Chicago Cubs having fun with apparent cheating by Yadier Molina

If you're a longtime Chicago Cubs fan, you've likely heard about the hated rival St. Louis club playing baseball the "Cardinals Way." It turns out, a large part of that approach just might be outright cheating. Questions have certainly arisen after Thursday afternoon's game between the Cubs and Cards.

During a pinch hit at-bat by Matt Sczur, a wild pitch bounced in front of the plate and ...

stuck to Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina's chest protector. Molina had no idea where the ball was and Sczur was able to hustle to first base as Molina searched the surrounding area for the ball. While the umpire seemed to know where it was, he wasn't allowed to tell the player.

Molina claims he didn't use pine tar

After the play had ended, and the internet had more than enough time to review what had happened, it was time to figure out just how the ball managed to stick like that. Molina wasn't lying down and the ball wasn't on top of him. He was standing up and moving around. Not only shouldn't the ball have stuck for a few seconds, it shouldn't been able to stick for nearly as long as it did.

For his part, Molina claims he didn't use pine tar or any other substance on his chest protector to get the ball to stick. Apparently the Cardinals player would have us believe the object just defied the laws of physics. Several Chicago Cubs players had a bit of fun after their come from behind win when asked about their theories. According to the Chicago Tribune, Joe Maddon believes velcro might have been at play. John Lackey's response was only "I wouldn't know anything about that sticky stuff."

Why it might be cheating, but not a crime ... yet

The Tribune also explained why the Chicago Cubs couldn't ask and the umpire didn't inspect Molina's chest protector for foreign substances after the incident.

There is a major league baseball rule, 3.01 which says any player “intentionally discolor(ing) or damage(ing) the ball by rubbing it with soil, rosin, paraffin, licorice, sand-paper, emery paper or other foreign substance," will be ejected and suspended.

The catch here is the same area of the rules says having “on his person, or in his possession, any foreign substance” is only a violation if the pitcher is doing it. This is because pine tar, used to a moderate degree by hitters in order to get a better grip on the bat is legal ... if it's on the bat and rubs off on the hands. Pine tar on the catcher's chest protector isn't mentioned but might be the next time the league looks at changing the rules.