Owners of a commanding 87-47 record, should the Chicago Cubs look to lighten their players’ workloads during the final month of the regular season?
When you have the best record in baseball and a 16.5-game lead in your division, you can afford to start thinking about the postseason at the beginning of September. The Chicago Cubs have been the class of the league for most of the year, rocketing out of the gate with a 25-6 start and remaining firmly in the driver’s seat despite one or two rough patches. As they enter the campaign’s final month, clinching a postseason berth is merely a formality, and home field advantage throughout the National League playoffs seems likely as well.
Which brings up the obvious question: Should the Cubs rest players this month in preparation for a deep postseason run? If so, how exactly should they handle it? It’s a conundrum that most dominant teams tend to face at this time of year. Above all, it’s a balancing act for the manager and front office to pull off.
Major League Baseball’s regular season is a grinding, 162-game marathon, and being able to give your key players a chance to catch their breath late in the year is a luxury that not many teams can justify. Going into the postseason with a fresh, rested squad can be a huge advantage over a club that had to scratch and claw its way through the final week to earn a playoff spot.
That said, you don’t want to indulge in too much of a good thing either. Baseball is a game of momentum and rhythm, and shelving a player for a while can leave him refreshed but rusty. Striking a balance between these two is the ideal scenario for a team aiming to step confidently into the postseason.
Fortunately for the Cubs and their fans, Joe Maddon is in charge. The veteran skipper is renowned for his ability to manage a roster and meet the individual needs of his players, skills which will serve his team well in their present situation. And the players he’s managing agree. When asked to provide a reason for the Cubs’ success last month, pitcher Kyle Hendricks said:
"“It’s got to be Joe. Just the environment. He gives us the days off when we need it … He knows how long a season is and gets us ready to play. His trust in our players lets us get hot at the end. With the off days and playing for first place, there are a lot of luxuries on this team. And having so many good players and giving guys days off and saving the bullpen, the depth allows all that to happen.”"
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The Cubs enjoyed their best month of the season thus far in August, which is really saying something considering their torrid performance back in April and May. They went a sterling 22-6, convincingly bouncing back from a mediocre July in which they posted a 12-14 record (their only month with a sub-.500 mark). Navigating the dog days of summer with such aplomb is a good sign that Maddon will do well in the early autumn, too.
There are a variety of ways in which the Cubs can gives themselves valuable rest while remaining competitive on the field. According to Jeff Arnold of the Chicago Sun-Times, team president Theo Epstein has indicated that the club will monitor innings and pitch counts on its hurlers. They have even talked about temporarily moving to a six-man rotation, although they have not committed to such an arrangement.
As Arnold points out, the Cubs have already begun giving days off to some of their core players, including Dexter Fowler, Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell. Expect that to continue, although in the case of someone like Jason Heyward, who has struggled mightily all year and is only recently starting to heat up, it might be a good idea to let him keep getting regular at-bats.
The fact that 13 of the Cubs’ final 28 games are against the Brewers (.433) and Reds (.421) means they aren’t exactly pressured to have the full A-team out there every day either.
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Maddon says that for his players, “At the end of the day, you’re trying to conserve their moments for the most important time of year.” Everyone around the Cubs knows what the expectations are for this postseason. Putting their stars in the best position to deliver a championship is paramount, and it starts with playing out the rest of the regular season wisely and with poise.