Nationals Wanted To Check Bryce Harper's Hair For Substances

Even though we'd much rather these substance checks in baseball weren't happening, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer made it fun for a day. Scherzer decided to call out Bryce Harper on the field and ask the umpire to check his hair.

And no, he wasn't serious about it. At least that's our takeaway since he couldn't hold off a smirk:

This whole thing is a joke

Yesterday, the Athletic's Brittany Ghiroli asked commissioner Rob Manfred how he felt these checks were going, and his response was embarrassing.

"My view is the first two days have gone very well. We’ve had no ejections, players in general have been extremely cooperative, the inspections have taken place quickly and between innings. Frankly, the data suggests that we are making progress with respect to the issues (in spin rate) that caused us to undertake the effort in the first place. I understand the incident in Philadelphia was less than ideal, but that was one incident. And we expect that we will continue, as the vast majority of cases so far, without that kind of incident."

Rob, you have guys pulling down their pants in disgust and fellow pitchers calling each other out in jest. Do you actually believe what you're saying, or are you intentionally being the villain so owners can use you as a human shield? It's probably the latter, to be honest.

These checks are objectively bad for the sport, and unfortunately for baseball fans, they aren't going away anytime soon. We have to admit, though, that Scherzer's joke was hilarious. Harper cares about baseball, sure, but he also cares a whole lot about his luscious head of hair. He has all kinds of product in there, and Scherzer decided to poke fun at it. Good for him.

Baseball is in a brutal spot right, so thank you, Max Scherzer, for giving us a laugh. We needed this.