What began as a blown lead quickly spiraled into something far more troubling for a pitcher and his family. As the Dodgers lost one game against the Phillies, reliever Tanner Scott’s family received harrowing death threats. And now a former Dodgers star has come down hard on the trolls.

“I can’t state this enough. Those people who did that to Tanner Scott and his family is an absolute joke,” Jerry Hairston Jr. shared a strong response in a recent Sportsnet live event. “Those are not Dodger fans. Dodger fans care about their players on the field but off the field as well.”

Scott entered the mound in the eighth inning, with the Dodgers leading 3-1, last Saturday. But he gave up three hits and three runs, which allowed the Phillies to win the game 4-3. Following the loss, Tanner’s wife, Maddie Scott, shared some messages she received from claiming to be Dodgers fans. The screenshots showed the alleged diehards wishing for the death of the entire family, including the unborn child. 

One of the threat messages read, “Gunshot your family tonight.” And another was far worse, saying, “Hope it’s a still b i r t h.”

The incident deeply disturbed the family and many Dodgers loyalists. But Hairston was among the first to publicly criticize the wrongdoers. The former third baseman spent 16 seasons in MLB and was part of the Yankees’ World Series Championship in 2009. He concluded his career by playing with the Dodgers for the final two years. Being aware of the LA fan culture, his words add extra depth to the condemnation.

But the weirdest part in this regard is the impact of Tanner Scott’s blown lead. Despite the disappointing pouting, Scott still has a 2.10 ERA, and he is still an important part of the roster. In fact, he signed his 4-year, $72M deal before the 2025 season. He struggled during his first year of the contract. He had a 4.64 ERA with 60 Ks over 61 games in 2025. This year, he has already managed 29 Ks and a 0.70 WHIP while the season isn’t halfway through. 

That’s why many people believe that it was the bettors who got frustrated with the blown lead, since the Dodgers are still comfortably at the top of the NL West. And MLB has already seen several cases of online bullying. 

Threats against MLB players have become a growing concern

Just about a year ago, Liam Hendriks suffered a similar incident. After a rough outing following his recovery from non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and TJ, the then Red Sox reliever received messages that wanted him dead or asked him to commit suicide. 

Instead of just sharing the incident online, Hendriks fired back at the bullies, saying, “You need help.” 

He made it clear that these types of threats were not isolated to him alone. “Enough is enough,” Hendriks added. “With the rise of sports gambling, it’s gotten a lot worse.”

But it seems like nothing has changed so far. Earlier in April, Yankees pitcher Cam Schlitter had the same fate. The ace revealed that he received some “pretty unreal” messages, including death threats to his family. But like Scott, Schlitter didn’t escalate the matter. 

However, Lance McCullers Jr. decided to contact the police after his family went through the same thing a few weeks before Hendriks. And according to a Houston Police Department spokesperson, a frustrated bettor was involved in that case. 

It is unclear if one or multiple bettors were involved in the recent Tanner Scott incident. But the way Hairston Jr. defended the Dodgers fans while criticizing the bullies, he might be indicating towards people who are not as loyal to the Dodgers as they claim to be.