Speaking from the Sloan Park locker room Sunday morning, Javy Báez admitted to the media that he and his teammates didn’t prepare well enough prior to games last year. Although he didn’t mention Joe Maddon directly, it’s clear Javy’s words aligned with what we’ve heard from various other sources over the last two years or so. Theo Epstein spoke often about creating more urgency and former bench coach Mark Loretta noted publicly that practice habits and game planning were lacking.
Even with the implementation of several player-sponsored initiatives to be more intentional with their preparation, existing philosophies encouraged players to relax and essentially warm up during the game.