Now that the dust has settled and the celebrations are done, and the terrible election and terrible result is over, I thought I would set down some observations about this Cubs team. Just to make people aware of my own prejudices and bias, I've always thought that in sports and really in so many other areas, management can only use their judgment to put together the best talent they can find. Similarly, the coaches and field manager can only provide the kind of instruction and environment that allows players to develop and use their skills. Ultimately, it is the players who win games, and, in the end, it is their skills and character that matters. Such was the case with the Cubs this year and it was a great tribute to the team that they did not fold in the face of adversity as so many previous Cubs teams folded, and that they came back in Game 7 despite blowing a safe lead in the eighth inning.
That being said, I've always felt that field managers do not win individual games, but they can lose them. Such might have been the case with Joe Maddon this year. Maddon has always been criticized for this management of the bullpen, even with Tampa Bay. This year, after the fact, he was the subject of some criticism by sportswriters in general for his management of the World Series games. Mike Krukow, the former Cubs and Giants pitcher and current Giants broadcaster, even accused him of arrogance and egotism for his handling of the bullpen. Not sure I would go that far, but Maddon certainly changed his style in the series and it may have just as easily have turned into disaster for the Cubs.
The most obvious change in tactics was the use of the starting pitchers. A great strength of the team throughout the season was its starting pitching and the fact they usually pitched deep into the game, thus taking pressure off the bullpen. The four starters the Cubs used during the playoffs had each averaged more than six innings per start, which meant they ordinarily lasted into the seventh inning. In the playoffs, only Lester maintained that average, the others were removed on an average of an inning sooner than usual, with Lackey averaging nearly two innings less per start.
Granted the playoffs are rather more tense do-or-die games, and that Lackey pitched poorly in almost all of his starts, but especially with respect to Lester and Hendricks, these moves were rather questionable. In Game 7 of the World Series, Maddon removed Hendricks in favor of Lester in the fifth inning with a comfortable lead after a dubious ball and strike call led eventually to a two out walk. Ross botched a throw to first on a pretty ordinary swinging bunt and then Ross and Lester completely screwed up a wild pitch that let the Indians back into the game. Taking Hendricks out after five innings was certainly a defensible plan, but putting Lester into an unfamiliar role with a man on base was, I think, a little unwise.
All this strategy of pulling guys early with low pitch counts put a lot of pressure on the bullpen. Eventually, Maddon seemed to lose confidence in everyone but Montgomery, Edwards, and Chapman. However, the rest of the bullpen was not that bad and in some cases, although inconsistent, pitched rather creditably. Chapman really became the stopper, a role he was hired to perform, but at which, frankly, he did not deliver consistently. In the playoffs, he saved four games and won two, but blew three save opportunities.
Actually, the Cubs were looking to build a kind of three inning fortress with Strop, Rondon, and Chapman, but the thing never really materialized in the regular season, largely because of injuries to the first two members of the triad. These guys never really rounded back into mid-season form, so the bulwark of the pen came to be Chapman. The problem was that Chapman has never seemed comfortable with extended saves and he was not stretched out during the regular season, largely because of this.
Anyway, a lot of the criticism of Maddon's moves relates to the way Chapman was used during the last three games of the World Series. Again, the two plus innings in Game 5 were justified. It was a tight game and the team faced elimination. The attempt to stretch Chapman to seven outs in Game 6 made no sense. Granted, putting him in to get out of a jam in the seventh was OK, even clever, but once the inning was over, the Cubs could reasonably expect to coast in with a comfortable lead. Bringing him out to start the ninth with a seven run lead was tempting fate looking to Game 7. As it is, it turned out he was not sharp in Game 7 and nearly blew the game in the eighth inning.
Another item of criticism for Maddon, besides not dropping Baez and Heyward down in the lineup sooner, was game strategy. I'm not sure there is a lot there to second guess with the exception of having Baez bunt with two strikes and the bases loaded in the top of the ninth. That was a head-scratcher and more than anything, probably prompted Krukow's outburst.
Still, they won, and I think largely based on character and determination in the end. The players simply did not want to go down as another Cubs team that blew the big one, especially after coming off the mat to tie the series and force a seventh game.
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