Spring Training Day Three – Triply Stupid

I think the Cubs may be actively attempting to lose Spring Training baseball games as they now stand at 0 wins and 3 losses. Perhaps this is an attempt to play so poorly that instead of being the NL Central favorites, they will be underestimated when the season begins. Or maybe Craig Counsell wants to get all of the losing out of the way now.

Regardless, I have not seen many clown shows that could out clown show the clown show we (well some of us) saw in the top of the first inning on Sunday.

First, an odd automated message kept playing over the intercom at the Giants stadium, telling everyone that it was an emergency, and that they needed to leave the building and not take the elevators. While this may have been an appropriate message for the current state of the country, apparently there was nothing wrong at the stadium, and the players played through the message until Matt Shaw (who had walked) stole second, when it was mercifully silenced.

After another walk to Alex Bregman, the Cubs had yet another actual major leaguer hitting, and Seiya Suzuki took a mighty hack at a 2-1 pitch. He made contact, but connected with almost none of the pitch, blooping it out towards right field, out of the reach of all of the fielders. Then everything went wrong:

• Bregman got a great read, knowing the ball would drop, and had third base on his mind all the way – and was not paying attention to what the runner ahead of him (Shaw) was doing
• Suzuki, seeing Bregman, decided to try to get to 2nd, perhaps to make sure to draw a throw so that the Giants would not try to get Shaw at the plate – not realizing Shaw was no where near home plate.
• Shaw, who did not get a good read on the ball, had stopped at 3rd, leaving no place for Bregman. That was understandable, and Shaw might have come out of the whole mess with the least amount of blame. But he would more than make up for it in a few moments, in order to become the protagonist of this baseball idiocy.
• The Giants hit the cutoff man, Rafeal Devers, who fired the ball to second to get Suzuki out. And with two players standing on third, another out was inevitable.
• Neither Shaw nor Bregman decided getting into a rundown was necessary. Bregman could have tried to get back to second, or Shaw could have broken for the plate, as one of them was going to be out regardless. But maybe they did not want to show off their “trying to escape a rundown” strategy in an exhibition game. Or more likely, Shaw had forgotten how many out there was. So the ball was thrown over to third, to complete this inevitability.
• As happens when two players are on the same base, the defensive player tags everyone, and the trail runner is called out, which is what happened. As we Cubs fand were cursing an unfortunate double play with a runner on third instead of bases loaded and no one out, Shaw decided he did not like being on third base, took off his helmet, and headed to the dugout. Matt Chapman was glad to put a tag on him as soon as he left the base, and a triple play had been birthed like like a demon baby from the womb of an unsuspecting mother, who was expecting happiness and light.
• I can only speculate that Shaw thought Bregman was the third out. There was the slight possibility that he had decided to quit the game of baseball entirely, but then he came out to play defense in the bottom of the inning.

TLDR: It was a shit show.

Here is the video in question:
https://www.mlb.com/video/giants-turn-unusual-triple-play-to-end-1st-inning

Not too much else to say except:

• The Cubs felt they had not had enough players thrown out on the bases in the first, and had two more thrown out at home in the 6th.
• Three of the players competing for the last outfield spot were in the lineup: Chas McCormick was 0 for 3, Justin Dean was 1 for 3 and scored a run, and Dylan Carlson was 2 for 2 with a walk. Advantage: Carlson! I going to go out on a limb and say that if the regular season started tomorrow, Carlson would be a lock for opening day. He just has to maintain this lead for another whole month. Some might say it’s a small sample size, but I prefer to think of it as a big little sample size.
• Another game, another couple of runs given up by a lefty reliever — this time Riley Martin.
• The Cubs mounted a furious rally in the top of the 9th, loading the bases on a bunch of walks. But Ariel Armas grounded into a double-play on a full count, ending the threat.

Tune in tomorrow, when the Cubs may run themselves into a quadruple play. While not technically possible, perhaps they can find a loophole in a spring training rule to make it happen.

Here are more highlights from the game: