Paul Sullivan: Cubs' immediate future may be shaped by 7 games vs. the Cardinals in the last 11 days of the season
CHICAGO - It started four years ago this week, on Sept. 18, 2015, when Cubs manager Joe Maddon threw down the gauntlet at Wrigley Field.
"We don't start stuff," he said. "But we will stop stuff."
Those words, uttered during a postgame rant in which Maddon alleged the Cardinals purposely hit Anthony Rizzo, sent the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry, then 113 years old, into hyperdrive.
No longer would the Cubs serve as the Cardinals' perennial pinata. No more business as usual.
It was the beginning of a new era, and
