The Chicago Cubs haven’t had an easy go of it this season after winning the World Series last year. However, Joe Maddon and Co. have clawed their way atop the NL Central and are now 1.5 games ahead of the the Milwaukee Brewers.
Though, a controversial call Wednesday night almost cost them a win. And those aren’t exactly coming in droves for Chicago these days.
Ben Zobrist, with two men on in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tied game — a game in which Chicago gave up its five-run lead — was hit in the shin by a pitch. He went to first base after being pelted, only to have first-base umpire Chris Conroy send him back home after ruling he had been trying to bunt when the pitch hit him.
Maddon wasted no time rushing out onto the field to vehemently argue against the ruling. In the midst of his tirade, he laid his hands on two umpires and was swiftly ejected.
Then on Thursday, Maddon had plenty to say about what he viewed as an “asinine” move by Conroy — the cherry on top of what he’s viewed as a string of bad calls lately.
“We’ve had different things happen [with adverse calls recently], and I’ve been playing really good in the sandbox, really good,” Maddon said, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. “But that call cannot be made under those circumstances.
“There’s no way any hitter under those circumstances, with the ball coming at his thigh, is going to bunt through it and then get hit in the thigh. That’s asinine. That almost cost us the game. … All this minutiae need to be looked at as we move this thing along because that impacted the game. That’s bases loaded, nobody out. The world rotates differently at that point.”
In the end, Zobrist did move the two base runners on a bunt back to the pitcher. And the Cubs did win this game, 7-6.
But it’s certainly easy to understand why Maddon is so frustrated. Chicago wasn’t so lucky on Saturday, when another bad call cost it a chance to tie a game in Arizona.
This has been a trying season for Maddon and the Cubs. They’ve yet to live up to the high expectations laid upon them by the national media, and by themselves. So when things outside of their control don’t go their way, it’s understandable that some amount of frustration is going to boil over.
And in this case, it’s not hard to side with Maddon, who’s had it up to here (points to forehead) with MLB umpires making bad calls.