Added Counsell: “He was just voicing his emotion from a place of love.”

So was it a much-needed message?

“Any time you say something from a good place, it’s welcome,” Counsell said.

Steele agreed, saying it came from “a place of love and passion and want-to. I want to win baseball games. That’s what I show up every day to do.”

A Cubs-Brewers affair in Milwaukee is never just a baseball game. It’s also part melodrama, part sing-a-long, part drinkathon and part Sausage Race.

If these Cubs stress you out, rest assured you’re not alone. Watching them play causes more anxiety than a midnight ride on the “L.” When Counsell goes home at night after a long day at work, he’s also feeling the strain of what just occurred.

“I will not think about the job for 24 hours at home,” Counsell promised before the game. “I think anybody that does is making a mistake.”

Counsell’s calm exterior makes it appear as though nothing ever bothers him. Not even Cody Bellinger forgetting the outs and getting doubled off first or Miguel Amaya’s catcher’s interference calls or Saturday’s botched rundown, which Counsell admitted they “screwed up.”

The day began with the Brewers seemingly trying to lure Cubs hitters to sleep during batting practice, playing a medley of soft rock tunes on the PA system. The Cubs took a 2-0 lead on the first two pitches from Tobias Myers — a single by Nico Hoerner and a home run by Michael Busch.

After the Brewers tied the game 3-3 in the fourth, they had much of the crowd of 42,238 singing the chorus to a country song: “Everybody in the bar getting tipsy.” It was a reminder of last year’s classic Fourth of July game in which David Ross popped his top over the closing of the roof mid-inning. Steele later said of the wild affair: “That game was drunk.”

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