After three teams -- the Brewers, Mariners and Dodgers -- voted not to play on Wednesday in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday in Kenosha, Wis., MLB postponed a trio of games that night: Brewers-Reds, Mariners-Padres and Dodgers-Giants.

In speaking to reporters after the Royals' 6-5 loss to the Cardinals on Wednesday, Kansas City player representative Whit Merrifield explained why he and his teammates decided to play.

“I haven’t spoken to every single guy on the team, but we feel what we do is a separation from what’s going on in the world for a lot of people,” Merrifield said. “We feel we have to go out and do our job and give people a three-hour window to enjoy a baseball game and to not think about what’s going on in the world.

“Other teams, other players might feel different. They might want to make that statement.”

Merrifield chose his words carefully as he tried to put in perspective how civil unrest over social injustice has gripped the nation.

“My opinion is obviously we have a whole lot of stuff going on in the world that needs to be addressed," Merrifield said. "I don’t necessarily agree with the way it is addressed a lot of times. I don’t know what it’s like to be a Black man walking down the street. I also don’t know what it’s like to be a cop trying to protect the streets.

"What I do know is that there is evil in this world and there is good in this world. What I also know is that love brings on love and hate brings on hate. Unfortunately we have more hate that it going on."

Blake, a 29-year-old Black man was shot seven times by a police officer and is paralyzed from the waist down. The shooting took place in Kenosha, which is 40 miles south of Milwaukee. Wednesday's athlete activism was sparked by the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, who refused to take the floor for Game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic. That led to the Brewers and four other NBA teams voting not to play, as well as the Mariners and Dodgers. The NBA and WNBA ended up postponing its entire slate of Wednesday games, and MLS postponed five of its six matches.

Athletes taking a stand for social justice prompted a wave of fierce discussion on social media, and Merrifield touched on those forums in his postgame remarks.

“You get on [social media] and rant and there’s just not enough love going on," Merrifield said. "That’s been my message to the guys. I’ve talked to Terry Bradshaw and Damon Hollins, two Black guys on our team, coaches, that you guys can talk to me about anything. But I’m going to go out and try to love everybody. Not everyone is going to love you back. As a Christian, that’s the No. 1 rule I have. I feel like we don’t have enough about that going around. I don’t feel like the way we’re approaching things is the way to get things changed.”