Davey Martinez and Carl Edwards, Jr. have history. Martinez was the bench coach with the Cubs between 2015-17, when Edwards, Jr. was breaking into the big leagues, and the right-hander was on the mound for the final outs of the win which finally ended Chicago’s 108-year World Series drought in 2016.
Edwards, Jr. recorded two of the three outs in the bottom of the tenth inning in Game 7 of the 2016 Fall Classic, gave up a run, and was replaced by Mike Montgomery, who got No. 3.
Martinez pointed back to that pivotal moment in their shared histories when he talked with reporters about the now-30-year-old reliever getting called up to help out of the Nationals’ bullpen after signing a minor league deal in Washington this past March and dominating at Triple-A Rochester over the first month-plus (0.