ATLANTA -- After losing a National League Central Division tiebreaker game last season, the Chicago Cubs stressed a sense of urgency this past winter and carried that narrative to spring training.
More than ever, they wanted to get off to a fast start in 2019 and not waste any opportunities in what should be another tight race. They repeated a version of that sentiment many times during the offseason.
After four games, they might need to go back to the drawing board, as urgency has given way to bad baseball, highlighted by a six-error night in an 8-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Monday.
"I know it was their home opener, but we did not have to cooperate that much," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said after the game. "It was just a really poorly played game on our part."
The six errors were the most in a game by the Cubs in 13 years, and it had been 54 years since they were shut out while making at least that many miscues, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Every infielder made at least one error, including second baseman David Bote, who tried throwing back to second base for a force out while his body was moving toward first. He threw it away, allowing one of six unearned runs to score for the Braves.
"That was just a weird game," Bote said. "One of those days. Nothing to it."
The night could be summed up after just one batter, as Cubs rookie left fielder Mark Zagunis dropped a foul popup off the bat of Ender Inciarte, who homered on the next pitch. It went downhill from there, and the Cubs dropped to 1-3 on the season, their worst record after four games under Maddon.
"We attempted to make plays we should not have attempted to make," the manager said. "Mentally, it was a bad April 1 day."
Zagunis topped off a disastrous night by getting doubled off second to end the game, though he doubled twice to offset some of his defensive and baserunning mistakes. Perhaps the most fight the Cubs showed was when the benches cleared after Bote slid hard into second base while attempting to break up a double play. Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson thought he went a little too wide, and words were exchanged but no punches.
"I just go hard every time," Bote said. "It was a clean slide, nothing dirty. No matter what the score, you play hard until the last out."
Playing hard is about all the Cubs can say they did, as starter Kyle Hendricks gave up 10 hits in 4.1 innings in his first start since signing a four-year, $55.5 million extension last week. Normally, he's the beneficiary of a good defensive team behind him, but not on Monday. It added to a slow start for a team looking for a fast one.
Combined with two blown leads late in games over the weekend, the Cubs are playing with anything but a sense of urgency.
"It was one of those fluke days," Bote said. "You flush it. Only on April Fool's does a game like that happen. ... We have 158 to go. No worries. We'll be all right."