The next day, the benches cleared when the Mets threw a pitch inside to superstar Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado.

"The benches have cleared after Yoan López threw up and in at Nolan Arenado."-@SNYTV

Arenado was suspended for two games for instigating the fracas.

New York Mets manager Buck Showalter has met with MLB to discuss the issues his team has faced regarding pitches being thrown at the head

New York Mets manager Buck Showalter will not allow this to go unnoticed. In addition to leading the league in hit batters, Showalter noted that since Spring Training, teams have thrown head-high on Mets players 15 times. However, while MLB looks into this matter, they will begin monitoring which teams are prone to instigating bench clearings. The league is investigating the prospect of cumulative punishments for repeat offenders.

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado had a rough series against the New York Mets. His error in the 9th inning allowed the Mets to win the game and he was ejected in the series finale for inciting a bench clearing incident between the two ballclubs

Showalter believes that reducing the amount of hit batsmen may curtail the number of bench clearing brawls. According to Steve Gelbs of SNY, Mets players believe that Showalter's grievances will deter opposing pitchers from pitching inside for fear of backlash from the veteran skipper and the subsequent media frenzy.

"In the Mets clubhouse, there is a belief and there is an appreciation amongst a lot of the players for the fact that Buck has made it so public and talked about it so often" -@SNYtv

For now, the New York Mets will do their best to keep their players safe, and keep playing high-quality baseball.