2020- the year in which we all experience a real life version of that Spongebob Squarepants episode where Squidward moved to a town where he performed the same three activities every single day.
Ok, so maybe that’s not an entirely fair; 202o isn’t just dull repetition, it’s patches of absolute terror interspersed with the excessive repetitiveness. But hey, it’s Labor Day weekend, and that means it’s pennant race time! And the long holiday weekend sees the St. Louis Cardinals visit the Chicago Cubs, for a five game series/rivalry grudge match that should decide the NL Central crown.
When the dust settles on this series, the final regular season meetings of the Cubs and Cardinals in 2020, the Cubs will have just 18 games left; the Cardinals 27.
That’s not a typo, the Cards will have six more double headers after this series, and just one whole off day. With so many COVIDed out games to make up the rest of the way, the pressure is really on St. Louis in this series to try and make up some ground.
The Cardinals come in 3.5 games back of the first place Cubs, so they really need to win four or five of this set at Wrigley Field, in order to make things interesting down the stretch. So while this Major League Baseball season is something of a farce, or a really bad joke, or a farcical joke, at least this is exciting.
It definitely makes this week/month more interesting, in what has been the worst year of all time.
Let’s look at some Cubs-Cardinals storylines.
Chirping Obnoxiously
In this case, it’s not the birds, but the infant bears that do the chriping
Third baseman Kris Bryant on the Cubs’ reputation for chirping: “We might be the most obnoxious, but we’re all embracing it and enjoying that. Other teams can go about it the same way. I just think we’re doing a really good job of creating our energy in the dugout. That’s what we got to do.”
This all started during one of the 35 Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds (or at least that’s what it feels like right now) games thus far this season.
.@TejayAntone says he wasn't throwing intentionally at Anthony Rizzo, but he was "chirping" back at the Cubs in good fun.
"They chirp the most, for sure. But I noticed that when they're down, they usually get quieter."#TakeTheCentral pic.twitter.com/85TMKSug9z
— Bally Sports Cincinnati (@BallySportsCIN) August 30, 2020
A rivalry bloodfeud series with the division crown on the line? Expect lots of chirping, and I am here for it. Hopefully, this will get full on pro wrestling WWE style or something like that. You’ll recall it was Bryant who famously called St. Louis “boring” in the off-season.
He’s totally correct, but now, in the era of COVID restrictions pretty much shutting down the entire entertainment economy, well now we’re all as boring as St. Louis.
You know the old stand-up comedy bit- sports is basically rooting for laundry, and here’s yet another example. Martinez is in Cubbie blue, then he’s a great guy! He’s wearing Cardinal red, well then he’s one of the bad “the others.
This will be the first time he faces the Cards as a member of the Cubs. More on this acquisition here.
Cubs Look to Avenge 2019/the beginning of the end of Craig Kimbrel
You’ve seen people tweet this over and over- “what if you were the best at what you do for several years, then one day you woke up and you were the worst- that’s Craig Kimbrel.
The Cardinals came to Wrigley for a four game set, beginning on Sept 19 of last year, in first place by three games on the Cubs. Chicago was still tied with Milwaukee for the second wild card berth when the series began. The road team completed the sweep, and the Cubs season was rendered pointless from there on out.
Kimbrel gave up back-to-back home runs on back-to-back pitches in the ninth inning of game three, blowing the save, the series and the season as the north-siders fell 9–8. Why he still has a gig is beyond explanation right now.
He’s clearly washed, so he’s doing nothing but taking up space and collecting a paycheck without providing anyting of value in return.
Cubs vs Cardinals FYIs
Fri Sept 4, 7:15, Jack Flaherty vs Yu Darvish
Sat Sept 5, 4:15, Adam Wainwright vs TBA
Sat Sept 5, 7:15, Dakota Hudson vs TBA (Wow, TBA is throwing on back to back days! iron man!)
Sun Sept 6, 6, Kwang-Hyun Kim vs Jon Lester
Labor Day, 3, Johan Oviedo vs Kyle Hendricks
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.