NLCS 2017: Blame Joe Maddon for Cubs loss in Game 2

The Chicago Cubs have their backs up against the wall in the NLCS after some questionable managing from Joe Maddon.

Major League Baseball managers have come a long way in a very short period of time when it comes to managing their best relievers and bullpens in the playoffs. The game had been trending this way for a few seasons, but last year’s run to the World Series for the Cleveland Indians on the back of multi-inning stud Andrew Miller and Buck Showalter’s baffling decision to leave MVP candidate Zach Britton in the bullpen of the AL Wild Card Game left baseball fans with a quiet confidence that they would never see a visiting team lose on a walk-off with their star closer collecting dust.

Apparently not.

Needing only one out to send Game 2 of the NLCS to extra innings, Chicago Cubs manager ignored the ever-growing force of anti-save momentum and called on exiled starter John Lackey to try and retire Chris Taylor. Wade Davis sat and watched as Lackey, playing the part of Ubaldo Jimenez of the Baltimore Orioles, walked Taylor and then gave up a monumental home run to third baseman Justin Turner to end the game.

As if calling on Lackey — who gave up 36 home runs in 30 starts this season to lead the National League and had never pitched on back-to-back days — wasn’t bad enough, Maddon doubled down on his mistake by admitting that Davis was being saved for a save situation.

"“I really just needed him for the save tonight,’’ Maddon said of not calling for Davis. “It was one inning only.’’"

The Cubs won the World Series in spite of, not because of, Maddon’s managerial decisions last October. His use of closer Aroldis Chapman in the playoffs and 2016 Fall Classic nearly cost the team the title. The Maddon mystique lost a little luster as he refused to trust anyone but Chapman last year and ran him ragged. He has taken another step back this year, nearly blowing the NLDS but for some even uglier managing from his counterpart in that series, Dusty Baker.

Admittedly, Maddon does not have much to work with once his starter exits the game, and Jon Lester did him no favors by failing to get through five innings. Carl Edwards Jr. had a 3.77 ERA in the second half of 2017 and gave up six runs in 2.1 innings of the series against the Washington Nationals. Adding Justin Wilson at the trade deadline did not pan out, and he is not even on the NLCS roster. Hector Rondon had an ugly regular season, but Maddon had no choice but to add him back to the playoff roster. Even Rondon would have been a better choice than Lackey. At least he is comfortable pitching on consecutive days.

The Cubs have the worst bullpen of the remaining playoff teams, which is not much of a departure from last season. Edwards was supposed to take a big step forward this year, but is clearly beginning to wear down. There wasn’t much else Maddon could have done, but going down without throwing his one reliable reliever is as unforgivable a sin as there is for a manager in this new analytical age.

Last night, it was Maddon’s job to keep his team in the game for as long as humanly possible. The only way to guarantee a tenth inning and beyond was to use Davis. Get through the tenth with Davis if possible, but find a way to give your lineup at least one more crack at it. Or, if you must use Lackey in that situation, give him a clean inning instead of letting lefty specialist Brian Duensing try to get six outs.

Maddon is one of the best managers in baseball, but that is strictly in the all-encompassing sense of the word. No one in the game is better when it comes down to managing a clubhouse of ego-driven, testosterone-fueled professional baseball players through the ups and downs of  seven intense months of action. His decision making, though, has come under fire too many times in the past two postseasons. What’s more, his zany antics are much less entertaining when his team cannot pick him up after a bad decision.

There is plenty of blame to go around after this latest loss for the Cubs, a loss that casts serious doubt on their hopes of repeating. The offense got three hits. Kris Bryant is doing his best Aaron Judge impersonation. Lester walked five and needed 103 pitches to go 4.2 innings. Javy Baez is 0-for October and still in the starting lineup. No matter the case, Maddon has to wear the blame for a stunning loss.

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A visiting manager in the ninth inning of a tie game is in between a rock and a hard place, but he does no favors for himself by falling back on the tried and true excuse of waiting for the save. The save has been killed over and over again — in print, in clubhouses, on TV — but it just won’t die. Long live the save.