Jose Bautista has a hard time describing what happened after he hit that epic seventh-inning home run during the deciding game of the ALDS matchup between the Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers. Joining The Dan Patrick Show ahead of Game 1 of the ALCS on Friday, Bautista told Patrick it was like blacking out: “After I hit the ball, I don’t really remember a whole lot about what happened until I kinda came back to in the dugout.”
But while his post–home run memory might be a bit foggy, Bautista is clear about one thing: That bat flip? He’s not sorry. “I wasn’t doing anything to disrespect the game or the opponent,” he said. “I didn’t plan it. I’m not gonna apologize—I enjoyed it.”
Bautista made it clear that his game has always been about passion. “I wear my emotions on my sleeve,” he told Patrick. “I think that’s what gives me my drive—that’s what keeps me going and allows me to be successful. I have to play like that—if I don’t, then I might not be me.”
Rangers reliever Sam Dyson didn’t take too kindly to Bautista’s display of raw emotion. Dyson equated Bautista’s already legendary bat flip with “stuff that kids do in whiffle ball games and backyard baseball,” adding that “it shouldn’t be done.” But Bautista told Patrick that he sees those kinds of celebrations as an element of the game. “It’s part of competition,” he said, explaining the moment he took to look at Dyson after he’d hit that three-run shot. “It’s part of being a competitor and trying to come out on top, trying to win. There’s gotta be a winner and a loser. I don’t feel because I did that I was humiliating him in any way.”
Bautista added that, had the situation been reversed—had Dyson managed to strike him out, and had Dyson proceeded to punch his glove or pump his fist in righteous satisfaction—Bautista wouldn’t have lost his cool. “It’s a big situation in the game—I shouldn’t get upset,” he said.
While that bat flip has been a talking point ever since Bautista pulled the move, the 34-year-old slugger isn’t necessarily getting ready to repeat the gesture during the Blue Jays’ ALCS matchup with the Kansas City Royals. But that’s only because he doesn’t map out his home run celebrations in advance. “I can’t say that I would do it again,” Bautista said of his most recent bat-tossing move, “because I didn’t plan it. But who knows? I would’ve celebrated in some way.”
