Something remarkable is happening.

It seems that while the rest of the league always seemed to love the Cubs over the years, it turns out that it was just a conditional love. That condition was that the Cubs continue losing ball games. They had the charm that goes with being perpetual underdogs playing in a quaint old ballpark. They were the embodiment of struggle, hope, and nostalgia. People called them The Cubbies, which always felt like the equivalent of a pinched cheek and a tussle of the hair to me. The Cubbies are the right fielder on your little league team. Nice try kiddo. Almost had that one. Better luck next time. They were in the simplest terms. lovable losers.

Except they are no longer losers. In fact, they seem to hate losing these days. That has endeared them to Cubs fans, who love the relentless approach and the never say die attitude. They will do whatever it takes to win, no matter how unpopular it makes them and whose feathers they ruffle. Take the bat out of your best players hands 7 times? It's just business. And the Cubs are now in the business of winning baseball games.

And so while the Cubs are shedding their losers label, the lovable part of that moniker is fading as well. It seems now those two things were inextricably tied.

The rest of baseball had no problems cheering on The Cubbies. They are finding it's not so easy to cheer on The Cubs. And it isn't just that they find it hard to cheer for The Cubs, some are also having issues with the Cubs own fans cheering them on. I'll get the occasional tweet or response now that will say something along the lines of, "that is why nobody likes Cubs fans" from a member of the vocal minority of one rival fan base or another.

Perhaps nobody better exemplified this sentiment than Reds announcer Thom Brennamann, who growing weary of seeing his Reds lose to the one-time patsies, blurted, "Enough!" in response to Cubs fans continuing to cheer on their team even after opening up yet another large lead.

Funny that Brennamann never seems to grow weary of repeatedly bringing up the Cubs past failures. How many times is "enough" when it comes to bringing up the Cubs World Series drought? Brennamann and rival fans seem to have no issues reveling in the struggles of The Cubbies at any opportunity. He's done that with barely restrained jubilation for years -- but it took just 4 games for him to stomp his feet and get his fill of fans cheering on The Cubs.

The most recent flap comes from Nationals starter Tanner Roark. After his team was beaten in 4 straight games, Roark's response was that the Cubs won that 4th game by avoiding Bryce Harper and "playing scared". That he Cubs were playing scared against a team they thoroughly handled in the first 3 games of the series is ridiculous on its own, but it goes well beyond that.

The Cubs are a team who built an organization by understanding probabilities and employing a process that they expect to yield success more than it does failure. They hired a manager who sees trends in the game as they happen. The trend in that game was that the rest of the National lineup was unable to produce when it mattered. On the other hand, Bryce Harper is perhaps the most productive player in baseball today, certainly in the National League. They took a calculated gamble that Harper was more likely to beat them than the rest of the Nationals lineup combined. That's no disrespect to the Nationals, that's a Barry Bonds level of respect for Bryce Harper. The Cubs aren't tying to win one-on-one matchups. They aren't trying to out-macho the other team at their own detriment.

They're just trying to win ballgames and right now, they're doing a pretty good job of it.

And if other fans, broadcasters, and opposing teams don't like that; if that upsets their notion of how things "should be"; if that makes the Cubs uncuddly and unpopular, well, then so be it.

That kind of thing may have concerned The Cubbies.

It does not concern The Cubs.