Joe Maddon and Terry Francona are among the most highly regarded managers in Major League Baseball. If Maddon and the Chicago Cubs win tonight, he joins the exclusive club of guiding a World Series Champion.
A victory by the Cleveland Indians would mean a third World Series ring for Francona, having won with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and 2007. Despite their high stature, both managers will be open to second-guessing for decisions made in Game 6, depending on who loses and how.
Francona is under scrutiny for his decision to start Josh Tomlin in Game 6 on three days’ rest. Tomlin shut out the Cubs at Wrigley Field in Game 3, but was hit hard and victimized by an outfield misplay Tuesday night before being lifted in the third inning of Cleveland’s 9-3 loss.
Tomlin was charged with six earned runs allowed and was clearly not the pitcher he was four days before. Some of those criticizing Francona felt Trevor Bauer, the Game 2 starter, should have gotten the start because he was still on his normal schedule.
Bauer, who took the loss in the Cubs’ 5-1 win, has yet to fully recover from somehow severely cutting his pitching hand while handling a drone. Another starter, Danny Salazar, is limited to bullpen duty by Francona while he recovers from a strained right forearm. Salazar is on a 60-pitch limit and made his first appearance on the mound in Game 2.
Critics say Salazar could have gone four or five innings, then turned it over to the lights-out duo of Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. Of course, none of this comes up had the Indians been able to knock out Cubs’ starter Jake Arrieta, who did not have his best stuff.
Instead of being critiqued for his choice of starter, Maddon is being questioned for how he used his closer, Aroldis Chapman. After throwing 42 pitches over 2.1 innings to save Game 5, Chapman was again called from the bullpen in the seventh inning of Game 6.
Had it been a save situation, fewer eyebrows would have raised, but the Cubs led 7-2 at the time. Chapman did his job and was lifted in the ninth inning after issuing a leadoff walk in the ninth and now leading 9-2. He threw 20 pitches to get four outs.
“I thought the game could have been lost (in the seventh) if we did not take care of it properly,” Maddon said afterward.
That is unlikely to satisfy Cub Nation if Chapman enters Game 7 and gives up a late lead. Some worry about injuring his arm, but the immediate concern would be whether the flame-thrower was firing at 102-103 mph or the mid-90s.
If Cleveland should lose Game 7, their critics are not likely to point at Wednesday’s starter Corey Kluber, who will likely be World Series MVP if he wins again. An Indians’ loss, rightly or wrongly, will go back to decisions made Tuesday night.
Such critics would forget the job Francona did in guiding this team down the stretch as they played their best baseball despite a rash of injuries.
We should all just hope for an epic seventh game between these two teams starving for a championship. After 68 years, Cleveland is starving. Famine is a better word for the Cubs after more than a century without a title.
No matter what happens, they are led by two of the best in the business. There should be no argument about that.
