After the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-6 at Chase Field Thursday night and clinched the National League West, they took to the ballpark's famous pool in the outfield to celebrate. But not everyone was in the mood to party; Diamondbacks infielder Willie Bloomquist found the Dodgers' celebration in the field's pool to be "disrespectful."
"They have a lot of veteran players on their team. I thought they had more class than that," Bloomquist told MLB.com's Tyler Emerick. "They earned it on the field. They played well and you tip your cap to them. But like I said, that's classless."
Fox Sports reported that the Dodgers were asked not to come out and celebrate on the field by the Diamondbacks, but the team opted to have the locker room celebration spill into the pool.
#DBacks not happy with Dodgers celebrating in Chase Field pool, Willie Bloomquist called it "classless and disrespectful."
— Tyler Emerick (@TylerEmerick) September 19, 2013
The Dodgers' historic turn-around from what seemed like a season that was destined for failure when the team's struggles first began culminated in a celebration of a playoff berth in their division rival's pool. The clincher notched the first time that Los Angeles will appear in the playoffs since 2009 and it was the storied franchise's first division title since that very same year.
Still, Bloomquist believes there are classier ways to celebrate the feat, even comparing them to another storied franchise:
"I would expect them to act with a little more class than they did," he said per MLB.com. "I doubt the New York Yankees would do something like that. They clinched the division this year so if that's how they're going to act and be classless, that's their clubhouse."
The two division rivals have had bad blood for a while, and it continued when both benches were warned in the game following Dodgers starter Ricky Nolasco plunking two Arizona hitters.
Bloomquist wasn't alone with the ill feelings as D-backs president and CEO Derrick Hall was also unhappy.
"I could call it disrespectful and classless, but they don't have a beautiful pool at their old ballpark and probably wanted to see what one was like," Hall said in an e-mail to MLB.com.
Dodgers CEO Stan Kasten stood by his players, saying they were just celebrating a tremendous feat for the franchise.
"I've never seen a celebration where everyone isn't boisterous and enthusiastic," he told MLB.com.
An enthusiastic rookie in Yasiel Puig, reaching the postseason for the very first time, showed his excitement by doing the worm in the locker room:
While some members of the Diamondbacks were upset, starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy didn't seem too miffed by what transpired in the team's pool.
"Celebrating is fun," McCarthy tweeted. "I don't care how and where you do it. Only thing to care about is what we need to do to celebrate in our pool next year."
The Dodgers close out the rest of the season with visits to San Diego and San Francisco before coming home to battle the Colorado Rockies in a final tune-up before the postseason, which kicks off with the National League Wild Card game on Oct. 1, after which the Dodgers journey for a seventh World Series title commences.
If Los Angeles celebrated that much after a division title and managed to upset that many people, one must wonder what would happen if the Dodgers won it all.
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