ESPN news: Greatest Oli Marmol ejected again

Throughout his managing career, Oli Marmol has been ejected eleven times. Let’s order his finest work.

It goes without saying that I adore baseball. Playing the game, watching the game, or writing about the game has taken up a significant amount of my time for almost my entire life.

But my wife is not as fixated on this as I am. She even likened watching baseball to watching golf recently. Hurt. (I apologize to all of you golf fans out there, though I will admit that I am occasionally one of them.)

Usually, I can get her to sit with me while I watch the game, but it’s difficult to persuade her to actually watch the game.

Until anything “interesting” occurs, anyway

And “interesting” to her usually involves benches clearing, someone yelling, someone becoming furious about something, or something similar, and Oli Marmol’s ejections typically fit most or all of those criteria. Due to Marmol’s two furious ejections, she has found baseball to be more fascinating this month than normal.

That made me pause and reflect. Oli has been expelled numerous times, but which one is his best? Furthermore, I’m not gauging this based on outcomes, game context, or anything else that matters. I’m searching for the theatrical instead. the dramatic. The flushed-faced, finger-pointing, outfield-first throws, and line-drawing in the batter’s box antics.

As fans, isn’t that truly all we want? Being fired is one thing, but the manner in which a manager is fired is crucial. It makes sense to go out in style if you’re going to do it.

I therefore intend to accomplish it today. I want to examine the game’s pure feeling instead of sticking to my typical statistical analysis in this piece.

To put things in perspective, Marmol has been dismissed 11 times in his career: twice in 2024, twice in 2022, and six times in 2023.

I’m going to offer you a tier list with all of his ejections today, but I also want to hear about yours, so please leave your rankings in the comments section following the story.

Oli’s initial performance truly raised the standard. This ejection had everything, really. Extracurricular activities receive a lot of bonus points from me, and Marmol excelled in them this time. This stands out as the then-rookie manager’s best expulsion of his career because of the drawing lines in the other batter’s box. The truly disheartening thing is that Marmol accomplished so much in his first dismissal and still hasn’t surpassed his own achievements.

Although he set a high standard, I believe he has what it takes to surpass it. Maybe we’ll get something even better this season.

Even while the video above explains why I have this in the S-Tier, it still doesn’t really convey the gravity of this ejection. Marmol’s drawing lines around the plate and making high-low gestures, akin to the first expulsion in this category, truly puts it over the top in my opinion.

I also think it’s great that he’s standing up for Arenado in this situation. In fact, following the game, Marmol declared that he would follow his guy wherever he went, and he did just that.

Here we have another masterclass from Oli.

Really, can I get three ejections in the S-Tier? I can, of course, because Oli is so excellent.

Both the “don’t ___ look in here” sign and Marmol’s enthusiasm when he emerged from the dugout were excellent. I should also mention that during this ejection, I was very certain that Marmol was really irritated. The dude was, like, really angry. He made me believe it. I was taken aback by his post-game press conference when he said that the umpiring staff is excellent and that he was only attempting to energize the players.

While I’m sure Marmol was genuinely unhappy at the time, it’s really impressive how well he was able to control his emotions in order to motivate the squad. For me, this is definitely an A-Tier expulsion.

Here, I also feel compelled to criticize Daniel Descalso. I had higher expectations. Most likely, your ejection resembled a D-Tier. Although I appreciate being evicted, I know it was probably difficult to speak over Marmol. However, I am hoping for bigger things in the future.

Yes, the ejection of C.B. Bucknor. Though this may be the ejection that many Cardinals fans remember the most clearly, I don’t have this anywhere near the S-Tier. That’s partly because of Oli’s excellent performance on the field, but it’s also because of the way he attacked Bucknor during the post-game news conference.

Although this ejection was equally as stunning as the last one, it didn’t reach the highest tier since it didn’t exhibit the same level of demonstrativeness as the manager of the Cardinals did in the S-Tier.

The skipper put in yet another excellent performance, beginning with his graceful leap over the railing. That right there is the height of manager athleticism.

I also give the dugout argument credit because he is an absolute expert in that particular area.

Overall, good ejection.

Oli has set a high standard, so while this wasn’t his best work, it wasn’t bad either. He definitely got his money’s worth, and this was still good, but nothing particularly outstanding.

For me, this is definitely in the B-Tier.

The Cardinals manager definitely got his money’s worth since he got into a heated argument with the home plate umpire until he left, and he then carried on with the other umpire who arrived to offer assistance. Marmol was hot, and in my opinion, the intensity of the dispute, the duration of it, and the hand motions elevated it from the C-Tier to the B-Tier.

Oli will accompany his guy if he decides to leave, to reiterate. Oli was less prepared to be ousted this time, though, and his effort was a touch more subdued.

But I’ll give him credit—after the unannounced ejection, he really stepped it up. Although this is undoubtedly a mid-tier ejection, the entire performance wasn’t bad.

Now, this would definitely fall into the S-Tier if we were discussing Willson Contreras. He gave a purely theatrical performance there.

It’s difficult to rank this one. Although the ejection was somewhat mild, Oli finds it difficult to become overly agitated over them. He has good reason to be angry that the Cardinals were the only ones punished, but this is how things usually work out in these kinds of circumstances.

However, the evacuation undoubtedly increased the level of turmoil. The Cardinals lost Willson Contreras, Miles Mikolas, and Oli Marmol in the span of two pitches. As we’ve previously seen, Marmol is most likely getting tossed as well if a player is.

Marmol seems to be making a fairly modest effort here, although it’s difficult to tell from the video. Although the circumstance wasn’t very exceptional, it was strange overall and could have been worse, so I’m placing it in the C-Tier.

Because this ejection was Marmol’s second attempt at an S-Tier, it is all the more disappointing. Taking everything into account, this wasn’t a bad attempt, although it was really mild. I can’t rank it higher, but it is above the F-Tier.

Come on, please. Overall, this is just a shoddy effort. Oli was the first to use the stairs rather than the railing to enter the field. However, his effort was quite mild even after he entered the field.

While it’s true that this was a more civil ejection, which is sometimes justified, this gets a D for entertainment value.

Last Words

Who doesn’t enjoy a well-executed manager ejection? Since almost half of Marmol’s 11 ejections fall into the S- or A-Tier, it is safe to say that he is quite skilled at the dramatic side of ejections. Not all efforts will be as successful, but that is to be expected.

The manager of the St. Louis Cardinals has really raised the bar in terms of the caliber and quantity of his ejections, which at the very least adds intrigue to the games and provides me with material for a whole article—a win in my book.

Please let me know whether I made the list correctly or how you would rank Oli’s 11 ejections.