Every postseason needs a hero (#TaglineForMyNetworkDrama).
This October is no exception. The only rule for these playoff heroes, however, is that they pretty much have to come from one of the last teams standing. Heroes never die, and all. On the American League side, Andrew Miller (the ALCS MVP) is quite obviously the hero of the Indians postseason. While on the NL side, no decisions has yet been made.
That said, Javy Baez is making one hell of an argument. Despite being awesome at pretty much everything he does (he makes a lovely bunt cake), Baez also embodies the “let’s just go out there and have fun,” mentality we all love about baseball.
Take, for example, the fun he had with Anthony Rizzo last night on an infield pop-up … in a run one game … in a tied NLCS … with Clayton Kershaw looming over the weekend:
.@javy23baez doesn't drop anything. pic.twitter.com/LBQzWZTQs2
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) October 21, 2016
Baez hustles over to Rizzo – who clearly had the ball in his sights – and does his best impression of Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus. Rizzo, an equally fun loving guy, then bounces the ball off Baez’s chest after the catch (which Baez doesn’t drop, of course).
To the unfamiliar fans watching a national broadcast, confusion likely reigned. Were they mad at each other? Was he messing with him? Did they seriously just do that in Game 5 of the NLCS in another team’s stadium? No, yes, and yes. They like to have fun, and they don’t care when that fun happens.
“We always mess around,” Rizzo said after the game. “So I’m screaming: ‘Javy! Javy! I got it! I got it, Javy, I got it!’ And usually he’ll yell at me: ‘Don’t miss it!'”
He didn’t miss it, fun was had, no one died from not taking the game seriously enough, and, oh yeah, the Chicago Cubs went onto win!