Even though the Chicago Cubs have won seven of their last ten at home, the team has been a little sloppy in the field…and skipper Joe Maddon thinks he knows why.
Joe Maddon blames Starlin Castro’s error on AC/DC concert at Wrigley: “They have totally messed up our infield.”
— Patrick Mooney (@CSNMooney) September 22, 2015
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During their victory Monday night, the Cubs committed three errors for the second time in the last ten games and upped their total to twelve in that same span. Sloppy play? Sure. The fault of the ageless Australian rockers? Not sure.
“They totally messed up the infield, and it has nothing to do with the groundskeepers,” Maddon told the Chicago Tribune. “I’ve seen a bad hop at third, and a bad hop at second. I didn’t see one bad hop all year. We just got to get it ironed out because I think Starlin has done a nice job at second base. I don’t want anyone blaming him on that error. It was a weird hop.”
Let’s dive into Maddon’s AC/DC theory.
On September 15, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers took the stage at Wrigley Field and in the four games since the Cubs have returned back to “The Friendly Confines”, the team has committed six errors. A few weeks prior, the Northsiders committed six errors in the six games following the Foo Fighters show August 29. And of those 12 total errors, nine of them were misplayed groundballs…with Starlin Castro being charged with four of them.
So, is it possible that the Wrigley Field mega concerts (Billy Joel and the Zac Brown Band also snuck in some tour dates in that same time) led to the playing field getting ripped up a touch? I suppose it’s possible, but, naturally, there’s a flipside to every discussion.
While Maddon believes the AC/DC show “messed up” the infield, the opposition hasn’t suffered the same fate. In those ten games post-Foo Fighters and AC/DC, the visiting teams only had one error…not really damning evidence against Wrigley Field not playing host to the thousands of fans coming out to a rock concert.
Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time this season that someone has blamed extracurricular activities at their home park as the reason something hasn’t gone their way. Earlier this summer, Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer pointed his finger at Taylor Swift for causing a power outage during a July game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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