The Cubs play at one of the destination ballparks in America, which is truly an amazing experience most of the time for Cubs fans. We not only get to watch our favorite team in a beautiful setting, we also get to interact with thousands of fans from other teams who have decided to come watch their favorite team at the historical federal landmark known as Wrigley Field.
Some fans show up more than others, but almost all of them are just in awe of the park and there to enjoy their favorite team taking on the Cubs in a beautiful setting. They want to do tours beforehand and know where the locals hang out after the game. I get a few dozen DMs on social media every year asking me how someone should plan their first trip to Wrigley Field and I’m always happy to share what I know.
Enter, stage right, a group of Dodgers fans who decided to be more than a little extra this week:
I’ve lived in Wrigleyville for a decade now and as y’all can imagine I spend a lot of time in and around Wrigley Field. I’ve been at the ballpark for the greatest rivalry in sports when the Cardinals come to town more times than I can count. I’ve attended Crosstown Classic games on the North Side and the South Side. I’ve seen every iteration of the Brewers trying to little brother their way into the rivalry conversation in Chicago. I’ve seen Red Sox, Mets and Yankees fans try to establish a presence at Wrigley Field when their teams come to visit and cheerfully chatted baseball with all of them in the grandstand or the bleachers.
I’ve never seen anything as obnoxious and designed for Instagram as the spectacle this particular group of Dodgers fans thought they had to bring to Chicago this week. I’ve never been happier to see the Cubs sweep a team out of town. I mean, just look at this video:
We’ll get to the schadenfreude cherry on top of this debacle at the end of this piece, because let’s be honest, every Cubs sweep should end on a high note. But as the social media buzz over these fans grew over the week, I got a handful of notes telling me more about them. It appears this group is run by “Pantone 294” and they do this a lot for some reason:
In fact, there have been some questions about the legitimacy of the group, especially after some fans allege they felt scammed out of considerable amounts of money during this year’s Tokyo Series. That Reddit thread details fans’ concerns and experiences pretty thoroughly. There is also a Facebook group thread with more than 200 comments in the Official Dodger Nation Group discussing the same.
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