Cubs go with speed, add Berry to NLCS roster
NEW YORK — The Cubs decided they could use speed more than anything else when they set their roster Saturday for the National League championship series.
With shortstop Addison Russell out for the series with a strained left hamstring, the Cubs replaced him on the 25-man roster with outfielder Quintin Berry, who was not on the division series roster.
Infielder Jonathan Herrera was another possibility, but outfielder Chris Coghlan can play the infield as well. And the Cubs also have infielder Tommy La Stella coming off the bench.
“We had to decide between the runner and the extra defender,” said manager Joe Maddon. “It makes Coghlan more pertinent on the infield if it's necessary.
“But we thought the potential for a running situation might occur more often. That's all.”
Maddon also seems comfortable with his bullpen, so pitchers Neil Ramirez and Zac Rosscup remained off the roster.
“They're pitching well and they're rested,” Maddon said of the pen. That's part of it, too.”
The addition of Berry also may have had something to do with Cubs president Theo Epstein remembering the 2004 ALCS, when pinch runner Dave Roberts stole second base in Game 4 to help propel the Boston Red Sox to a series victory after being down three games to none. Epstein was the Red Sox' general manager at the time, and they went on to win the World Series.
Epstein noted that Roberts still can't buy a drink or a meal for himself in Boston, that somebody is always ready to pick up the tab.
Voiceless in New York:
Joe Maddon has found it difficult talking to the media the last day or so. It's not because he doesn't like to talk. He does. But Maddon has lost his voice.
It's a combination of illness and the Cubs clinching the division series at home.
“It's a head cold, and after that game, talking to everybody on the field, all the reporters, it was so loud, and I was trying to talk so loud,” he said. “That's what kind of strained it a little bit. I get a head cold every year in October. This is horrible weather change. I've always been that guy.
“It's a playoff cold. I like that.”
Making the comparison:
Theo Epstein was asked Saturday if there were similarities between the 2015 Cubs and the '03 Red Sox, who came close to the World Series but were eliminated by the Yankees.
“Two different experiences, but there are a lot of similarities there, too,” he said. “We found ourselves five outs from the World Series, and it fell apart. We came back the next year and went through the Yankees to win. Here, this has been more of a gradual hill, starting from the bottom up. So in that sense it's been different.”
Switching them up:
Joe Maddon flip-flopped Kyle Schwarber and Jorge Soler in the batting order for Game 1 of the NLCS. Schwarber batted second Saturday while Soler moved down to sixth. The Cubs were facing Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey, a right-hander. Schwarber bats left-handed and Soler right. Schwarber was one of the few to get to Harvey with a tape-measure solo homer to center in the eighth.
Soler posted a .769 on-base percentage in the division series, the second best to Boston's David Ortiz's .846 in the 2007 ALDS.