The Chicago Cubs have officially entered the stretch run. That means that tempers are a little bit higher and the stress level among the entire team is rising. The team has made moves in order to bolster its defense and its pitching staff. Now the team needs to put everything together and actually win the games. That starts with manager Joe Maddon and the way he runs the team. There's just one problem with that. It appears that umpires in Major League Baseball have started to dislike the Chicago Cubs manager.

Maddon's arguments becoming more heated and happening more often

Bleacher Nation points out that Maddon was ejected from the Cubs' game on Monday night. He was ejected because he came out to argue a pitch call that was clearly a ball. The problem was that the umpire decided it was actually a strike. Maddon came out to have a conversation with the umpire and he was almost immediately ejected from the game.

Umpires are known to have a quick hook every now and then. Rules are in place that don't allow arguing with umpires at all. If they want to eject a player simply for saying one word, they are allowed to. Most of the time the umps will give players and managers a longer leash than what Maddon got yesterday.

The question that Chicago fans have been asking is: Why are the ejections of Maddon and his players going up? It seems as if the Cubs are getting ejected faster and more often than other teams' players. Some of it might just be due to how hard the Cubs are arguing, but it seems as though there's something else at play as well.

Maddon doesn't seem to be liked by umpires in baseball

One man who has certainly been around baseball enough seems to think the Chicago Cubs are getting a bit of a raw deal because of Joe Maddon specifically. Jon Heyman says umpires don't like Maddon and might be taking their frustrations out on him. Heyman was not able to offer up an explanation as to why exactly Maddon has been singled out as someone who would draw the umpires' ire.

Maddon doesn't seem to be getting angrier or coming out and arguing more often than other managers. Most Chicago Cubs fans are quick to point out that he might not be arguing enough at times. Perhaps he just says something that gets them particularly riled up.

The problem with this kind of thing is always going to be that no one knows how it's going to play out. If the umpires have told Heyman they have a problem with Maddon, that's something the Chicago Cubs need to address with the powers that be in Major League Baseball.
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