The Chicago Cub will begin defending their 2016 World Series title shortly, which was their first in 108 years.
Even though the Cubs won the Fall Classic it has not stopped the manager of the Cubs, Joe Maddon from making comments against the people who during last October’s World Series second guessed his decisions in the dugout.
The biggest of which, was his decision to use closer Aroldis Chapman during Game 6 of the series.
Maddon said that the team won 103 regular season games, beat the Giants, Dodgers and Indians to bring home a World Series but people were intent on focusing on just one moment where he completely disagreed with them.
He added that there was nothing he could do about the interpretation and perception of others. He said his interpretation is what he did and he said he already had planned his move before Game 6 of the series had even started.
Maddon said to try to influence another person to change his or her opinion, makes it appear as if he were trying to come up with an excuse for his move, which he will not, he emphasized.
There is a good point to Maddon’s comments. It has been a few months since the series and the Cubs came away with the championship anyway, so many feel there is nothing left to talk about.
However, Maddon has been in baseball long enough that he knows being second guessed is part of being the manager and that taking an approach that is aggressive, and that is what he is doing, toward dissent, could cause even more second guessing down the line now that it is known how much it bothers him.
However, to give credit to Maddon, he did end up with a nice dig by pointing out that everyone had wanted Ben Zobrist taken out batting fourth in the lineup, yet it was Zobrist’s double during Game 7 that put the Cubs in the lead.
As spring training nears and the start of the 2017 season grows closer, the best thing for both Maddon and the baseball media is to put the series behind them so Maddon and his players and coaches can focus on defending the title.
