One day in mid-June, Gerrit Cole walked into the visiting clubhouse at Nationals Park and found a playing card, the ace of spades, taped above his locker. Cole, the 25-year-old right-hander, tore down the card and spun to corner the culprit.
“Come on, Walker,” he fired across the clubhouse. “What are you doing?”
Truly, Cole had no idea if Neil Walker was the joker — still doesn’t. Clues were few, and suspects many. The previous night, he had three-hit the Chicago White Sox over seven innings of one-run baseball to pick up his league-leading 11th win. This was somebody’s subtle jab at the budding ace.