New photo hints Yadier Molina has secretly been a Cubs fan this whole time

Nobody in Chicago was sad to see Yadier Molina ride off into the sunset at the end of the 2022 season. It's not that the longtime Cardinals backstop was a particularly troublesome out for Cubs pitching over the years - really, he was just a constant reminder of what might have been.

It was hard seeing a guy embody the club's biggest division foe for basically two decades. That became especially true on the heels of Jed Hoyer's 2021 trade deadline fire sale that dashed our hopes of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo or Javier Baez playing a similar role on the North Side.

Molina's career spanned 19 years and, in the process, he racked up an impressive resume: 10 All-Star appearances, 9 Gold Gloves, four Platinum Gloves, a Silver Slugger and a pair of World Series rings. But now that he's hung up his spikes for good and is enjoying retirement, the truth comes out at last: Yadier Molina has been a closet Cubs fan this whole time.

Relax, Cardinals fans - Yadier Molina doesn't love the Chicago Cubs

As you can imagine, this image is going over swimmingly with Cardinals Nation, made up, of course, of the self-declared 'Best Fans in Baseball'. A good many of them are losing their minds little by little, when, in reality, there's a very reasonable explanation: the team his son plays on is the Cubs.

There were enough heated moments between Molina and the Cubs over the years, I don't think we have to worry too much about him being a double-agent or anything of the sort. Emotions always ran high with the potential future Hall of Famer and his team's biggest rival, and we got our fair share of high-tension moments out of it over the years.

But nothing compares to this comedic memory featuring 2016 World Series MVP Ben Zobrist.

At Wrigley Field, Molina batted just .233/.288/.341 - hardly an intimidating slash line. He definitely turned it on against the Cubs at home, though, evidenced by an overall career slash against Chicago of .285/.348/.407. He always seemed to come up with the big hit, especially if the teams were going head-to-head at Busch Stadium.

Molina was the face of the Cardinals franchise for much of my life. I can respect what he did on the field and, now, can thank him for unknowingly irritating a fanbase that loves him so much even now.