It hasn’t been a great season for the Chicago White Sox, and the Detroit Tigers – theoretically a much worse team – haven’t made it any better this week. The Tigers have already beaten the White Sox twice in the current four-game set, with Javy Báez featuring prominently in both wins (a homer, a double, a single, and three runs driven in).
Maybe that’s why he gets booed on the South Side? Eh, no, we know why: it’s because Báez, a famously outgoing (and frequently thrilling) player, played for years on the North Side with the Cubs, and he just becomes an easy target for accusations of villainy.
The thing is, though, among the players in baseball who feed off the energy of the crowd, Javy Báez might be right at the top. Positive crowd reactions or negative taunts, we’ve seen them all boost Báez’s performance. Even when his OWN Mets fans were hating on Báez, that’s when he turned it all around and got scorching hot!
So, then, the White Sox fans are just playing into Javy’s lightning-quick hands when they do this:
He wants those boos! He’s asking you for them! It gives El Mago life to hear your scorn, White Sox fans.
I fully expect Javy Báez to continue to rake this weekend against the White Sox, at least as long as the fans there keep feeding him that energy.
Meanwhile, Báez was talking about how he still loves Chicago Cubs fans, and – maybe especially in this moment – I could not return the feeling more strongly. Still love you, Javy, and still love following your exploits.