Kris Bryant says comments that sparked offseason beef with Yadier Molina were taken out of context

Molina took issue with Bryant joking about St. Louis

Last month, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant went on a fake talk show with former Cubs player Ryan Dempster during the team's convention in Chicago. Bryant made a crack about St. Louis being boring, much to the delight of the Cubs fans on hand. It appeared to be harmless, but then Cardinals catcher and clubhouse leader Yadier Molina caught wind of it. He called Bryant a loser and said later he wanted the beef to carry over into the regular season. 

Monday in Cubs spring training, Bryant was questioned about Molina's response and he tried to reiterate it was all supposed to be a joke to pander to the Cubs fans at the convention. Via NBC Chicago: 

"I guess it's good for the rivalry; it'll be an interesting game," Bryant said. "But I think it was totally taken out of context. I think we all know that it was a comedy show with Ryan Dempster at a Cubs Convention, trying to get the fans excited for the season and I think it certainly did do that. There's nothing going on at that time of the year, so it's easy to kind of grab on to it and run from it."

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"Yeah I think [Yadi's response came off too strong]," Bryant said. "I wasn't attacking anybody, I wasn't attacking anybody's family, the organization, the fans. I wasn't attacking anybody. It was just totally taken out of context. You'd have to ask him what he thinks about it, if he has anything to say since then.

"It did come off a little strong, kinda caught me off guard a little bit. But hey, you never know what people will react to what you say. Everybody's got a different mindset in how they approach things and what they look at. That's how we look at it."

Bryant also said that he would be willing to "clear the air" with Molina when the two clubs face off in 2019. We've long known that Molina isn't shy in standing up for his team with the most notable situation being the brawl with the Reds, specifically Brandon Phillips, in 2010 after Phillips said he hated the Cardinals the night before. With how mild-mannered Bryant is here in addition to how long there is between the comments and the teams playing, I find it hard to believe that something similar will go down. 

They don't play until May 3 and the Cubs don't visit St. Louis until May 31. That's over three months between the comments and the teams squaring off on the field. Surely cooler heads will have prevailed by then in the Cardinals clubhouse, right?