The Chicago Cubs left for their current road trip with an excellent 41-19 record at Wrigley Field but a woeful 21-33 record on the road. Outside of maybe the Colorado Rockies and their unique challenges with elevation there isn’t usually much rhyme or reason to why a team may struggle on the road as badly as that, so it’s not like the Cubs could really do anything concrete about it.
But they did try to something. From the Chicago Tribune:The Cubs’ white home jerseys were packed into their equipment bags Wednesday night, loaded on the bus and flown to Cincinnati with the rest of the team.
When the players arrived at Great American Ball Park on Thursday afternoon, they discovered their pinstriped jerseys hanging in their lockers.
They didn’t wear the jerseys in last night’s game against the Reds, of course. That’d be weird. They wore their alternate road blues. But whoever was behind the plan -- everyone is denying responsibility, but it was probably Joe Maddon -- felt that the mental trick might work. And it did for at least one night, as the Cubs romped to a 12-5 win over the Reds. I presume, then, that the home unis will be displayed again tonight and for the rest of the road trip. At least as long as they keep winning more than they lose. Whatever works, right?
Related to that: I wonder how long it’ll be before teams just start wearing home uniforms on the road and vice-versa. I’m not sure what the rules are about that, if any, but it’s already the case that many teams wear alternate solid tops at both home and on the road. What’s the difference if they wear whites or grays in a non-traditional setting? It’s not like this is basketball or football. Guys aren’t making high-speed passes in traffic or whatever.
I suppose it’d be a bit of a drag for the fans if both clubs’ uniforms are too alike -- more so at the stadium than on TV -- but given how much teams have strayed from traditional uniform orthodoxy I’m guessing we’ll see it eventually.