Anthony Rizzo was out by a mile at the plate, yet he still slid into home in m attempt to break-up any potential play to get the runner at first. Not only did he slide into the plate, he clearly went out of his way to take out the catcher.

Here's the Rizzo slide at home #Cubs #Pirates pic.twitter.com/u9HHXmFmNr

— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) May 28, 2018

Here’s a still picture of the slide itself.

The veteran was obviously going for the take out slide and it clearly hurt Elias Diaz as the catcher was writhing on the ground in pain after the play.

Per MLB’s rule book, this was no where near a bona fide slide.

A “bona fide slide” for purposes of Rule 6.01 occurs when the runner:

(1) begins his slide (i.e., makes contact with the ground) before reaching the base;

(2) is able and attempts to reach the base with his hand or foot;

(3) is able and attempts to remain on the base (except home plate) after completion of the slide; and

(4) slides within reach of the base without changing his pathway for the purpose of initiating contact with a fielder.

As you can tell by the pic, Rizzo was going out of his way to hit Díaz and he was also no where near the base so he couldn’t reach it with his feet or foot. So it seems that the first baseman clearly broke the rules with regards to a safe and a bona fide slide…and their needs to be swift punishment from MLB.

Based off of Diaz’s reaction, it’s likely he’ll miss a couple of games (at least) and could be facing time on the disabled list as a result of this collision. This rule, unlike PEDs, was put in place to protect fielders from devastating injuries caused by a cheap play; which is what happened today in Pittsburgh, Penn.