Umpires oddly made Rays pitcher Zach Eflin remove his wedding ring and fans were so confused

As we’ve seen in recent years, Major League Baseball is cracking down on pitchers using sticky substances. The umpiring crews routinely check pitchers during the game, and everyone knows what to expect at this point.

But Thursday’s game had to be a strange conversation for Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Zach Eflin. He was told to remove his wedding ring for some reason.

Eflin was dominant in his first seven innings against the Pirates. And ahead of the second inning, umpire Adrian Johnson had a discussion with Eflin and had him remove a rubber wedding ring from his left hand before he could continue pitching.

Umps made Zach Eflin take off his wedding ring pic.twitter.com/BGVmDMzgdF

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 4, 2023

Now, a wedding ring — particularly a rubber or silicone one — isn’t going to impact a right-handed pitcher’s performance. The ring was on Eflin’s glove hand, and it wasn’t like he was removing his glove between pitches.

Eflin complied with Johnson’s request without much of an argument at all. But fans were justifiably confused about why the umpires wanted a ring removed from the pitcher’s glove hand.