CHICAGO — When St. Louis manager Mike Matheny has to make a pivotal decision in the playoffs, he can pull a scouting report from his pocket. He can ask a coach to look at notes the Cardinals brought to the bench.
Or he can go to an iPad.
Matheny is one of the first managers to take advantage of a decision by Major League Baseball to allow the computer tablets in the dugout.
The experiment started with a month left in the season, and could lead to the end of the thick binders that have grown more popular with the overflow of data in the sport.