"There's Got to Be Some Grace for Shohei Ohtani"

The Ben Maller Show's second hour on April 10 opened with a three-part rant that connected baseball hypocrisy, Masters merchandise mania, and Olympic ticket fees into a single argument: sports organizations and figures routinely exploit fans while pretending otherwise, and the people calling them out often have no standing to do so.

The George Springer–Shohei Ohtani Dispute

The lead story came from a Dodgers–Blue Jays series in Toronto. Blue Jays outfielder George Springer complained that umpires gave Shohei Ohtani extra time between innings to warm up as a two-way player. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts responded: "The truth is he's different. There's got to be some grace for Shohei Ohtani."

Maller's objection was not to the substance of the rule but to the source of the complaint. Springer was a member of the 2017 Houston Astros, the team caught using an electronic sign-stealing system during their World Series run. Maller called him a "cheating dog" with a "permanent asterisk tattooed to his ass" and said Springer had no business acting as "the etiquette police" for baseball. "Somebody go out and buy George Springer some Irish Spring, 'cause he reeks of hypocrisy," Maller said.