Tampa Bay Rays superstar Junior Caminero is making baseball fun again, but Colin Cowherd is the fun police.
Caminero had his moment Monday night, hitting a monster seventh-inning home run off Cleveland Guardians closer Cade Smith that all but punched Tampa’s ticket to the World Series. The towering blast gave the Rays a 5-1 lead, and they won Game 6 of the ALCS 7-3 to advance to their third World Series in franchise history.
Perhaps more notable than the homer, however, is that Caminero took 38 seconds to round the bases. Caminero stopped several times to pose and pound his chest in celebration because, well, it was the biggest hit of his career.
Baseball purists have waved the white flag on a pitch clock; they’ve let the DH into the National League; they’ve even allowed some semblance of celebrating on the field, but Colin Cowherd and others still are not ready to see a player take 38 seconds to trot around the bases.
“I think baseball sometimes needs to lighten up, that is way over the top rounding first… I’m all for flexing, that was obnoxious.” – Colin Cowherd on Junior Caminero’s home run trot https://t.co/H73MRXtpg0
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 20, 2026
“I am for celebrating; I think baseball sometimes needs to lighten up,” Cowherd admitted. “That is way over the top rounding first. Baseball for years was like, ‘There’s a way to play the game,’ and everybody else had a different idea on the way to play the game. But right before he got to home plate, he stopped, I thought, ‘Oh, this is obnoxious.’ Two things can be true: I’m all for flexing; that was obnoxious. It’s his style. He’s a bit over the top, it felt obnoxious to me.”
Rip players for celebrating after hitting a solo home run that made the score 8-2 in an elimination game. Mock teams for wearing goggles and popping champagne every time they clinch something. If this happened in the first inning of a June game, Cowherd would have a point. But when a home run essentially sends your team to the World Series, let the player take 38 seconds to flex.
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