Last week, the Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig found himself in hot water after throwing his bat into oblivion after breaking open a meaningless game against the New York Mets. It wasn’t a particularly important game and the home run wasn’t very important to Puig, personally. And yet, his bat was thrown into the air and he meandered around the field admiring his work, taking 32.1 seconds to round the bases – the longest home run trot of 2017 so far.

Mets players Wilmer Flores, Jose Reyes, and Yoenis Cepsedes all took exception to Puig’s showboating and all three gave him a talking to. He also exchanged words with Travis d’Arnaud. It was an embarrassing episode for the Mets and everyone in baseball who thought Puig’s toss was insulting because ultimately, it made no difference whatsoever.

It’s about time we not only accept the bat-flip as part of baseball (even in meaningless situations) but we learn to enjoy it and understand it.

Bat-flips add character. Everyone knows that baseball games can be long and boring. For the most part, the best players in all of the sport play the game in a very “traditional” way and for casual fans, of which, there are plenty, this style of play may be perceived as a bore. Add a little bat-flip, a little skip around the bases, suddenly, those fans see a character, a personality, someone to invest in.

Bat-flips create tension. If an opposing player tosses his bat into the air to further define the damage he has already done to your team, it is understandable that you may want to exact revenge. So do it. Unless the bat-flip is a result of a walk-off home run, the opposing team will have a chance to respond. Hit a home run of your own, give your own bat a little flip, start a rivalry, start a competition.

Bat-flips are self-regulating. Videos have surfaced in the past of high school and college players getting a little too excited after making good contact with a ball they send towards the outfield. They flip their bat and turn to their bench, cheering themselves all the way, not realizing that they haven’t hit the ball out. This situation never ends well. Either the player only makes it to first, or he gets thrown out on his way to second or third trying to redeem himself. Anyone who makes this type of mistake will most likely never make it again. If bat-flips become the norm, players will become conscious of this potential mistake and will be sure not to make it.

Enjoying a bat-flip is – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – the key to baseball’s future. It is the corner stone on which a social media, family friendly, exciting new baseball will be built in the 21st century. Baseball, because of its reliance on skill over athleticism, will always remain a technical sport reliant on traditional play and statistics. But statistics don’t look cool in a six second video on Instagram and no one jumps up and down after someone fields a routine ground ball.

But a bat-flip can go viral. A bat-flip can hype up an entire stadium of 40,000 fans, even fans of the opposing team. The bat-flip is here and here to stay. Learn to enjoy it.

Jose Bautista hit a solo homer late in the Toronto Blue Jays‘ 8-4 road loss to the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night and flipped his bat in celebration, causing both teams’ benches to clear and start an all-out — yet non-violent — brawl.

Jose Bautista Flips Bat, Benches Clear in Blue Jays’ Loss to Braves

Toronto was trailing 8-3 in the top of the eighth inning when Bautista smacked a homer into the left-field seats off Eric O’Flaherty to score the Jays’ final run. Right after his hit, however, the Dominican outfielder showed off his bat-flip, which drew the ire of the Braves and caused both dugouts at SunTrust Park to empty after Bautista crossed home plate.

“He did it again,” @JoeyBats19 hit the ball out, saw it and celebrated with his famous “Bat Flip.” #TheMajors,” reads the following caption in Spanish.

The following video shows the benches clearing after Bautista’s home run, with the Spanish caption: “Jose Bautista blasted a big one in the eighth and the dugouts emptied:”

O’Flaherty didn’t appear very angry about Bautista’s bat-flip following the game. The left-hander simply seemed annoyed with the outfielder’s antics.

“I’m surprised he’s ready to fight again after last year,” O’Flaherty told reporters with a laugh, referring to Bautista being punched by Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor in 2016, a fight that Bautista instigated with his infamous bat-flip in 2015.

Bautista confessed after Wednesday’s homer that the flip “was definitely not something that was fitting for the moment.”

That moment in the eighth inning was the second time in Wednesday’s game in Atlanta that the benches cleared. The dugouts also emptied just one inning before. In the seventh, tension arose between Braves reliever Jason Motte and Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar, who seemed to say something to Motte as the latter stepped off the mound.

The Braves’ anger comes as no surprise, given that their players have been struck by the Blue Jays seven times since the four-game series began on Monday.

Earlier on Wednesday, Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman was forced to exit the game after being hit in the wrist by a pitch from reliever Aaron Loup. 

The Braves (16-21, 2nd in NL East) lead the series 3-0 and have won five of seven games. The Blue Jays (17-24, 5th in AL East) have lost three straight games after winning five in a row, including a four-game home sweep of the Seattle Mariners.

The series finale is Thursday at 7:35 pm EST at SunTrust Park. Right-hander Marcus Stroman will start for Toronto. Stroman has allowed two runs or fewer in all but two of his eight starts this season, and recorded nine strikeouts in his last start against Seattle.

Julio Teheran, who has a 8.14 ERA in four home starts this year, will take the mound for Atlanta.