Last year, Joe Maddon said he never read the book the Cardinals wrote on baseball that involved throwing at hitters. Looks like he never read the book the Pirates wrote about getting even, either.
But it seems like Maddon will be able to catch up on his reading as the Cubs build a big lead on the Cardinals and Pirates. Heck, on the majors altogether.
The Cubs came home from a road trip with the best record in baseball and promptly added to it against the team with the second-best record in the majors, and the Cubs did it with their fifth starter, by the way.
You know what's coming as a result of the Cubs' partying like it's 1908, don't you?
A chunk of hate among opponents. If not hate, then at least dislike. That's the way I see it because that's what winning does in many instances.
If you're going to be disliked, there's no better reason. It's part of embracing the target, and Maddon and the Cubs must know it, expect it, and seem equipped to handle it. It wouldn't surprise me if the Cubs prohibited pictures of their new post-victory dance room in the renovated Wrigley Field to minimize any taunting optics.
One thing that bugs ballplayers is hearing about a much-hyped team that has never won anything. One thing that bugs ballplayers more is seeing that hype turn real.
It doesn't get much more real than a plus-96 run differential after 27 games that was the second-best in baseball history since 1900 and doing it without Kyle Schwarber and without much from the $184 million Jason Heyward.
It doesn't get much more real than the majors' best ERA, opponents batting average and WHIP heading into the weekend.
You can see how opponents would come to dislike the Cubs. I mean, who likes getting beaten and beaten up? While it might not cover the entire league, the feeling certainly is noticeable in the division.
Cubs fans already hated the Cardinals because they're the Cardinals, but also because the Cardinals won. Cubs fans didn't hate the Pirates because the Pirates were a cute labradoodle that you wanted to pet as it sat in second place.
As for the players, which is what matters, the Cubs beat the Cardinals in the playoffs last year, and then it was the Cardinals' turn to hate, or at least stew.
The Cardinals heard about the Cubs all winter, especially after the Cubs signed Heyward for less than the Cardinals were offering, and don't forget the Cubs' swiping Cardinals Game 1 playoff starter John Lackey. You knew there would be grumbling.
"The Cubs can have all of that hype," Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams told USA Today in spring training. "They can get all of that spotlight. Now, let's see if they can back it up."
It's early, but yeah, the Cubs seem to have figured out that backing-it-up part. Thanks for your concern, Matt.
Before the Pirates lost the wild-card playoff game to the Cubs, which was punctuated by the benches' clearing, there seemed to be a pile of hate from Chris Coghlan's injuring second baseman Jung Ho Kang on a takeout slide in September. Then this week the Cubs swept the Pirates in Pittsburgh, which was punctuated by the idiocy of hitting batsmen.
You get the Pirates' frustration. They didn't even get the chance to be hated for winning. Now they seem to be the ones doing the hating. The Cubs stepped over them. The Pirates are the Fredo Corleone of the NL Central.
Maybe everyone is. The Cubs seem to be taking care of all the family business these days.
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