WASHINGTON – Life on the road in the big leagues is a matter of crazy repetition, the pace is so uninterrupted that players can practically sleepwalk from city to city.

Bags in 15. Buses in 30. Airplane. Bus. Hotel at sunrise.

Anthony Rizzo reversed this script. After all, why pack a bag when there is nothing in it, anyway?

Call it a silent protest, or an attempt to maintain mental health, or maybe just a joyful distraction as Rizzo and his Chicago Cubs teammates endure an endless baseball odyssey for a month. But Rizzo's decision to wear the Cubs' full uniform – and nothing else – during the team's 20-hour trip to the nation's capital for a makeup match may prove an isolated moment of clumsiness or a touchstone.

The last game of the Cubs took place on August 20, and even between playoffs in Pittsburgh and Detroit. They will not leave until September 20, their first day of rest at home since August 9.

And when the Nationals Park four-game series last weekend featured two postponements, a double-header, 11 hours of delay compared to just 10 hours of baseball, the Cubs could only clench their teeth.

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Oh, there were texting and conference calls with their opponents and the league office, the club doing everything possible to mitigate the effects of this month of hell. In the end, it was decided that the Cubs would return to D.C. – Hurricane Florence wishing – for a match stuck between home series at Wrigley Field.

Not what you want, that's for sure. So, when Rizzo emerged Wednesday night after a crucial defeat for the Milwaukee Brewers in his roadside uniform on the road to the airport, the nuances did not boil down to creating a moment of sharing on social networks.

The message: It sucks, but we can make the most of it.

"At the end of the day, our front office, our owner, they had our backs," Rizzo said on Thursday before being beaten against the Washington Nationals. "We are in a long series of games and the MLB players have been on the side of the players and understand the human element, and they do not seem to care at all.

"That's what it is, and we can sit down and complain about it, or we can have fun about it. We will take the joke around us – it's a lot more fun.

The nine postponements of the Cubs this season are the most important in the major leagues and would not fail to create a schedule crunch in the second period. Indeed, their most recent odyssey on the road began with a makeup match in Atlanta.

Atlanta in Philadelphia in Milwaukee and then in Washington – where buckets of rain greeted them and a trip that started with a make-up game created another one.

Suddenly, 23 days without a break became 30. Have you ever had this at your workplace?

"You go to work for 30 days in a row and see the same people, you want to kill them, eventually," says Rizzo. "But it's all good love – we all love each other and we work for the same goal, and a win today would allow us to lose two of the three players to the Brewers."

Indeed, the Cubs went from 13 to 9 on this stretch, which allows them to have a lead of a match on the Brewers, with whom they shared six games.

"It's an unusual set of circumstances for even minor leagues," says Joe Maddon, director of The Cubs. "To make things even more difficult, we have crossed so many cities through this mechanism. Nobody cries or complains, but it's not optimal when you're looking for optimal performance.

"I'm really proud of our guys through this thing."

Maddon looked down at the field, where a tarpaulin with an advertisement for a fruit-flavored candy covered the inner field again. He has seen the field a lot more than any of his players last weekend, and his subliminal effects can be immeasurable.

"I'm not a big fan of Skittles," says Maddon, "but thanks to advertising, I can become one."

A fifth day at Nationals Park was not what they wanted, but at least, as noted by Rizzo, the visiting tour club serves "the best grilled cheese in the league". .

The Cubs left Washington, dressed in NFL jerseys and university, Jason Heyward gifts and theme trips to Mada in Tampa Bay.

On return, only one of them was in uniform.

"I'd like him to have said something earlier," says Maddon. "We could all have done it. I would have done it without hesitation.

Follow Lacques on Twitter @ GabeLacques