During my interview with Ms. Shi, a local Chinese fan who experienced the chaotic atmosphere at a sports bar while watching the Los Angeles Dodgers battle the San Diego Padres, she offered her insights on fan behavior during high-stakes games.
The incident unfolded on October 6, during the second round of the divisional series. As tensions rose among Dodgers fans, some vented their frustration by throwing baseballs and trash at Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar. This happened in the seventh inning, with the Padres leading 4-1. Profar had provoked the fans earlier by making eye contact after catching a hit from Mookie Betts, which seemed to ignite the anger of the crowd.
“Fans were clearly upset,” Ms. Shi recounted. “When they started throwing things onto the field, the game had to be paused for about 12 minutes.” She described how Profar pointed at the stands emotionally, while teammates like Xander Bogaerts stepped in to help diffuse the situation. Security quickly arrived to calm the crowd, urging them to stop the unruly behavior.
Ms. Shi, who started following baseball this year due to her admiration for Shohei Ohtani, had opted to watch the game at a nearby sports bar with a friend after struggling to find reasonably priced tickets. As the Dodgers fell further behind, the atmosphere in the bar grew increasingly tense, with fans vocally expressing their frustrations. “By the end of the game, one angry Dodgers fan smashed his drink on the floor, and the shattered glass landed right by my feet, which really startled me,” she recalled. The staff quickly reassured her, explaining that such wild behavior is not uncommon in sports bars, especially when fans are dissatisfied with their team’s performance. They mentioned having witnessed physical fights break out over game outcomes in the past.
Extreme reactions from fans during sporting events are not unusual, particularly when emotions run high and outcomes don’t align with expectations. Ms. Shi reflected on a similar incident from 2004, when thousands of Boston fans flooded the streets in celebration after the Red Sox defeated the Yankees in the AL Championship Series, leading to chaos that required police intervention. “It’s alarming what can happen when people are so emotionally invested,” she observed.
