The Cardinals had locked up the division, but emotions still flared late in the season as the Brewers kept pushing. In a game between the Cardinals and Cubs, tensions rose when Cubs pitcher Cole Hamels barely clipped Yadier Molina’s elbow pad with a pitch. Molina clearly felt it wasn’t serious, but used the moment to fire up his team. He stared Hamels down, shouted a few things, and tried to spark some energy after the Cardinals had dropped a few games.
Hamels didn’t back down. He looked confused at first, then stood his ground. The two exchanged words, with neither willing to let it go easily. More players got involved, and it turned into one of those classic baseball standoffs where no one actually fights but everyone acts like they might. Molina eventually laughed it off, joking about their identical hairstyles, and the tension faded.
Hamels stayed focused and worked out of the inning without giving up a run. Molina got stranded at first, and that was that. The moment didn’t boil over, but it illustrated how even with the division clinched, players weren’t mailing it in. Molina wanted to wake up his team. Hamels wasn’t having it. The Brewers were lurking, and every pitch still mattered.