Brewers Pitcher Rips MLB Over New Bats, 'It's The Yankees So They'll Let It Slide'

To hear Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Trevor Megill tell it, Major League Baseball shows preferential treatment to the New York Yankees.

"It's the Yankees, so they'll let it slide," Megill said of the Yankees' new-look bats following New York's 20-9 victory over the Brewers on Saturday, per Dan Martin of the New York Post. The bats were a focal point of conversation, as they resembled bowling pins with some of the wood moved toward the label.

Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay explained during the broadcast that the team made new bats "where they moved a lot of the wood into the label so the harder part of the bat is going to strike the ball" after studying Anthony Volpe's at-bats.

The bats drew far more attention given New York's offensive outburst in Saturday's contest.

All the Bronx Bombers did was launch nine home runs, three of which came from Aaron Judge. Volpe also hit a three-run homer in the second inning to push the home team's lead to 7-3. It was his second home run in the first two games of the season after he hit 12 all of last year.

It didn't take long for MLB to answer concerns about a potential competitive advantage, as a spokesperson told The Athletic's Chris Kirschner "the shape of the bat does not violate the rules."

According to the 2025 MLB rulebook, "The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood."

Notably, it does not specify a particular barrel placement.

The unusual appearance of the bats and the small-sample size nature of the start of the season brought more attention to the issue, but the Yankees are also a national brand that are always going to draw more headlines.

The same cannot be said about Milwaukee, and perhaps Megill's comments underscore some of the tensions that exist within the sport when it comes to comparing large-market and small-market teams. But MLB made it clear the Yankees didn't violate any rules with the bats, so there would be no punishment.

Yet Megill thinks the Yankees' status helped them avoid further scrutiny.