LOS ANGELES _ Joe Maddon admitted Saturday that he made a mental mistake by scheduling the Cubs' annual onesie trip for Sunday.
Maddon thought the game was going to be played at night instead of Sunday afternoon, thinking the Cubs and Dodgers would be picked up by ESPN.
"A horrible assumption on my part," he said, adding it was "going to be a warm onesie departure."
Some like it hot, but not this hot.
As Jake Arrieta and David Ross dressed up in matching Mr. Peanut onesies after a 1-0 loss to the Dodgers, Arrieta remarked it was like "wearing a diaper."
The Cubs decided not to go onto the field for the group shot, as they did last year in a memorable photo after Arrieta's no-hitter against the Dodgers. Instead they decided to take the photo at the team charter, miles away from the Chicago media, which was busy being hassled by Dodgers security.
A Cubs employee was granted exclusive onesies access, a sentence I never thought I'd have to write.
After a tough loss that stemmed from a physical mistake by Trevor Cahill and a mental one by Javier Baez, the Cubs probably could've gone without dressing up.
But Ross said no one would dwell on the loss, and the onesies were still good for a laugh or two.
"There are worse spots to be in, 14 games up and almost September," Ross said. "I thought we played good baseball today. We pitched extremely well. Just a couple mistakes that we'll learn from, which is good. That's all you can really ask for.
"Maybe a couple (things). Got to get a guy in from third the last two days, (which) maybe cost us a 'W' here or there. That's baseball."
The Dodgers won two straight one-run games after the Cubs rallied to win the opener. Jon Lester was on the mark with six shutout innings, but the Cubs failed to come up with a clutch hit in the fifth and sixth innings, and the Dodgers' eighth inning rally came without a hit. A hit batter, a wild throw by Cahill on a bunt and a bases-loaded, two-out, fielder's choice grounder to Baez that resulted in a late throw to second brought in the only run.
Baez said he "completely forgot" slow-footed Adrian Gonzalez was running down the line, and blamed a communication breakdown with second baseman Ben Zobrist.
Falling on a grenade for his young teammate, Zobrist tried to shift the blame to himself, unsuccessfully.
So the Cubs ended the trip with a 5-4 record, returning home with the 14-game lead and two more contenders on tap in the Pirates and Giants.
If the division race were in doubt, the losses on Saturday and Sunday would've been fodder for non-stop kvetching by Cubs fans. But when you're running away with the division there's no reason to reach for the antacids, at least until October.
"One of those days, man," Maddon said. "Both sides pitched really well. We made the mistake. We blinked, and they win."
Near the end of his interview, Maddon invited the media to chronicle the onesie night merriment, saying "Don't miss that."
Tweeting photos of the Cubs in silly get-ups is a staple of Chicago sports journalism, dating back to the halcyon days of manager Dale Sveum. It was Sveum who once had a superheroes theme trip in which Reed Johnson and Jeff Baker dressed up as Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, walking around with cell phones glued to their ears.
This onesies trip was much-anticipated because the players were so into it last year, especially Arrieta, who attended his press conference in his onesie. Before Sunday's game, even Aroldis Chapman smiled as he tried on his blue onesie, which was big enough to use as a circus tent.
Perhaps because of the tough loss, some of the Cubs didn't seem quite as thrilled to look goofy, and Maddon's invitation to the media was quickly rescinded by Dodgers security guards, who booted reporters and an ABC cameraman from an area outside the clubhouse.
Deprived of our money shot, we retreated to safe ground, bowed, but unbroken.
Wait till next year.
