The Chicago Cubs arrived in Los Angeles later than anticipated due to their overnight flight being diverted. Manager Joe Maddon didn’t so much as have time to change into uniform for his media availability that was held the day prior to the National League Championship Series beginning.
On Saturday night, Maddon was gone before the final out was recorded in Game 1. His ejection came in the seventh inning, after the Dodgers successfully challenged an out call at home plate. The replay center determined Willson Contreras illegally blocked Charlie Culberson’s path.
“I saw a great baseball play,” Maddon said following his team’s 5-2 loss. “I saw Schwarber come in on a grounded ball, use his feet perfectly, make a low, great throw to the plate that could have been cut off, had we needed it to be, but did not because we chose to have it go to home plate.
“Perfect skip-hop, great play by Contreras. The ball kind of taking Willson towards the line, towards foul territory. He catches the ball, and his technique was absolutely 100 percent perfect. I could not disagree more with the interpretation of that.”
Maddon clarified his criticism was not aimed at the umpiring crew or official who overturned the call. Instead, he took umbrage with the MLB rule that was implemented in the aftermath of San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey sustaining a gruesome injury in a violent collision.
“That gets interpreted kind of like tantamount to the soda tax in Chicago, for me,” Maddon said. “I don’t think the rule was called correctly either. From what I saw, the ball took Willson toward that line. I disagree with that. My point is all rules that are created or laws aren’t necessarily good ones.”
Maddon harkened back to Jon Jay’s slide into second base during Game 5 of the NL Division Series, which was reviewed but not deemed to have been in violation of a rule. The Cubs manager pined for intent to be taken into account.
“I think there’s room, if you want to interpret the situation whereas somebody’s intentionally trying to hurt somebody, I think that’s obvious,” Maddon said. “But those are just good baseball plays without any injury intent whatsoever.”
Ultimately, the run the Dodgers were awarded on Culberson’s slide didn’t make a difference in what finished a 5-2 victory. If nothing else, Maddon was presented with an opportunity to voice his frustration, and this year’s NLCS now has a controversial play to match Adrian Gonzalez’s head-first slide into home plate last October.
