Kris Bryant knows the boo birds will be out this weekend when he makes his first trip to Busch Stadium since he upset Cardinals fans and players by calling St. Louis "boring" at Cubs Convention in January.
"Of course, it's going to be not great," Bryant told reporters in Houston on Wednesday. "I was watching [Manny] Machado get booed by the Yankees [fans]. I don't know. I hope they boo all of us. We want the games to be a nice rivalry, intense. It's always nice to play there, because there's a ton of people there, a lot of our fans show up. It makes it fun. No hard feelings."
For background, Bryant was taking part in a "late-night" comedy-style show hosted by former Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster on the first night of Cubs Convention. The star third baseman quipped that free agents would not want to sign in St. Louis because the city is "boring." The response via social media gained steam over the following 24 hours and catcher Yadier Molina led the charge on Instagram.
Molina wrote, "players and leaders of their teams do not speak bad about any city. There should be respect and you should play and compete with respect... only stupid players and losers make comments like the ones made by Bryant and Dempster."
Bryant had no hard feelings.
"I was generally just joking and having a good time," Bryant told reporters. "We've been playing each other for awhile. I don't hate the guy. I think he's a great player. He's a great catcher. He's the leader of their team. I get over things pretty quick."