Despite being named after baby bears the Cubs clearly have the memories of elephants.
As Chicago’s north side team hosted the Braves on Thursday, they took a jab at how Atlanta stalled a high-stakes extra-innings game late last season to commemorate Ronald Acuña Jr. becoming the first player ever to hit 40 home runs and steal 70 bases.
When outfielder Ian Happ stole a base on Thursday, the Cubs adorned their video board with a photo of him hoisting up a base — a nod to how Acuña his milestone accomplishment — with the caption, “1st Player in MLB History to steal a base on Thursday, May 23, 2024 at Wrigley Field in the bottom of an inning.”
The Braves had the last laugh, however, beating the Cubs, 3-0, on Thursday as Chicago went 2-5 in their homestand.
At the point in the season last September when the Braves annoyed the Cubs, Atlanta had shored up the NL East in a landslide, whereas Chicago was scratching and clawing for a wild card berth that ultimately failed to materialize.
Cubs announcers Jon “Boog” Sciambi and Jim Deshaies were dismayed with the play stoppage at the time.
Sciambi asked rhetorically if they really needed to stop the game, and Deshaies said that Acuña should have collected the base after the game.
In a subsequent interview with The Post, Sciambi defended the call.
“I’ll speak for J.D. — we’ve both been doing this for 25 years. I’m sorry but if you’re pegging us as the ‘get off my lawn guys,’ smarten up. It’s just not who we are,” Sciambi said last September.
“It’s 5-5 in the 10th. I thought they shouldn’t have run a highlight montage in that spot.”
Sciambi gave Acuña, who went 1-for-4 in the Braves’ win, his flowers for his accomplishment and insisted that he did not hold a permanent grudge over the moment.
“It’s an unfortunate example of what social media does. It’s like a 25-second clip, and then everyone has a take on how much I care or J.D. cares. Or how salty we were. How much it bothers us. Nobody else gets to say how much I care other than me. You don’t get to tell me how much I care, and I’m telling you, I don’t really care.
“But the game was going on and that’s what I thought. That they shouldn’t have run the highlight montage. I just finished my salad from Sweetgreen. We’re fine. And I want the Cubs to win tonight.”