Colt Keith perfectly sums up baseball rivalries with Tigers-Josh Naylor quote

Josh Naylor wasted no time at all reminding Tigers fans how much we dislike him. In the Tigers and Mariners' first meeting since the ALDS, Naylor almost caused a nasty collision with Kevin McGonigle at first base in the opener, then threw his sliding mitt at Dillon Dingler to try to distract him from applying a tag at the plate in the second game of the series.

Keider Montero tagged Naylor with a 96 MPH sinker between the shoulders in the top of the fifth on Saturday, a move that fans certainly thought was intentional. Naylor immediately responded with a questionable slide into second on a Randy Arozarena grounder, but the game proceeded mostly without issue.

Of course, everyone was asked about the hit by pitch after the game. Montero maintained that it wasn't on purpose: "It was an inside pitch and I hit him unintentionally. The pitch ran in a little more than I wanted, but that's part of the game."

Naylor disagreed. "[Framber] Valdez was pointing and laughing at me on the bench, so I knew it was on purpose," he said.

Colt Keith backed up Montero's innocent plea, but he also summed up the Naylor contradiction well. "You like him if you're his teammate, and you hate him if you're the other team. I've seen him do some questionable, borderline dirty baseball stuff, but I think he plays hard," Keith said "He's just trying to get in our heads. I don't think Keider hit him on purpose, but obviously, he brings a little bit more intensity."

Tigers, Josh Naylor disagree on motivations behind hit by pitch incident on Saturday

Naylor has not performed to expectation since re-signing with the Mariners on a five-year, $92.5 million deal after the 2025 season, but Mariners fans certainly do love him for how pesky he can be, how easily he can get under another team's skin.

And none of this is new behavior. Naylor's most infamous moment by far was when, in Game 4 of the 2022 ALDS against the Yankees, he rounded the bases while miming rocking a baby at pitcher Gerrit Cole. Unsurprisingly, Naylor declined to fully own up to that incident either.

If you ask any Tigers fan, they'd probably say that Montero hit Naylor intentionally, and they'd probably tack on that he deserves it.

Whether or not that's true, it's still telling. There's no love lost between Naylor and Detroit.

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