Chicago Cubs: With Cardinals in free-fall, what lies ahead for the NL Central?

The beginning of the end?

Rule number one when you’re managing a big-league club: you don’t hang your veteran leaders out to dry in front of the media. That rings especially true when your veteran leader is a future Hall of Fame and the face of the franchise.

In late July, Matheny sat his veteran backstop. After the game, he had this to say:

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"“Yadi’s caught a lot. Yesterday, just kind of watching him go around the bases, too, you could tell that he’s, you know …”"

Tired. The word he didn’t have the backbone to say is tired. As a Cubs fan, I hate watching Yadier Molina step in at Wrigley Field. But that’s because of the tremendous respect I have for him and his skills as a baseball fan.

And that respect only grew when Yadi fired right back at his skipper – who was clearly out of line in his comments.

"“I train to play 174 games because that’s what it takes to be Champion,” Molina wrote on Instagram. “I’m not tired and the day I feel tired I’ll express it myself. #misinforming”"

If St. Louis misses out on the postseason again in 2017, I suspect it will be the end of the line for Matheny at the helm of the Cardinals. The club inked Molina to an extension earlier this year – so he’s not going anywhere.

But if I were Matheny, I wouldn’t get too comfortable.