Cincinnati Reds: Trevor Bauer rips the Cubs on and off the field

Cincinnati Reds ace and Trevor Bauer shut down Cubs on and off the field.

This season, Cincinnati Reds ace Trevor Bauer is finally pitching like a true ace. As it stands, he ranks first in WHIP (0.79), 2nd in ERA (1.74), and 2nd in strikeouts (71) in the NL.

He continued his dominance yesterday against the division rival Chicago Cubs, going 7.2 IP allowing just 3 H while striking out 10 and allowing 0 ER. The first-place Cubs, it appears, didn’t enjoy being pushed around by the fourth-place Reds because after the game was over, in a Zoom conference Bauer revealed that the team had been chirping at him throughout the game.

“I got to give them props,” Bauer says in the clip above, “it’s impressive that you can chirp at someone after you shoved it up your *ss for 7.2 innings.” It appears that prior to Bauer being taken out of the game, someone in the Cubs dugout shouted “Bye” at Bauer, prompting him to sarcastically wave back at them.

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Trevor Bauer is set to become a free agent at the end of this season and appears to have figured himself out as a pitcher. Prior to COVID, he was set to make $17.5M this season. With the season being shortened, his salary was reduced to approximately $6.5M.

With pitching at a premium, there’s no question that Bauer will command top-dollar this offseason, his first as an unrestricted free agent. He will, however, have to stop alienating teams throughout the league, especially big-market teams like the Cubbies.

As it stands, this season has been a disappointing one for the Reds who entered the 2020 season with an improved team. Sonny Gray and Luis Castillo have paired nicely with Bauer in the rotation and the addition of Nicholas Castellanos hasn’t quite paid off like the team expected, though he has been very productive.

Overall, the Reds are not out of playoff contention quite yet. Currently, they’re three games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the 6th seed in the 2020 MLB Playoff picture with 17 games left in their schedule.

On the other hand, the Cardinals have to play 23 games in the next 18 days in order to complete their 60-game season. Three of those games are against the Cincinnati Reds.