Chicago Cubs: Joe Maddon is the guy to help this team bounce back

Chicago Cubs: Maddon in four years

Since joining the Cubs in 2015 to manage one of the youngest teams ever to take the field, Maddon’s results have been impressive.  He led the team to winning seasons all four years, including four postseason appearances, a World Series championship and the NLCS three times.

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs starting pitching has been thriving on the North Side
• Make no mistake: the Cubs are very much about power hitters
• Cubs are giving pitcher Javier Assad a deserved shot
• Cubs: It’s time to start thinking about potential September call-ups
• Cubs: P.J. Higgins deserves to be in the lineup on a daily basis

Over the course of those four years, he has become the third-winningest manager in Cubs history (.598 winning percentage over 648 games).  Only Frank Chance (1905-1912; .664 over 1178 games) and Al Spaulding (1876-1877; .624 over 126 games) are better.

I don’t know about most fans but I’d have to really wonder about a front office that fired a manager with a record like that.

Maddon has a curious way of managing the Cubs that fans and others have noticed.  For example, some point out that there’s no set lineup.  True, he doesn’t run out the same eight players for every game.  But if we look at the number of games played Anthony Rizzo, Willson Contreras, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, we see that they average 130 to 160 games.  Bryant was hurt this year and still played 102 games.

Chicago Cubs: A method to the Maddoness?

How can one explain the constant shifting of guys in and out of the lineup, even changing the batting order itself on a daily basis?  I wager several factors are at-play. First, analytics and match ups.  The amount of data available to a manager about opponents and player performance far exceeds what we all have at our fingertips as fans.  Maddon develops lineups based on pitching matchups and an array of other factors.

Second, the Cubs have a deep bench and you need to keep players sharp and engaged.  That means they have to get into games more than fans might like. Maddon ensures they see live action in situations and games that look promising.

Third, the Cubs are still a young team, and Maddon seeks to put players in when the analytics say they have a high chance of success.  We saw this with David Bote and Ian Happ throughout the season.

Finally, Chicago still plays more day games than any other team in baseball because of the city’s rules around night games on weekends.  This creates scheduling anomalies no other team deals with, such as playing an away night game on Thursday before coming home to a Friday day game.

The 2018 Cubs didn’t go deep into the postseason.  There is a lot of blame to go around, from the front office, to the skipper and the players themselves.

But despite all the things working against them: a wildly inconsistent offense, injuries to half a dozen key players that cost Maddon 40 percent of his starting rotation, the MVP third baseman, your closer (twice) and a late August and September schedule that was just bizarre, Joe Maddon guided his team to yet another 90-plus win campaign.

I’d call that his best work yet.