Cubs and Brewers benches clear over hit by pitches, a breakdown
What Happened
The rivalry between the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers heats up as the two teams exchange hit-by-pitches during their opening weekend series. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Cubs catcher Willson Contreras gets hit by a pitch, angering the Cubs dugout. Brewers outfielder Andrew McCutchen then gets hit, and Cubs pitcher Justin Steele is instructed to retaliate by hitting McCutchen. Steele tries to hit McCutchen, but the first two pitches miss. On the third attempt, Steele hits McCutchen, and the benches clear as both teams gather on the field. McCutchen turns towards Cubs catcher Willson Contreras, who had words for him. Contreras expresses his frustration, saying "Do it the first time, bro. Do it the first time and get it over with. Don't start with a cutter on the first pitch." Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward rushes in, angrily tossing his glove as he approaches the scuffle. The umpires step in to try and calm the situation, and eventually eject Steele from the game. McCutchen later explains Contreras' message, saying "If your plan is to hit me, I kind of know it's coming. We hit one of your best guys, you're gonna try and hit us. He's standing that far away, is that how far away he always stands or is he ready for it? And then to open him up with a secondary pitch in the zone kind of is like signaling 'Hey, we're not hitting you this at-bat. Don't worry about it. You can dig in and get comfy.' Which [Contreras] is upset about because he says 'I'm gonna dig in and get comfy, then I'm gonna get more hurt because you're just tricking me. The only reason to do that is to trick me. And then if you're gonna throw a fastball at me, you get one shot. If you miss, that's your problem.'" The heated exchange reflects the long-standing rivalry between the Cubs and Brewers, with both teams looking to gain the upper hand early in the season. The incident results in a 3-game suspension for Steele, while the Brewers avoid any suspensions for their own hit-by-pitch incidents.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentthe Brewers and cubs spent opening
weekend just hitting each other with
pitches just getting hit hitting each
other on accident on purpose all kinds
of hit by pitches this breakdown is
brought to you by DraftKings so you know
Contreras gets hits once gets hit twice
they're not happy about it he always
gets hit by the Brewers and it'll break
down on that last year just always gets
hit by them yelly gets hit in the foot
now that's not on purpose like a back
door slider although oh sexy I have seen
a lot of backdoor sliders hitting feet
Madrid gets hit on the elbow pad no
one's upset about that but it's he got
hit in half no
no God get out of here hit some on the
knee he looks like a worm he's hurt oh
happer
my heart goes out to you look painful so
finally the Cubs were like dude you guys
have hit us too much we gotta hit one of
you so they have their young pitcher go
out there and they say you better hit
cutch so cut stands a little off the
plate and look at this guy he is ready
to do it he opens them up slider or
Cutter whatever it is for a strike and
that's part of the problem and now he's
looking at the catcher says okay I'll do
it let's do it now uh I'm game and
inside fastball didn't really get him
don't know if he was trying to cutch
kind of laughing I think he knows what's
going on okay let's try again this one
definitely trying to hit him misses and
cuts laughs immediately because he knows
what's going on he doesn't like it he
just smiles and he walks away and he
turns he has something to say for
Contreras and he's like all right
whatever and this kid thinking [ __ ] I
gotta do it again hits him on the third
pitch touch turns now Cuts reached out
and he wanted to let me know what he
said to make sure I got this right and
he said there you go you finally did it
that a baby good job
good job
he's saying he finally did it yeah just
congratulating him took him three tries
but it got it done but his real gripe is
that it took him three tries because
that's not he wants he wants do it the
first time just do it the first time he
doesn't like oh Hayward comes storming
in look at that gloves look at this
glove toss from Jason Heyward bam get
out of here I need you so far away he
runs in gets stopped by the UMP doesn't
really say much I think he's just saying
like hey don't show up my guy and don't
show my guy and then they're all going
to get together locane's there but more
importantly umpire's there hey hey hey
hey hey hey hey step back step back step
back and now we're gonna get into touch
and his gripe and he says do it the
first time I'm cool with it I'm cool
with that [ __ ] bro
do it the first time and get it over
with don't start out with a cutter on
the first pitch bro that's straight on
cool I think he says something like that
but that's his main gripe and if you
want to understand
why that's a gripe it's because he's
saying hey if you're gonna hit me I'm
fine with it he comes from the old
school baseball the umpires get together
and they're like are we going to toss
this kid out kid's like are they gonna
toss me out I think and they say yeah
you you're out of here and he goes oh
[ __ ] okay I don't even [ __ ] care
coaches made me do it I don't want to do
it because hey man all good thank you
for doing that what did he say what was
he upset about do it the first [ __ ]
pitch that's what he said and yeah so
they scuffled and and cutch's Main gripe
here if you're like wait why was he
upset I still don't get it he's saying
if your plan is to hit me
I kind of know it's coming we hit one of
your best guys you're gonna try and hit
us he's standing is that how far away he
always stands or is he ready for it and
then to open him up with a secondary
pitch in the zone
kinda is like signaling hey we're not
hitting you this at-bat don't worry
about it you can dig in and get comfy
which Kutch is upset about because he
says I'm gonna dig in and get comfy then
I'm gonna get more hurt because you're
just tricking me like that the only
reason to do that is to trick me and
then if you're gonna throw a fastball at
me you get one shot if you miss that's
your problem and he misses here and I
think that's why I cut Scholastic laughs
because he's like haha guy who shot to
hit me and you missed me and then when
he hits him again he's like well dude
if you're gonna hit me do it on the
first pitch and if you miss you don't
get to just keep doing it that's kutch's
rules of throwing out a guy on purpose
he's cool with that [ __ ] bro just do it
right away
and he was upset about it the Cubs
pitcher got suspended for three games
Brewers hit a lot of cubs guys didn't
get suspended but that's the story
of the story
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