In the Chicago Cubs 14-5 blowout win against the Arizona Diamondbacks something special happened that has never happened in the National League, ever. In a game which saw an eight run inning, a grand slam, and great performances from a number of Cubs players, shortstop Addison Russell ended up getting his name listed in the record books today.
Russell, who was 2-for-3 with two homers, became the first position player in a NL vs NL game to hit two homers while hitting in the nine hole. While there have been multi homer games from the ninth spot in the order in the past – as recent as Micah Owings in 2007 – those instances have been pitchers.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon has almost exclusively hit a position player in the ninth spot all summer, Russell owning most of those at bats. The last National League manager to tinker with this approach for an extended period of time was former St Louis Cardinals manager, Tony La Russa.
Batting the pitcher eighth is actually becoming a small trend in the National League, and it might have more to do with the 3-4-5 hitters than the 7-8-9 hitters. What some managers, like Maddon and La Russa, have noticed is the better hitters in the lineup were hitting more and more home runs with less runners on base. The thought with batting a position player ninth is, there is an extra hitter with a higher chance of reaching base giving the run producers even more opportunity.
While I personally haven’t been a fan of this strategy, as I had thought this would cause more rallies to end prematurely, this method can start rallies sooner in a lineup with the nine-hole creating more base-runners.
Russell didn’t have to worry about being a base runner today though, and that is just fine by Cubs fans.
