And until the greatest 10th inning ever, my first thought was that Maddon had Dustied himself with his use of Chapman. (And Lester was one Addison Russell dive away from getting through a flawless 8th. He probably could have gone through Brandon Guyer–although Guyer was this Series’s Conor Gillespie/Andrew Toles/Why-the-hell-can’t-they-get-this-guy-out guy so who knows?) This was Maddon’s 2003 Game 6–only worse. But the team rescued him and he recovered just in time to manage a great 10th. I like arguing managerial strategy in the wake of a game like this a lot better.

1) “bringing in Lester,” not “starting Lester”
2) “taxed Chapman,” not “taxed Soler”

But bringing Chapman out at all in Game 6 seemed completely ridiculous. Sure, teams have come back from 7-2 deficits before, but the likelihood is absurdly minimal. And I know it was do-or-die, but these games didn’t happen in a vacuum. There were repercussions to using Chapman so much — i.e., Rajai Davis.

Similarly, Maddon said he had Game 7 completely mapped out. To me, that speaks to a rigidity that, again, implies panic. Rather than going with the flow (maaaaaaan) like you’d think he would do, Maddon went with the etched-in-stone game plan he’d already drawn up. I get your article’s point that Hendricks had shown his command wasn’t completely flawless, but that’s an awfully short leash Maddon had for starting Lester.

ALSO, Maddon had already taxed Soler the previous two games, so he brings him in with one man on? He didn’t think Lester could get one more guy out? (Similarly, he brought in Lester with a guy on and two outs — couldn’t trust Kyle for one more guy?)

I know I’m ranting like the guy in front of Old Navy on State Street (Chicago native inside joke!), but to my mind, the Cubs won Game 7 despite Maddon, not because of him. Clearly he gets a pass because he’d gotten the team this far, but if Zobrist’s single is four inches further to the right and they end up losing that game, Maddon would’ve been completely — and rightly — excoriated as the guy who effed-up a completely winnable World Series.

Definitely not a fan of Chapman throwing as much as he did in Game 6. I can at least understand bringing him in when he did–with Lindor due up and two runners on, if you snuff that rally out as he did, Cleveland has to go back to square run down five runs in the 8th. But at that point, Maddon has to figure he can get six outs with other arms. And sending him out for the 9th was unconscionable.

To Joel’s points:
1) Totally agree. Maddon told Rosenthal that Ross was raving about how good Lester’s stuff was and I think he wanted to use it to its fullest advantage. And in spite of the wild pitch, Lester was brilliant.

2) Hated hated hated it. But at that point, I was already dead inside from the Davis home run and thought Maddon had blown it by his bullpen usage to that point so one more bad move just felt like piling on a horrifying turn of events. I thought Kipnis’s long foul ball was a Series winning homer off the bat. They’re really fortunate they got through the 9th. Grimm or Edwards would have been a much better choice at that point.

BUT I think we have to give Maddon credit for managing the 10th very well. Edwards was dominant in retiring Napoli and Ramirez. But then when he gave up the walk to Guyer and the single to Davis, Maddon correctly realized that the moment was getting to him. And Montgomery was the perfect guy to face Martinez, as we saw.

Because as it turns out, the Cubs WON THE WORLD SERIES. I’m going to agree–that should probably be the lede.

Secondly, I agree with the above comment by thechisportsfan — the Cubs won, so it’s all wonderful. But I think Maddon’s work in the last few games of the Series really tarnished the halo he’d had. I’ll even give you Chapman going 2 2/3 in Game 5, although I still don’t love it.

But throwing Chapman WITH A FRIGGIN’ FIVE-RUN LEAD in Game 6 was absolute insanity (and not the good kind, like Linsanity or Vinsanity). And while I see your points above re: Game 7, I think you can make the argument that Hendricks had earned enough trust to think he might right the proverbial ship. Your point that Maddon had to use Lester once he started him makes sense, though.

Two other thoughts:
1) I’m wondering if the reason Maddon brought in Lester with two on in the fifth, rather than waiting to start him fresh the next inning, was because he felt he had a finite number of pitches in his arm and he needed to get him in sooner, rather than later?

2) What are your thoughts on bringing Chapman back in for the 9th? An article on, uhhh, a site that rhymes with shmanshraphs detailed Chapman’s 9th inning work and said he was incredibly lucky not to give up a run because he clearly had nothing. (See Maddon’s aforementioned bull-headed use of him in Game 6.) The article said two guys, Santana and Kipnis, had two awful pitches they could/should have crushed and just missed.

But again… it’s all moot because the Cubs won the WS (last I heard).

Baseball’s not perfect but I feel Maddon really downgraded his “magician” moniker he rightfully earned throughout the year and even in the NLCS.

We won, but I sure as hell hope Maddon revisits his own planning/forethought for the future.