Brewers fans got taste of Dalton Rushing's villain arc during disappointing Dodgers series

In what was an excellent reminder that baseball fans hold grudges, Manny Machado walked to the plate with boos raining down from the crowd at American Family Field in every single one of his at-bats during the San Diego Padres' three-game set against the Milwaukee Brewers two weeks ago. The impetus for said boos was a play during Game 4 of the 2018 National League Championship Series when Machado clipped the ankle of Brewers' first baseman Jesús Aguilar as he was running through the base. Six years later, Brewers fans, rightfully so, haven't forgotten and let Machado hear it whenever he returns to Am Fam Field.

Though Machado has since moved on to the Padres, there will always be "beef" between the Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers -- the team that the All-Star infielder was playing for back in 2018. Not only have the Dodgers ended three of the Brewers' last seven postseason runs, but the two teams' vastly different payrolls has made them the poster children of MLB's upcoming labor negotiations. The Brewers, who have produced an extended competitive window despite playing in the smallest market in baseball, are, to some extent, disproving that a massive payroll is required to be a perennial playoff contender. Meanwhile, the Dodgers' recent success is consistently cited as one of the leading reasons that MLB needs to implement a salary cap.

Pair that added weight with the fact that the Brewers swept the Dodgers in the regular season last year before being swept by Los Angeles in the postseason, and a Memorial Day weekend matchup between these two National League powerhouses became must-watch TV. Every matchup of that caliber requires its set of villains -- players who the opposing fanbase especially roots against because of the way they carry themselves on the field or past instances that have made them unpopular.

While Machado is no longer on the Dodgers, and hasn't been for quite some time, there's a new player on Los Angeles who fans around the league are starting to assign the "villain" status to, and during his matchup with the Brew Crew, the microscope that's been placed on him was in full effect.

Dalton Rushing's early-season antics have the Dodgers' catcher under a microscope that he can't escape

25-year-old catcher Dalton Rushing is off to a strong start in his second season in the major leagues. Through his first 91 games of the 2026 season, Rushing is slashing .263/.352/.550 with seven homers and 17 RBI. His 153 OPS+ suggests that he's far better than a league-average hitter, a conclusion that is backed up by strong underlying metrics like an expected slugging percentage that is more than 100 points higher than his 2025 mark.

However, despite tearing the cover off the ball at the plate and establishing himself as one of the most intriguing young catchers in the game, Rushing is making headlines not for his impressive early-season numbers, but rather for a controversial string of antics that have led to him gaining "villain" status throughout the game. From calling out the Colorado Rockies (of all teams) for cheating when he witnessed what he thought were "fishy" swing decisions, to not showing concern for San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee after a collision at the plate, to being caught calling a Chicago Cubs' catcher a profane nickname, Rushing has demonstrated a pattern of unsavory behavior.

As a result, he's now been put under a seemingly inescapable microscope. Fans, broadcasters, and opposing teams are now looking out for Rushing's next slip-up, no matter how small. In yesterday's series finale against the Brewers, one such instance occurred.

Rushing's first at-bat yesterday came with no outs in the second inning and a runner on first base. He worked a 2-0 count against Brewers' starter Brandon Sproat, before the right-hander painted a four-seam fastball on the high-inside corner for the third pitch of the at-bat. The pitch was initially called a ball, but William Contreras challenged the call and it was changed to a strike. However, in between cameras caught Rushing telling Contreras certainly that the pitch was a ball. The popular baseball media company "Jomboy" captured the clip and posted it to social media.

It's by no means an outlandish action. In fact, it's probably an interaction that happens, to some degree, every time a catcher challenges a pitch. However, Rushing's history has the baseball world searching hard to find any instance of him fitting the reputation that he's built through the first two months of the season. The certainty on his face when he told 2x All-Star William Contreras that the pitch "was a ball" could definitely be construed as arrogance, but if it were any other player, it's likely the clip never would have surfaced.

That said, given everything that has gone on with Rushing in the early parts of the 2026 season, it was definitely satisfying to see nearly the entire baseball in the strikezone after he was certain the pitch was a ball.

Here's the good news for the Dodgers' young catcher: "villain status" is validation that he's becoming an established major leaguer. Fans tend not to care about the "villains" who aren't any good, but what's so frustrating about a player like Machado is that he's not only often disrespecting your team off the field, but he's playing a big role in beating them on the field as well. Rushing's "popularity," while it certainly has created a microscope that he won't soon be able to escape, is proof that opponents are noticing his strong start to the season.

With the Brewers and Dodgers likely to continue playing important games against each other for the foreseeable future, maybe Rushing will fill the "villain void" that Machado left in Los Angeles after 2018.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow