One of the questions I’d been meaning to ask Joey Votto recently was about his interactions with Trevor Bauer.



The two had a memorable at-bat last year with both kind of acknowledging it on the field. Bauer talked after that game about his “chess match” with Votto.



I wondered about the two of them and even have called Bauer the Votto of pitching because both are cerebral, sometimes unorthodox and willing to go against common thinking about their crafts to get better.



So I asked Votto after Sunday’s game if he’d had much interaction with Bauer since the pitcher had joined the team and included that description, which Votto just kind of chuckled about.



“I’m trying to hit as dumb as possible right now, so I’d say the opposite. I’d say he can be as smart as he wants and I’ll just hit like a dumb-dumb. That’s my goal.



“Have we spoken, not too much? But the great thing about...