FRONT RUNNER
Baez has helped Cubs overcome so many issues, he looks like leader in tight race for NL MVP
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The tarp was barely down on the field when an angry Javy Baez reached the clubhouse, yanked off his shirt and dropped himself onto the couch.
“I was so mad,” said Baez, who moments earlier chased a slider nearly a foot outside for a strikeout with two men on base and the Cubs trailing by a run.
Teammate Pedro Strop didn’t like what he saw.
“I saw some attitude,” Strop said. “At first I said, ‘What’s wrong, bro?’ And he said, ‘Uh, well, blah, blah, blah.’
“I kind of screamed at him: ‘Wake up, man! Wake up! You the man. You got two more at-bats. You’re going to get two hits.’ ”
After the rain delay, the Cubs tied the game. Then Baez untied it with a home run in his next at-bat, and added an opposite-field double two innings later for another RBI in a 3-1 victory Monday night over the Royals.
Add Baez’s diving play behind the bag at third in the second inning for a highlight-reel out that saved a run, and that is why he will win the National League MVP award this year.
That may be slightly presumptuous with almost eight weeks left in the season.
But that game was a microcosm of Baez’s value this season to the team with the best record in the National League. The second baseman rebounded from a slow start to power the lineup and dazzled in the field while filling a need at third base for a night.
“He’s been that guy. He’s been that guy the whole time,” manager Joe Maddon said.
During a season in which Anthony Rizzo’s production has come and gone, and one in which Kris Bry-
ant’s presence has come and gone, Baez has been the biggest bright spot for the Cubs this season.
And baseball fans across the country have recognized him with chants of “Javy! Javy!” for most of the season, and more recently morphing into chants of “MVP! MVP!” during the recent homestand and again in Kansas City this week.
It’s hard not to think about it with all the increased attention and MVP talk during his first All-Star season.
“Yes, it is,” said Baez, who got the same treatment from fans Tuesday night when he singled in his first atbat and, back at second, made two over-the-shoulder catches in right field to rob the Royals of hits.
“I was like, ‘Damn, this is my first time here and they’re really yelling for it,’ ” he said. “I was kind of nervous and really happy for it.”
It’s only going to get louder if the Cubs’ recent history is any indication.
“It’s something you have to deal with,” said Bryant, who said he felt locked in throughout his 2016 MVP season until late when the MVP chants began. “Obviously, it’s a double-edged sword. It’s cool to get those chants and feel wanted like that. And at the same time it does kind of affect you a little bit.”
Neither Maddon nor Bryant seem to think it’ll cause any problem for Baez.
“He’s pretty good at tuning stuff out,” Bryant said. “That’s kind of what makes Javy Javy, that he does things his way, and it works unbelievably for him.”