Chicago Cubs: Even With a World Series Win, Joe Maddon Is Still an Overrated Manager

Even though Joe Maddon led the Chicago Cubs to winning the World Series for the first time since 1908, his poor decision-making tendencies shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Watching the Chicago Cubs in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series was nerve-wrecking to say the least. The Cubs had already done the improbable in coming back being down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series against the Cleveland Indians. Now they were just a mere 27 outs away from doing the unthinkable!

Fitting enough though, the Cubs couldn’t possibly win the World Series without even a little bit of drama unfolding during the final game! Right Joe Maddon?

Sure enough, there was drama sprinkled in throughout Game 7 of the World Series. Lots of drama in fact. All thanks to none other than famous Cubs’ manager Joe Maddon. You see, this Game 7 match up against the Indians didn’t have to be as stressful as it played out.

Kyle Hendricks was dealing throughout this game. Through 4.2 innings pitched, Hendricks had only given up one earned run, and was cruising along having only thrown 63 pitches up to that point. The Cubs also had a 5-1 lead over the Indians leading up to Hendricks’ 2-out walk in the 5th.

Related Story: Top Chicago Cubs Moments of 2016

Still, Joe Maddon being “Joe Maddon”, decided to take Hendricks out of the game at that point, even while he was pitching well, to put in Jon Lester. All the Indians did after that was score two runs off of a “rusty” Lester in that same inning to get right back in the game.

These are the types of ill-advised miscues by Joe Maddon that seemingly go unnoticed throughout ballgames, let alone the World Series. His decisions to pull his starting pitchers out of games earlier than expected tend to backfire at times just like in the pivotal Game 7.

Kyle Hendricks could have easily pitched a couple of more innings against the Indians given how dominating he looked out there. Still, Maddon did not want to risk anything in that moment, even with a healthy 4-run lead.

Fans everywhere may argue that Maddon in that instant was doing the right thing in replacing Hendricks with Lester; the team’s best pitcher. Lester had been pitching brilliantly in the postseason up to that point, but he had not come into the ballgame as a relief pitcher since 2007.

Besides, as good as Lester is, he has trouble holding runners on base. Hendricks on the other hand doesn’t, for he possesses a great pick-off move. This was clearly a poor decision on Maddon’s part, but not even the worst one that he made in the Cubs’ 2016 championship run.

Joe Maddon’s worst decision may have very well been misusing closer Aroldis Chapman throughout the postseason. Having very little faith in his relievers, Maddon summoned Chapman to pitch in games that were already seemingly decided. Case in point: when Maddon sent his closer out to pitch in the 9th inning of Game 6 against Cleveland with the Cubs boasting a seven-run lead.

More from Chicago Cubs

• Chicago Cubs in the middle of chaos that is Shohei Ohtani’s free agency
• The Chicago Cubs are on a roller coaster of emotions chasing Shohei Ohtani
• Chicago Cubs Rumors: latest on Bellinger, Chapman, and Hoskins
• National insider takes Chicago Cubs out of Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes
• One overlooked factor when it comes to Shohei Ohtani not signing with the Chicago Cubs

Any other manager would have done the logical thing in resting their star closer for Game 7, especially since Chapman had pitched the previous two innings.

Chapman, expressing his belief about Joe Maddon’s decision-making following the World Series, exclaimed it best:

“There were couple of games, but the one I can point to is Game 6,” Chapman said when asked for specifics for his criticism. “The game was open and I don’t think he needed to [leave] me in the ninth. The important game was going to be Game 7 because we had that game almost won. The next day I came in tired.”

Chapman couldn’t have said it any better. Joe Maddon clearly overworked him throughout the postseason, as evident by his inability to throw fastballs in the 100’s come Game 7.  Chapman thus became hittable and rather predictable. Just ask Rajai Davis, who hit the game-tying two-run homer off Chapman in the bottom of the 8th.

If it were not for a much-needed rain delay, and for some timely clutch hitting following that by both Ben Zobrist and Miguel Montero, the Cubs, thanks to Maddon’s timely miscues, may have gone onto to lose Game 7. Of course, that’s a what-if-scenario not worth going much more into.

In the end, the Cubs won the World Series, and Joe Maddon deserves plenty of credit for the great job he’s done since taking over as manager. Having said that, while he’s a terrific player’s coach given how much the players respect and enjoy playing for him everyday, he shouldn’t receive all the credit he’s getting because of this World Series victory.

More from Da Windy City

• 3 takeaways from Chicago Blackhawks shootout loss to Nashville
• Chicago Cubs in the middle of chaos that is Shohei Ohtani’s free agency
• The Chicago Cubs are on a roller coaster of emotions chasing Shohei Ohtani
• Chicago Bears quietly compiling list of head coaching candidates
• Chicago White Sox News: Erick Fedde signs two-year deal

If anything, his misguided decision-making during the World Series shouldn’t go unnoticed. Yeah, the Cubs won it. But if they want to be fortunate enough again to win another one, Maddon needs to learn from his mistakes as a coach.

Why then is Joe Maddon thus an overrated manager?  Because any manager can make the same ill-advised decisions that Maddon made during the World Series and the end-game result could be completely different.

If the Chicago Cubs would have gone on to lose Game 7, Maddon’s controversial in-game decisions would be the talk of the city. Yet, they are now seemingly hidden thanks to the opposite.

Baseball is a game of luck sometimes, especially for the managers. There is no telling that if Maddon kept Hendricks in to pitch instead of bringing in Lester that the end-game result would still be a Cubs’ World Series victory. Maybe Hendricks’ wheels would have fallen off the mound if he had been kept in the game. Who knows?

That’s the risk that managers like Maddon have to consider and sometimes live with by demonstrating a leap of faith. Still, what is true is the fact that Maddon overworked a tiring closer, nearly to the point where it put the Cubs at a risk of blowing the most pivotal game in franchise history. And doing that is not something a truly great manager would want to risk performing for the sake of messing with his team’s and star closer’s confidence.

Next: Should the Cubs Trade Jake Arrieta?

All managers have their flaws, and Joe Maddon’s biggest flaw might be that he doesn’t trust his pitchers enough. He usually possesses a short leash and a quick hook for deciding how long to keep certain pitchers in games. Except when that pitcher happens to be Chapman, who is now no longer on the Cubs.

That is something that Maddon should try to work hard on improving during the upcoming season. Trusting what everyone else watching the game sees when something appears to make more sense in the heat of the moment. Then again, what’s obvious to us fans may not be really as obvious to managers. Just ask Joe Maddon.