(670 The Score) In the aftermath of Reds right-hander Tejay Antone on Saturday accusing them of chirping more than any other MLB team, the Cubs haven't denied the allegation.
They've actually embraced it. Third baseman Kris Bryant admitted the Cubs are "loud and obnoxious" while explaining that the team's constant jabbering, yelling and noise-making from the dugout helps produce the energy they need without fans in ballparks amid the pandemic. And that's a line of thinking that Cubs outfielder Ian Happ echoed, saying the team is "not going to apologize" for anything on that front.
"As long as you stay with your team, as long as you're cheering, there's a lot of razzing in our dugout as well but from our own team – not across the line but to our own guys," Happ said on the Dan Bernstein Show on Thursday. "So I think as long as you're staying with your own team, positive or negative, that's fine. When you cross the line is when you go after specific guys or specific things on the other side. For us, the energy that we're bringing, it's what we have to do to get ourselves up every day, to make sure that we're competing at the highest level. And that is something we're not going to apologize for. We think that that is the way to get through the season. We think that's part of the reason we've had success, and we're going to keep doing that definitely through the end of the year."
The benches cleared between the Cubs and Reds in the second game of their doubleheader Saturday. That incident came after Antone threw near the head of Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, after which Chicago right-hander Adbert Alzolay threw high and tight to Cincinnati outfielder Shogo Akiyama. Cubs manager David Ross and Reds manager David Bell were ejected.
