Cubs manager Joe Maddon isn’t afraid to employ somewhat radical strategies if he believes those strategies will help his team win baseball games.
In his team’s four-game series against the Nationals last week, Maddon’s somewhat radical strategy was to refuse to allow superstar Bryce Harper to beat his team. In the four games against the Cubs, Harper visited the plate 19 times. He recorded only four official at-bats — one single, one groundout to second and two strikeouts. He walked 13 times, was hit by a pitch once, had one sacrifice fly (which was his only RBI of the series, by the way) and scored three times.