Just when you thought spring training couldn't get any stranger for Joe Maddon's squad, the Chicago Cubs took it a step further:
LIVE on #Periscope: Cubs warm up w a pantomime https://t.co/WI31JSJJy4
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) March 22, 2016
That's right, Maddon apparently called in a real mime to help lead warmups and stretches at the beginning of Tuesday's practice. If you turn the sound on in the video above, you'll notice that the mime and the team are (of course) warming up to the tune of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name," complete with the mime mimicking The Edge's guitar shreds.
Cubs warming up w a pantomime pic.twitter.com/82P3UrYw9d
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) March 22, 2016
According to ESPN Chicago's Jesse Rogers, the Cubs' strength coach Tim Buss joined in by painting his face white and showing the hired mime just exactly how to do it.
This is just another weird, weird development in the life of Cubs spring training, as Maddon continues to try and find ways to loosen up his clubhouse. On March 9, that same strength coach led the morning stretches while tied up in a chair, apparently because of scorpions and chihuahuas. The day before that, the warm up routine included a guy shredding AC/DC on guitar. And how could we forget Munenori Kawasaki belting Aerosmith on a karaoke machine to his heart's content.
Oh the things we would give to be a fly on the wall in that Cubs clubhouse.