The Yankees crossed a hotel picket line in Boston before the ALDS

The Yankees arrived in Boston on Thursday in advance of their ALDS matchup against the Red Sox, starting Friday. As teams do, they checked into their hotel as usual to get comfortable before the series. But in this instance, there was also something unusual, as the Yankees crossed a picket line when arriving for their stay at the Boston Ritz-Carlton.

A two-day strike is underway in Boston after months of negotiations failed to get hotel workers at seven Marriott properties in the city stable hours, job stability, protections against the rise of automation, and updated sexual harassment protocols. According to Boston Magazine, hundreds of employees from Aloft Boston Seaport District, the Element Boston Seaport District, the Ritz-Carlton Boston, the Sheraton Boston, the W Hotel Boston, the Westin Boston Waterfront, and the Westin Copley Place are participating in the strike.

A list of “socially responsible union hotels” shows over a dozen properties that are not currently part of the strike and negotiations in Boston.

You can see a video of the players entering the hotel below courtesy of a Boston Magazine reporter. The Yankees did not experience any resistance entering the hotel, other than having to walk through loud and insistent protesters outside the front of the building.

Unite Here Local 26, the union leading the strike and representing the employees, also represents Fenway Park workers. union President Brian Lang told Boston,

“We understand that there’s a very intense rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, but quite frankly we’re a little outraged they would take it out on working class people who are out here sacrificing to improve their livelihoods. This is a slap in the face to all Bostonians.”

“We believe just like David Ortiz said, ‘This is our city. We’re proud of it, and who are they to be coming in and spitting on a message that we’re trying to bring through for all the people of Boston?”

It seems unlikely the Yankees purposely planned to cross this picket line at all, especially as some sort of volley in their ongoing rivalry. Teams have their usual hotels in each city they travel to, and the Ritz-Carlton happens to be the Yankees’ normal lodgings near Fenway Park in Boston. A team’s traveling party is large, making it difficult to change plans even with a few days notice as we’ve seen in the past with sudden weather or travel complications.

But even if an accident, it’s not a great look for the team. Baseball players are unionized workers themselves, and unionized workers who are experiencing potential wage suppression by owners when it comes to their own contracts.

In a statement to SB Nation the MLB Players Association said of the situation,

From what we understand, these workers have been trying to negotiate a fair contract for more than six months. They deserve to be heard and deserve our support.

The Yankees did not respond to a request for comment.