As a full-time teacher of US and World History, I can tell Joe Maddon is a learned man. He is well-read and speaks eloquently on a number of topics. What I have noticed this year is that Maddon has a certain managing style in that he likes to keep the players loose but prepared. When the year started, I began noticing how he attacks as a manager when he thinks the game is at a tipping point. If he needs his closer in the eighth to face a certain part of a lineup, he brings him in.
However, his attacking style and the way he parleys with his players and the press is not just some loosey-goosey semi-hippy style of managing.