Before we get into the meat of the Cubs’ delightful sweep of Clint Hurdle’s Pittsburgh Pirates, there are a couple things Joe Maddon has said over the years that I’d like to draw your attention to.
The first of those came just in the last couple of weeks. As I suspect you remember, Maddon went uncharacteristically ballistic after Javy Báez was nearly hit by a high-and-tight fastball thrown by Jordan Lyles. The Pirates are baseball’s runaway leaders in hitting opposing batters and the Cubs had clearly had enough of it. Following the game, Maddon said that he “couldn’t wait” to see the Pirates in Chicago.