John Schneider has a fair gripe with unacceptable behavior by Mariners fans

There's at least one more game to play between the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series, and Blue Jays manager John Schneider seems confident that George Springer will be able to take part in Game 6 on Sunday.

“He's got a right knee contusion. He had X-rays, which were negative, which is a good thing,” Schneider told reporters after Springer had to leave Game 5 of the ALCS on Friday in the seventh inning. “He'll probably do some more testing tonight when we get home. George is about as tough as they come. I think he'll have to really, really be hurting to not be in the lineup on Sunday.”

This will come as a relief to any reasonable person with a heart, for these are the kind of people who wouldn't wish what happened to Springer on Friday on anyone. He took a 95.6 mph fastball from Bryan Woo to his right kneecap, with an audible "Whack!" that came through in the broadcast audio.

John Schneider rightfully takes Mariners fans to task over their treatment of George Springer

It is unfortunate, then, that just as audible in the moments after Springer got hit were the noises coming from the crowd at T-Mobile Park: boos as Springer tried to get up, and then cheers as he limped off the field with Schneider and head athletic trainer Jose Ministral.

Schneider wasn't going to let that go, and he even diverted his answer to a question on Springer's health to address the crowd's reaction:

"I know this is an awesome atmosphere to play in, and it's really, really cool to play here, but I think the fans that were booing him should take a look in the mirror and understand what kind of player he is and — I'll stop there, because when a guy gets hit in the knee and is in obvious pain and you have 40,000 people [taunting], not the right thing to do."

John Schneider

In the interest of fair discourse, we'll push back and say that it wasn't 40,000 fans taunting Springer as he writhed and limped in pain on Friday. If 40,000 Mariners fans want you to hear them, they'll let you know. Just ask Eugenio Suárez, who literally had T-Mobile Park shaking with his game-winning grand slam.

The crowd reaction to the Springer hit-by-pitch is also almost certainly a fog of war situation. There are always a lot of Blue Jays fans at T-Mobile Park, and more were there for Game 5 than there had been for Games 3 and 4. Some of the boos may have been coming from them toward Woo, while some of the cheers may have been from them encouraging Springer as he walked off under his own power.

Yet even if the truth of the matter is more nuanced, Schneider is not altogether wrong about what happened. Those were boos as Springer was lying there in pain. Those were cheers as he walked off the field, still in pain. Heck, some fans were even waving him goodbye.

There is no excuse for any of this, no matter how many justifications one attempts to provide. Yes, he has been crushing the Mariners (3 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI) in this series. And yes, he is a former Houston Astro who may have been one of the guiltier members of their sign-stealing scheme. But he's also a human being, and a human being feeling pain like that is not an appropriate moment for levity.

In fact, go ahead and use your imagination. If Suárez were to find himself in serious pain after getting hit by a fastball in Game 6 in Toronto, would you be OK if fans at the Rogers Centre reacted with boos and cheers just because he's ostensibly the enemy?

Of course you wouldn't. So if you're one of the Mariners fans who made the whole fanbase look bad on Friday, you should indeed be looking for a mirror.