Austin American-Statesman

Maddon: Cubs not having fun yet

Themed road trip to San Francisco may help champions.

- Wire services

The World Series champion Chicago Cubs have had several themed road trips under manager Joe Maddon in the last three years, including the Onesies trip home from Los Angeles in 2015 after Jake Arrieta threw a no-hitter and the Minimalist Zany Suit trip to Pittsburgh last year.

Maddon said he has been too focused on the season at hand to plan the trips in 2017. The Cubs have lost four of five, but Maddon said they were “jacked up” for Sunday night’s Easy Rider trip to San Francisco.

“I don’t know that we’ve had enough fun this year, quite frankly,” Maddon said. “And a lot of that comes with winning, obviously. That’s just the natural residue of winning, that you have more fun. I just think this is good timing for right now.”

The Easy Rider trip, which stemmed from the brain of strength coach Tim Buss, had players wearing black leather motorcycle vests in honor of the 1969 biker movie starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.

However, in May the Cubs went 0-6 on an “Anchorman” trip to Los Angeles and San Diego.

“I love it, I think it’s good,” Maddon said. “Anything you can do to unify the group, it’s always a good thing. It’s fun. And for the group that doesn’t understand it, that’s too bad that you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a kid.”

Maddon said his annual American Legion week, in which players report to the clubhouse whenever they get there, is scheduled for the week after the road trip.

“Listen, we’re not going to win it if we don’t really enjoy the day,” Maddon said. “You have to really enjoy yourself. That’s the only way to do this.”

Rockies: Colorado had been 59-0 this season with a lead after eight innings before the Phillies rallied for two runs in the ninth off closer Greg Holland to beat the Rockies 3-2 on Sunday.

Dodgers: Los Angeles (7932) opened a season-high, 151/2-game NL West lead after Sunday night’s win and moved 47 games over .500 for the first time since 1962.

Angels: Sunday’s 11-10 loss to visiting Oakland took 4 hours, 12 minutes, the longest nine-inning home game in franchise history.

Phillies: Right-hander Aaron Nola has a 1.76 ERA in his last nine starts.

Yankees: Right-hander Luis Severino is 4-0 with a 0.71 ERA in his last four starts.

Mets:

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States