A carpenter cannot build a house with just a hammer. A doctor cannot perform surgery with just forceps. A mechanic cannot fix a car with just a wrench. Joe Maddon cannot win playoff games with one reliever. But people are certainly out pointing their finger at Joe this morning for not calling on Wade Davis in Game 2 of the NLCS.
The ninth inning of a pitcher’s duel (a game which saw Cubs relievers pitch 4 1/3 of scoreless ball) Cubs reliever Brian Duensing got into trouble in the ninth. With Joe opting to turn to John Lackey, and a pair of runners on base (one by Duensing and the other from John), Justin Turner took a 1-0 fastball and put it 400+ feet into the centerfield stands.
Sure you can ask why Joe went to Lackey, a veteran who has succeeded in the playoffs, but has never pitched in back-to-back games. You can also ask why he didn’t go to his best reliever in Wade Davis. Completely legitimate questions. The thing is, he’s a carpenter without a screwdriver, doctor without a scalpel, a mechanic without half his ratchets. There’s a single guy who he can absolutely trust, and that is Davis.
The question still remains, why not Wade in the ninth, which the game saw its highest leverage situation. When Joe was asked he simply stated, “if they got the lead, he was in.”
You can argue, you can’t get the lead if you don’t get out of that situation. I agree, I think Wade should have been in during the ninth, but you have to look at the big picture too. The ninth inning, if Duensing did his part, wouldn’t have gotten to Turner. In fact, the meat of the Dodgers lineup wouldn’t be due up until a potential 10th inning. Which very likely would have been when Davis would have come in.
Everything changed when Yasiel Puig walked in the ninth and was bunted over a better later. Once that happened the ninth became a “save-like” scenario. I, among many others, questioned why turn to Lackey. But what options were there at that point? Lackey, Davis, or Hector Rondon? The best option is Wade Davis, and he should of been in that game at that point.
Fans are also looking at Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. They want to know why they didn’t do more at the deadline to bolster the pen. With other competitors adding high quality relievers, the Cubs added Justin Wilson and called it a day.
What those fans don’t remember is, the Cubs had one of the leagues best bullpens at the deadline. Carl Edwards Jr was an elite level set-up man, Wade Davis was perfect in save opportunities, with the acquisition of Jose Quintana, Mike Montgomery was returning to the pen. Then finally they were adding Wilson, who was supposed to be another lights-out, high-leverage arm.
The pen wasn’t something they needed to fix, but they still added to it, which should have warranted positive results. It didn’t, and you’ve seen the entire playoffs that the Cubs bullpen isn’t something Joe or the fans have a lot of faith in.
But that’s not why the Cubs lost that game.
If you want to point a finger, you have to point it at the offense. Cubs hitters were 2 for 27 with 1 walk in that game (excluding Jon Lester’s single). You cannot expect to win baseball games with only four baserunners. It becomes increasingly more difficult when 37% of your offensive outs this series so far were via the strike out.
There isn’t a single thing Joe can do to stop the team from striking out. Sure you will point to a guy like Javier Baez, but he was the NLCS MVP in 2016, and is by far the best defensive infielder in the series.
If you want to hang these games on anyone, it has to be Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. While I contest that they are facing elite level pitchers, the entire offense runs through those two Cubs stars. All it will take, which was similar to last postseason, is a couple hits out of Bryant and Rizzo for the rest of the lineup to relax.
If Bryant and Rizzo don’t get going, the Cubs will lose this series. You can’t hang that on Joe Maddon, Theo Epstein, or Jed Hoyer. You need your All Star level, MVP contender players to play like the stars they are.
