Media Beef: Jeff Passan Apologizes After Trading Tweets With FOX Sports' Ben Verlander
Things got heated early in the MLB Divisional Round on Tuesday as ESPN's Jeff Passan and FOX Sports' Ben Verlander got into a brief, but tempestuous Twitter beef. Things started when Passan was tweeting about Justin Verlander, the older brother of the MLB podcaster, who was on the mound during the Mariners-Astros game.
Passan took the opportunity to make a joke about Ben's well-known affinity for Shohei Ohtani. Verlander responded by saying "Jeffey" should grab a step stool and say it to his face. He attached a screenshot saying Passan is 5-foot-9.
hold on a minute i’m here for the side fight pic.twitter.com/o1bLgBOjx9
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) October 11, 2022
Passan, who is known to sometimes get frisky on Twitter and off, responded by saying "When you're talking about Shohei you're usually on your knees, though, right?" Verlander came back with, "When you're asking me for help getting a Justin interview you usually are too, huh??"
When you’re asking me for help getting a Justin interview you usually are too, huh??
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) October 11, 2022
After a couple hours Passan deleted the more incendiary of the tweets and apologized.
Earlier, a tweet directed at @BenVerlander crossed the line and was hurtful to many. I deleted the tweet and sincerely apologize. Though Ben and I have known one another for a while and often joke on Twitter, it’s no excuse for my mistake. I will be better and learn from it.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 11, 2022
Meanwhile, Verlander has not deleted anything or responded to Passan's apology.
Tweets this*
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) October 11, 2022
Opens Twitter again* pic.twitter.com/2bMx4Lo1xV
Perhaps everyone is just going to move on with their lives and enjoy the baseball.