Doolittle, Too Late: Maddon Right to Protest Nats Reliever’s Illegal Delivery

There are times as a leader when you’ve got to stick up for your charges and prove a point. One of those times came Saturday night in Washington when Joe Maddon twice protested Sean Doolittle’s illegal delivery, arguing to the point that it looked like he was trying to get tossed. He wasn’t run from the game, but the Cubs finished it under protest.

This is, after all, a team that had one of its core relievers forced to alter his own mechanics after it was ruled early in the season that his delivery was illegal. Maddon and the Cubs may not have done the best job of handing that situation, but the league and umpires bear the burden of fault as well. By not nipping it in the bud, and by…