Gary Cohen lit up the booth Tuesday night with sharp words about Cubs rookie Matt Shaw.
Shaw skipped a game against the Reds to attend the funeral of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The Cubs lost 1-0, and his absence sparked questions.
“Shaw had Cubs world in a tizzy this weekend when he was not here for the Cubs game with the Reds — a game they lost, 1-0, and in which his lack of presence was felt. It was later revealed that he had been given permission to attend Charlie Kirk’s funeral,” Cohen said.
The broadcaster didn’t hold back. He called Shaw’s choice “weird” and said leaving a playoff race for anything outside a family emergency didn’t sit right.
“I don’t want to talk about any of the politics of it, but the thought of leaving your team in the middle of a race for any reason other than a family emergency really strikes me as weird,” Cohen said.
Color analyst Todd Zeile wasn’t as direct but still labeled the move “unusual.” He noted he’d never seen something like it in his playing days.
“I think it’s unprecedented, at least from my experience as a player,” Zeile said.
He added that confusion made it worse. “And I think it made it a little bit more unusual that it was not revealed until after it came to issue, because he was thought to be in the dugout and maybe available and then was not.”
“And that’s how it was revealed,” Zeile said. “So it became maybe more of a story than it could have been had it been addressed from the beginning.”