I think Maddon did overmanage in two situations -- pitching Chapman in Game Six when Wood, Rondon, or Grimm could have closed it out and saved Chapman. Look. I get it. You have to get to Game Seven and not worry about how you get there. But still.

 

I'm thinking Rondon was left at the airport in Chicago after Game Five. Makes me wonder if there are health concerns not being made public.

 

Maddon also took Hendricks out too early. He kept pitching out of trouble and was throwing ground balls for the most part. With a lead, you can allow Hendricks to do that through six, pitcher Lester in the 7th and 8th and maybe pitch Chapman in the 9th or let Lester finish.

 

But both managers were guilty of using the hook with their starters. And I don't think Francona used his bullpen effectively either, especially Miller. Salazar could have been used earlier in some games or later in others instead of stopgap middle relief.

 

Maddon won't get enough credit for moving Schwarber to the #2 spot and dropping Bryant to third. Both saw more pitches they could hit in Games Six and Seven after the swap and that keyed the offensive outburst.

 

Maddon reminds me of Calipari. Handles the star talent well. Gets them to buy into his message. But can hit the panic button when the sphincter begins to tighten, whether it's leaving the Harrisons in over Ulis and Booker against Wisconsin, not calling timeouts when Wisconsin made their late run, or leaving starters in late in blowouts.

 

The Cubs have had HOF-level managers since 1908 -- Joe McCarthy, Rogers Hornsby, Leo Durocher are all in the HOF. None of them won a title with the Cubs

 

Managers are willing take a few more chances if they believe in their team's resiliency. I didn't agree with pitching Chapman in Game Six and removing Hendricks in Game Seven. I also didn't agree with taking Ross out with Lester but Montero had a pretty big hit in the 10th. He pinch ran Almora who took the extra base on the deep fly ball.

 

Maddon also went with a four-man rotation in the WS, which meant Lester and Lackey were available for an all hands on deck seventh game.

 

I think any team in the NL Central would agree Maddon was an upgrade over their current manager. Some of this comes across as sour grapes.

Cubs fans have been killing Maddon as much if not more than anyone (Jim Schue excluded) so not sure about the sour grapes comment.

 

I will say it's really hard to do much second guessing of a guy whose team just won 103 games and then a title for the first time in a bizillion years regardless of the talent level.

A guy on sports radio early this morning said "The Cubs are a model franchise". Made me laugh. Never thought I'd hear those words.

The Cubs should have lost. Terrible managing last night. They got extremely lucky.

Who cares at this point. We won!

A guy on sports radio early this morning said "The Cubs are a model franchise". Made me laugh. Never thought I'd hear those words.

He may have meant 'Model-T' franchise since that is the last time we won one.

He may have meant 'Model-T' franchise since that is the last time we won one.

 

We got the perfect blend of home grown talent, free agent talent (even more if Heyward starts spring training Monday and fixes that swing), bargain trades like Hendricks, Arietta and most of all Addison Russell. Glad we signed Theo to an extension. If he wins 1-2 more World Series with us, I could see the Ricketts giving him a slice of ownership.