Kyle Terada | 2020 Aug 26
There will not be a game between the Giants and Dodgers, added awareness of police brutality against minorities replacing it.
Wednesday night’s matchup at Oracle Park has been postponed, one of three on the MLB schedule to be scratched, after Kenosha, Wis., police shot Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, several times in the back Sunday.
The NBA canceled its slate of games after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play in protest, and the movement spread.
The Giants had a team meeting on the field hours before the game, and afterward much of both teams exited the field. Both teams had lineups made and both sent out game notes for the scheduled tilt, but half an hour before gametime, neither team was on the field.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler, who has knelt during the national anthem alongside several of his players this season, suggested the team and its coaches would come to a decision together.
“Some things are bigger than sports, and I don’t think it should require athletes needing to boycott playoff games to remind us Black Lives Matter and that police brutality is unacceptable and that systemic racism needs to be eliminated,” Kapler said Wednesday afternoon.
“What I believe in most is speaking out and taking strong action based on your beliefs.”
Major League Baseball followed with its own statement after Reds-Brewers and Mariners-Padres also were wiped away.
“Given the pain in the communities of Wisconsin and beyond following the shooting of Jacob Blake, we respect the decisions of a number of players not to play tonight. Major League Baseball remains united for change in our society and we will be allies in the fight to end racism and injustice.”