By Tim Baffoe–
(CBS) Only one person was going to be awarded the temporary glory or the goat for an entire cold offseason.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon made some interesting decisions from start to finish of a do-or-die Game 5 of the World Series, and it was evident that he was willing to be the biggest factor in Sunday’s outcome. Would the Cubs be flying to Cleveland for a Game 6 or would the tee times be scheduled starting Monday?
“We have to celebrate Halloween on the airplane,” Maddon said after the 3-2 victory that cut the Cubs’ series deficit to 3-2.
Typical Maddon. A game full of one long, drawn-out cardiac arrest just finishes, and he was focused in the moment on travel outfits. Damned if that mentality hasn’t worked on its way up to and including the franchise’s first World Series appearance in 71 years.
Maddon seems willing to put any and all the pressure on himself during these tensest of times. It will be his pregame and in-game (and maybe even postgame somehow) moves that will have the residual effects of winning or losing this series, as was the National League Championship Series, as was the Divisional Series. And it all starts with not losing his head over anything that happened in the very near or distant past.
Take the deadening loss to Cleveland in Game 4 on Saturday, which most assumed had all but sealed the series. How did Maddon react afterward?
“Yeah, well, Beanie (Maddon’s mother), we were up till 2 in the morning having a pizza party last night,” Maddon said Sunday afternoon, per MLB.com. “And then she had to get up at 4 to catch her plane to go back to Pennsylvaina, which she should be back in Hazleton by now.
“I like to drop things. There’s not a whole lot to overthink right now, I don’t think. I prefer putting things down, and I believe if you do that, then the right thoughts will come to you sometimes. So I did that.”
Those right thoughts sure did pay off in Game 5. Let’s start with the lineup. Maddon stuck with the much-maligned Jason Heyward, who singled and stole two bases Sunday. More importantly, he flashed his NL-best outfield glove, though, robbing an out by jumping and clinging to the wall down the right-field line with the Cubs already trailing in the game.
Sticking with defense, Javier Baez stayed at second base despite his plate discipline seemingly vacationing in Los Angeles, and he rewarded Maddon with a patented ninja tag on a David Ross throw to cut down a would-be base-stealer with Jon Lester on the mound. August Fagerstrom of Fangraphs noted the importance of that play:
All three parties here deserve credit for their remarkable parts in this caught stealing, which was huge, by the way. (Francisco) Lindor represented the tying run in Jon Lester’s final inning with Cleveland’s best hitter against left-handed pitching at the plate, with formidable bats in Carlos Santana and Jose Ramirez waiting after him. Two-tenths of a second more by anyone involved — Lester in his delivery, Ross in his exchange, Baez with his positioning and application — and the tying run is scoring on a single. Instead, Napoli led off the next inning … against a hard-throwing righty.”
That righty was Carl Edwards Jr., who suddenly has become one of Maddon’s most reliable bullpen arms. So much so that Maddon pulled Lester after six innings at a time the veteran lefty seemed to be cruising. Social media was understandably skeptical, but Edwards bridged the gap between starter on closer — for only one out.
Then Maddon brought in Aroldis Chapman to get the final eight outs. It was another move that would not only make or break the Cubs’ season but also possibly all the goodwill Maddon had built up this year should his closer not be infallible for almost three innings.
“Joe talked to me this afternoon,” Chapman said. “He asked me if I was OK to come into the game in the seventh if necessary. I told him I would be ready. I said anything he needs me to do, I would be ready.”
Maddon also burned three catchers, with possibly Baez being the emergency fill-in there should something happen to Willson Contreras with Kyle Schwarber not cleared to play the field. And speaking of War Bear, Sunday was the second consecutive game that the thunderous bat that returned this series from April’s torn ACL never made an appearance. This time, Schwarber didn’t appear in a one-run game. Had the Cubs lost without using Schwarber, the lingering taste in fans’ mouths would have been extra bitter. And it probably would be another item added to the pile of collective woulda, coulda, shouldas of Cubs lore.
Which Maddon doesn’t care about, by the way.
“Again, it doesn’t matter,” Maddon said. “It really doesn’t matter. From Day 1, we’ve been engulfed, surrounded, inundated with these thoughts. And my guys have handled it great. You cannot handle it any better, I don’t think, than our guys have handled it.
“I don’t think there’s any Cub fan throughout the universe actually that would not be happy with where we’re at – at this particular moment – based on what’s occurred over the last century and over the last several years.”
They’ve handled all the pressure/curse/drought talk well largely because of the tone Maddon has set, be it on field petting zoos or having his guys not show up to Wrigley Field until 5:30 p.m. for a 7:17 start time and no mandatory batting practice, as was the case Sunday.
“No magicians,” Maddon said. “The guys have been fine all year. I don’t want to confuse things out there right now. There were moments last year where I thought it was necessary. Right now, I think they’re able to stand on their own without all the diversions.
“Bill Murray was walking around here yesterday before the game though.”
All those in-game and out-of-game moves paid off in Game 5, even if it was beyond tense to watch and definitely had even the most rational viewer questioning a manager whose unorthodoxy won 103 regular-season games and nine postseason contests in 2016 so far. Now it seems the pressure transfers to the Cubs’ opponent.
“Listen, I’m very pleased and proud of our group, period, over the last two years,’’ Maddon said. “I think all of our Cub following feels the same way. We are at the doorstep, the precipice of winning a World Series, absolutely. I understand the angst involved with that.”
Maybe on the plane Maddon’s Halloween costume will be a manager with angst.
Tim Baffoe is a columnist for CBSChicago.com. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBaffoe. The views expressed on this page are those of the author, not CBS Local Chicago or our affiliated television and radio stations.
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