Oli Marmol reinvigorates heated Cardinals-Cubs rivalry with controversial decision

The penultimate game of the St. Louis Cardinals' season may not have meant anything for the team in terms of playoff implications, but that didn't deter manager Oli Marmol from making an eyebrow-raising decision against the hated Chicago Cubs that elicited widespread condemnation from fans at Wrigley field.

The Cardinals refused to give the Cubs' Michael Busch a chance to hit for the cycle.

Cubs first baseman Michael Busch was 4-for-4 with two home runs, a triple and a double, and fans in Chicago were hoping for him to stroll to the plate one more time in the bottom of the eighth inning in pursuit of the elusive cycle. All he needed was the easiest portion of the feat: a mere single. But before Busch could dig in against pitcher Jorge Alcala, Marmol called for an intentional walk, taking the bat out of Busch's hands and preventing him from having an opportunity to achieve the cycle.

Cubs fans were livid about Marmol's decision to issue a free pass to Busch, and several of them expressed their feelings online.

Prior to Busch's plate appearance, Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson swiped third base. With the Cubs up 7-3, some Cardinals fans may have found the steal to be cheap and unnecessary. However, in the postgame conference, Marmol made it clear that he had no issue with Swanson's steal and that the walk of Busch was purely a baseball decision.

"I'm not here for anybody's amusement," said Marmol after the game. "I'm trying to win a game. The next guy grounded out to the pitcher, so I think it worked."

The rivalry between the Cardinals and the Cubs hasn't been quite the same in the modern baseball era, or at least not since managers Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker snipped at each other from their respective dugouts. Perhaps the most notable incident in the last couple of seasons occurred in 2023, when Miles Mikolas intentionally hit the Cubs' Ian Happ with a pitch after Happ hit Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras on his backswing.

With every team now playing each other at least once per season, there are fewer divisional games and thus fewer chances for rivalries like these to flourish. But even with the Cardinals finding less success than the Cubs this year, Marmol's decision to pass on providing Busch with a special moment brought back some old-fashioned hatred of the Cardinals from the North Siders.