Desperate Cubs Can’t Bring Themselves to Bench Dumb Player

During Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, David Ross pulled Trey Mancini after his comedy act playing first base sparked a Cubs meltdown. It was good to see Ross making it clear that that type of play is not acceptable, especially because it was beginning to become a constant thing with Mancini. Well, apparently accountability doesn’t really apply for everyone on the roster.

Nick Madrigal has been on fire since he was called back up from Triple-A on June 9, against the San Francisco Giants. On Wednesday night, Madrigal recorded his first three-hit game of the season against the Philadelphia Phillies and on Thursday night the right-handed hitter had a chance to get the Cubs closer in the fourth inning, when the Phillies were up 3-1.

After Jared Young struck out with runners at first and third, Madrigal came up to bat with two outs and on the first pitch from Taijuan Walker he bunted. I was so pissed off at the bunt attempt that I didn’t even realize what actually happened. No matter what, it was a dumb decision by Madrigal. It turns out, though, that Madrigal did not know there were 2 outs in the inning.

You’ve been one of the hottest hitters on the entire team and you would just give the other team an out? So dumb. Not knowing how many outs there were? So dumb.

And to make things even worse, in the fifth inning Christopher Morel was up with runners at the corners and no outs and he bunted!

What the hell is going on with this team?

But guess what, both guys are still in the starting lineup on Friday, when the Cubs begin a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians.

I want to go back to the Madrigal decision, though, because that one is him not paying attention. Why wasn’t he benched like Mancini was on Sunday, or how other players have been benched by Ross in previous seasons for not knowing how many outs there were in an inning? Why is he in the lineup Friday? Where’s the accountability?

The Cubs are so desperate at this point because the collective offense is so up and down that guys can make dumb mistakes and face no consequences for them.

Here’s Friday’s lineup against the Guardians.

The Cubs have lost four games in a row after they had a chance to get back to .500 on Sunday in London. They’re back to five games behind the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds, who both have 43-38 records.