Bullpen chicken: Cubs pitchers play strange game at Wrigley

"It keeps things interesting down there," veteran Jason Motte said. "They put us away from everybody, so we have to do our own thing to pass the time. We go out there and have a good time."

Left-hander James Russell, a member of the bullpen since 2010, can't remember playing such a goofy contest during a game.

"It keeps us in the game," Russell said. "And nobody is going to get hurt." Or at least nobody has been hurt yet.

Noble, who said he wasn't authorized to talk, started the game this season and every reliever concludes that Noble is the toughest of the bunch.

But there hasn't been a "winner," nor do some think a reliever can actually be declared a winner if a ball hits him in the face.

Motte paused when asked about the danger of risking injury that could affect the Cubs' playoff chances.

"We've had a couple close ones," Motte said. "We've stayed in there. Some (hard-hit balls) have come down there that haven't hit us. They just missed us, but those balls were smoked. We'll see how it goes if one gets smoked, or one of us gets hit in the face. I guess that's how you win.

"I'm not sure if there's a real winner in that game, but that's how you win. That's how you would declare the winner. It would be over."

Manager Joe Maddon was unaware of the game but expressed an amusing solution.

"I prefer to let Noble gauge the degree of difficulty and leave everyone else out," Maddon said with a grin.

Motte predicted that Noble would be the one most likely to take a ball in the face.

"I'd be the one that would have to lift up his arm and say, 'winner,' " Motte said.

But Motte insisted, "we're not trying to do anything stupid. We're just having fun. Keeping ourselves sane."

Wrigley Field and AT&T Park are the only venues where the bullpens are located on the field, so the opportunities to play the game are limited.

But the proximity keeps the relievers in close contact with the action on the field, from studying opposing batters to seeing if they're bold enough to absorb a blow.

"Hey, we're out in the middle of nowhere, but this definitely keeps you in the game," Motte said. "If you're talking and hear a loud crack of the bat, you tend to flinch because you assume the ball is coming this way."

Noble smiled when he learned that Justin Grimm declared him the toughest of the bullpen group. Grimm proudly said he was the pitcher most likely to flinch, and he didn't get much of an argument from his teammates.

"Grimm flinches every time," Russell said. "But (Jon) Lester has his times of flinching. We'll give him a hard time down there. But he's got an excuse. He's got tenure and old (31)."