CHICAGO _ It's become evident the Chicago Cubs are all chirp and no bite.
If there was any question of that, Cincinnati Reds ace Trevor Bauer answered it Wednesday night after dominating the Cubs in a 3-0 win at Wrigley Field.
"It's kind of funny, I've got to give them props," Bauer said afterwards. "They actually chirped all night and yelled at me all night. Normally when they get behind, they shut up real quick.
"I mean, even when I got taken out, they're yelling 'bye' at me. I gave them a nice little wave and some other stuff because it was impressive that you can chirp at someone after he shoved it up your (rear) for 7 2/3 innings. So props to them on that."
The Cubs have one more shot at the Reds Thursday night, so you would think they'd have a response ready to Bauer's trash-talking.
But who knows?
This is one of those weird Cubs seasons that makes no sense.
They could be a modern day version of the Hitless Wonders, the 1906 White Sox team that beat the Cubs in the World Series after finishing last in the American League with a .230 average. With 16 games left, the 2020 Cubs enter Thursday's game with a .226 average, ranked 27th in the majors.
But they also could finish first and be out of the playoffs in the blink of an eye. As former Cub Bill Buckner once said: "There's nothing wrong with this team that more pitching, more fielding and more hitting couldn't help."
The Cubs are clinging to a small, 2 { game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central, and eight of their final 16 games are against three American League Central contenders _ including a season-ending, three-game series against the White Sox on the South Side.
Despite their standing in the NL Central, there's little confidence in this Cubs team outside the clubhouse, especially after games like Wednesday, when Bauer beat them on the field and then dissed them on Zoom.
The Cubs' strategy of combating empty ballparks was to "create your own energy," a laudable idea that worked well during their 13-3 start. But now that it's been established the Cubs can't hit a lick, the talkative dugout demeanor can backfire.
Bauer throwing shade is nothing new. He's the poster child for baseball's Twitter trolls and has a long-running feud with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred over various grievances, tweeting things his peers would like to say but don't.
Image is still important to some players, but Bauer just doesn't care. Being the proverbial wise guy at the corner of the bar is his self-made image _ and he doesn't veer from script too often. Maybe that's why MLB's Twitter account sent out a tweet Monday asking fans for their Cy Young pick between Yu Darvish, Max Fried, Jacob deGrom and Zac Gallen.
Where was Bauer?
The Reds pitcher responded with a snarky Twitter reply containing two "Hmm" emojis, then went out and outperformed Darvish in an old-school pitching duel.
Bauer said afterwards he didn't know what he was doing when he shimmied off the mound after the seventh inning, though from the Wrigley press box it looked suspiciously like a toned down version of Conor McGregor's "Billionaire strut."
Whatever it was, bravo to Bauer.
He walked the billionaire walk, then talked the talk, while leaving the Cubs with a .207 batting average at Wrigley _ their lowest in franchise history. Bauer may yet steal the Cy Young from Darvish, deGrom or Fried, much to MLB's and the Cubs' chagrin.
"I don't know him personally," Rizzo said. "But I do know when he goes out there and pitches he's a competitor."
Darvish called Bauer the "best pitcher on the planet," which ignores the fact the American League is also part of the planet and includes Cleveland Indians ace Shane Bieber.
As for the Cubs, it's hard to compete when your batting average is just over the Mendoza line in one of the game's best hitting ballparks. It's also hard to chirp when your best hitters _ Rizzo, Javier Baez, Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant _ are being shut down on a daily basis. But the Cubs can't help themselves.
They've branded themselves as the "loud and obnoxious" team of this pandemic-shortened season, and it's too late to change now.
The chirping began in the second game of the season against the Milwaukee Brewers, creating a mini-brouhaha on the field and leading MLB to direct the Cubs to turn up the fake noise at Wrigley Field to drown out the back-and-forth.
The Cubs complied. And now it's so loud inside the near empty park that the pigeons don't even hang around on the roof during games. The team said they would make adjustments during the season, but haven't done so.
Coincidentally, the louder the fake crowd noise, the lower the Cubs' batting average drops at home. And adding insult to injury, the person in charge of the fake crowd noise played a cheering sound effect Monday when Rizzo hit into an early double that scored a run, but stifled a potential big inning. Rizzo was so upset by that at-bat, he hit his helmet so hard on something in the dugout that we heard it up in the press box.
When the fake crowd doesn't know when to cheer, it's a bad omen.
