Milwaukee Brewers v Colorado Rockies

Milwaukee Brewers v Colorado Rockies | Matthew Stockman/GettyImages

When the “torpedo” bats caught the attention of fans, social media went wild. And everyone started immediately pointing fingers at the New York Yankees for “cheating” because they belted nine home runs in a single game and scored 36 runs over a three-game span.

But all the Yankees haters will be sad to hear that these bats were introduced last season, and they’re perfectly legal. Yes, the Yankees spearheaded the development of them, but they are hardly the only team using them. The “controversy” gained steam because the Yankees were the ones who saw immediate success. That’s just how it goes.

Truth be told, the Yankees’ offensive barrage lies somewhere in between “the torpedo bats definitely helped” and “the Brewers pitching is as bad as it gets right now.”

Again, for everybody commenting on this at home with absolutely no knowledge of what’s going on, the Brew Crew were down eight of their top 13 pitchers heading into Opening Day. On top of that, they failed to execute, leaving far too many pitches over the plate. The Yankees capitalized. It’s as simple as that.

And if you ask Brewers manager Pat Murphy, he wasted no time blaming his team’s shortcomings while giving credit to the Yankees for taking advantage of Milwaukee’s mistakes. He also completely dismissed the torpedo bats playing a significant role.

“My old ass will tell you this for sure: It ain’t the wand, it’s the magician,” Murphy told reporters, via Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy silences Yankees haters with response to torpedo bats

If you paid attention during spring training, too, the Yankees’ bats seemed to be ahead of the pack. They had countless players mashing early and often, and those who weren’t ended up catching fire toward the end to prop up their numbers nicely.

Was it 36-run worthy against the defending NL Central champs? Not quite. But it was certainly indicative of a sweep against a team suffering tremendously with early-season injury woes. The Yankees might not have Juan Soto anymore, but they have three MVP-caliber players and six guys in total capable of hitting 20 or more home runs in a single season.

Murphy just won NL Manager of the Year. He could’ve used his influence to further decry the Yankees’ usage of the torpedo bats, just like his own closer Trevor Megill did when he assumed MLB was turning a blind eye to it because “it’s the Yankees.”

Instead, Murphy took ownership for his team’s poor performance, which further snowballed into Monday’s 11-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals. How many of those guys are using torpedo bats? Somebody get on the case, quick.