The Cardinals and Reds cleared benches yesterday. Jomboy, as is his market, has the retroactive call:
Here are the sparknotes, in case you didn’t watch the video:
- Nick Castellanos took the Cardinals yard on Thursday. He was excited and behaved as such.
- The Cardinals hit Castellanos with a pitch yesterday in the fourth inning.
- When Castellanos scored on a wild pitch a few batters later, there was a play at the plate, meaning Castellanos slid past the pitcher who just hit him. Castellanos responded by flexing in his face, which is something Yadier Molina didn’t like very much.
- The Reds and Cardinals did a lot of saying that they respected each other while benches were cleared, especially around Molina.
What does this mean?
Disarray!
It’s no secret that the Cubs remain the team to beat in the Central. They didn’t win the division in ’18 or ’19, but the Brewers and Cardinals splitting those two years (and both failing to go on to win the pennant) meant neither took over the role from the Cubs. When David Ross’s guys reclaimed the crown last September, it solidified it. It’s not the dynamic it was post-2017, but if there’s a team to beat in the Central, it’s the Cubs, even if they’re no longer the best team. Want a test of this? Ask a Cubs fan who they most want to beat, and answers are mixed. Ask any other NL Central fan (besides a Pirates fan, who’d probably say they’d just like to beat anybody at this point) and the answer’s the Cubs.
Where does this leave the others, though?
In a normal dynamic, you want to be the hated team. But if you aren’t at that level yet, you aren’t sure how to comport yourself, which is where the Reds and Cardinals are. Neither feels confident enough to actually fight someone, but each feels the instinctive urge to fight, and there’s something of a power vacuum between the Cubs and the Pirates. The Cubs (tentatively) have their place. The Pirates (firmly) have their place. The others? Figuring it out.
This is a telling incident, and it’s good we’ve gotten it this early, because the takeaway is that neither the Cardinals or the Reds have any pride or identity, meaning at least psychologically, it’s Cubs vs. Brewers right now for the division title. Might not be the case on the field, but it’s the case in everyone’s head.
