After being booed by a fair share of the Wrigley Field crowd in his first game back Wednesday, Russell said of the fans who expressed such thoughts, "That's on them." He later softened that stance a great deal, but the message had already been sent.
Of Russell's situation, Cubs left-hander Mike Montgomery said he's in his corner so long as he continues to work on his personal rehabilitation.
"This has obviously been a difficult situation," Montgomery said. "From my perspective, he continues to progress in his rehabilitation. He just needs to continue on that route. This is his life and his journey. I am going to do everything I can to support him as a teammate and a human being. There are some things he has to take care of and improve on. I think we all do. This has been a tough time for him. Yes, I know he has made some mistakes. We're all human."
The Cubs' 22-14 record is their best start through 36 games since they went 27-9 to open 2016, when they went on to win the World Series. The Cubs are 19-6 since April 11, with that .760 winning percentage representing the best in baseball.
"It is still early in the season, but we are playing our best baseball of the year recently," third baseman Kris Bryant said before the Cubs fell 7-0 to the Brewers on Friday. "That is always good when you are going into a series with a club that is going to give you tough games here on out. They won it last year, so it's important to continue to play well. We sense fans and media getting more into it. We just have to win games. It doesn't matter who you win them against."
The Cubs are tied with the Dodgers for the best run differential in the National League at plus-50 entering play Saturday. The Rays lead MLB at plus-58 ... The Cubs on Saturday were playing their ninth game of a stretch of 26 games in 27 days through May 29 ... Cubs shortstop Javier Baez leads MLB with 24 extra-base hits ... The Cubs are unbeaten in their last nine series (8-0-1).