"Arenado and the Cardinals are as soft as Charmin," "Also... Nolan Arenado is a big punk" - Nolan Arenado starts a bench and bullpen-clearing brawl, gets ample hate from New York Mets fans on Twitter

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado heightened the animosity between his team and the New York Mets on Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

Mets reliever Yoan López threw a fastball up high to back Arenado off the plate. The All-Star slugged dodged the pitch easily but it threw him off balance and out of the batter's box. Arenado exchanged what were probably some choice words with López, who inched his way defiantly towards Arenado. Things escalated quickly and, before long, both teams raced out of their dugouts and bullpens to brawl beside home plate.

Mets fans react on Twitter to the bench-clearing brawl caused by Nolan Arenado

Fans reacted to the chaos immediately on Twitter. In general, Mets fans took over the social media platform with a barrage of Tweets calling Nolan Arenado "soft."

"The Cardinals have been hitting Mets all series long including hitting Alonso in the head. If you’re Arenado you should know what’s coming there." - @Thomas Carrieri

One Twitter user, @Thomas Carrieri, was quick to point out that the Cardinals pitchers have hit several Mets batters throughout this week's series.

"Arenado and the Cardinals are as soft as Charmin. Mets handled that correctly but Lopez or buck should have been ejected" - @Josh

@Josh called Arenado "soft as Charmin," referring to the famous toilet paper brand that prides itself on being the softest in the business.

"Nolan Arenado causing another benches clearing brawl. Shocker. Dude is soft as hell. Pitch didn’t even hit him." - @Bryce Martin

@Bryce Martin said something similar and pointed out that the pitch "didn't even hit" Arenado, yet he still charged the mound.

"I think I’ve lost some respect for Nolan Arenado. Guy may be a little soft" - @ Connor McCormick-Cavanagh

And if there were any Mets fans out there with respect for Arenado, they've lost it all now.

"Why our Mets are hit more than any other MLB team this season is BS. Now I know we are playing some pretty mediocre teams, hurting JD like that is low; guess you can't expect much more of the @Cardinals as a team. #classless losers. Can't use the 'ball has a bad grip' excuse." - @Marc

@Marc called the Cardinals a team of "classless losers." Those are some heavy-handed words for the squad.

"The cardinals throw at Pete’s head yesterday and they deal, Arenado gets one high and inside and throws a tantrum, and the METS are the soft ones??" - @Bobby Bonilla’s Agent

"Yoan López gave Nolan Arenado a little chin music to send a sign. He wasn’t head hunting at all on that pitch. Arenado had to know they were coming up and in." - @ Michael Baron

Other users pointed out that Arenado should've seen the high pitch coming and taken it in stride.

"Arenado tossed aside the Mets catcher and then Stubby Clapp took down Pete Alonso. MLB has to officially give the Cardinals the sweep now. No other choice. Can’t lose a fight that bad." - @ First Time Callers

But one Cardinals fan came to Arenado's rescue by praising his brawling capabilites. "MLB has to officially give the Cardinals the sweep now. No other choice," he said.

Suffice to say, the brawl was an entertaining one for viewers. We'll see what suspensions the MLB dishes out in the next few days.