Rays pitcher Zach Eflin forced to take off wedding ring after umpires threaten to eject him

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MLB umpires have been cracking down on anything that could affect the spin rates of baseballs, apparently including wedding rings.

Tampa Bay Rays starter Zach Eflin said he was forced to take his ring off in the top of the second inning Thursday. Otherwise, he would have been ejected.

Eflin and umpire Adrian Johnson spoke on the mound, along with manager Kevin Cash and catcher Christian Bethancourt, which apparently was an unusual circumstance.

Eflin said umpires normally don't give him much of an issue.

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Zach Eflin of the Tampa Bay Rays throws a pitch during the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Tropicana Field May 4, 2023, in St Petersburg, Fla.  (Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

"It was the first crew that was really giving me trouble about taking the ring off," Eflin said after the game. "I've told every umpire that's asked me to take it off, I've said ‘Hey, I respect what you guys do, but I’m gonna keep it on. It's very important to me.' Most umpires are cool with it, and they'll kind of let MLB take care of it if they need to. 

"But this umpire crew was a little different. They seemed a little on edge, but it's part of it. I said, 'If you’re gonna eject me out of the game, then I'll take it off.' And that's what they ended up coming out and telling me on the mound was that they were gonna toss me out of the game if I didn't take off my rubber ring. So I took it off."

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Zach Eflin throws a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning at Tropicana Field.  (Nathan Ray Seebeck/USA Today Sports)

The umpires are just doing