When Joe Maddon spoke in the offseason about batting his pitchers 8th in the order, I just assumed he was talking about a once-in-a-while thing or that he was just furthering his image as baseball’s mad scientist. But as it’s become a regular thing, I’m beginning to think Maddon is serious about making this more of a thing than Tony La Russa ever did. Next thing you know, he’ll be trying to spell the alphabet backwards.
This break from the established order of things would make sense in a game Travis Wood’s starting, but what about Jon Lester, an AL stalwart who really looks lost up at the plate?