Advertisement

There's a reason Rays players don't close the dugout bathroom door

Steve Pearce had an awkward moment Saturday night in Oakland. (AP)
Steve Pearce had an awkward moment Saturday night in Oakland. (AP)

As you may or may not have heard, Steve Pearce of the Tampa Bay Rays was nearly caught in an unenviable position on Saturday night.

As it so often does, nature called in the midst of Tampa’s 4-3 loss to the A’s, and Pearce had no choice but to answer. Conveniently, or so you’d think, there happens to be a bathroom in each of the dugouts at The Coliseum in Oakland. That meant Pearce didn’t have to run down the tunnel or back into the clubhouse.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now]

On the down side, there also happen to be cameras in and around the dugout, and when Pearce elected not to close the door, well. We’ll just say the scene could have been a lot more embarrassing than it turned out to be.

Here’s the thing though. The Rays haven’t had the greatest history with the bathroom door in Oakland. In fact, it was just under three years ago that former Rays closer Fernando Rodney was trapped in the very same bathroom that Pearce was nearly exposed in.

Basically, the Rays are damned if they do and damned if they don’t close the bathroom door, so for now they’re taking their chances on leaving it open.

It’s an admirable decision, though we’d suggest assigning a guard so that close calls like Saturday can be avoided.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!