Was It Lame For Cardinals Fans To Give Opponent Paul Skenes A Standing Ovation?

Paul Skenes is so dominant that even the opposing fans are cheering for him.

"Look at this, Greg - we've got Cardinals fans giving a standing ovation… incredible!" Pirates TV color analyst told play-by-play lead Greg Brown and the viewing audience. 

Skenes would leave the game with one out in the seventh after giving up no runs on five hits with eight strikeouts. The Pirates would win in the end 2-1, with the 22-year-old throwing a career high 103 pitches. Pittsburgh is now 5-1 when Skenes - who is also Olivia Dunne's boyfriend, is the starting pitcher.

SHOULD CARDINALS FANS HAVE CHEERED AN OPPONENT?

Although the vast majority of baseball Twitter applauded the St. Louis baseball faithful for, well, applauding Skenes performance, personally I'm kind of torn. On one hand, as any Cardinals fan will remind you to the point of nausea - they are considered "the best fans in baseball." For them to recognize a potential future great after just a handful of games should be commended.

On the other hand, however, this is competitive sports we're talking about. 

It's not like Skenes struck out 20 or pitched a heroic perfect game - he struck out just eight. The fact that the game remained scoreless between both teams when he was pulled in the sevnth inning is all the reason why one shouldn't be thanking the opposing team - especially when they are a division rival that only has a half game lead above them in the NL Central. The last thing a fanbase should want to do is give any sort of future momentum to an opponent that could make or break one's playoff chances down the line. 

In Skenes' head, he 100% knows he owns the Cardinasl now, thanks to their own fanbase. I can't imagine the Cardinals players felt great about the massive applause ringing out for Skenes departure - after all, being ‘nice' can only get one so far in life before being taken advantage of.

Then again, maybe St. Louis is just trying to get on the good side of Olivia Dunne.

Now that, I can totally get behind!