Maddon confident Schwarber will excel wherever he starts
MILWAUKEE - Kyle Schwarber started in right field for the Cubs Friday night against the Brewers.
That could be a precursor of things to come. Schwarber could conceivably get the start in right next Wednesday night in the wild-card playoff game against the Pirates.
Left field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh (assuming the game is played there) is much more spacious than right field. However, Cubs manager Joe Maddon praised Schwarber's play no matter where it has been: behind the plate, in left field or in right."
"You know what? He's done fine," Maddon said. "That's the thing. He's played the outfield well. The catch he made at Wrigley not long ago, back to the wall, and the one coming in the other day, diving. He's played well out there. He played well behind the plate.
"The whole point is just to maximize what we're able to do at any one particular moment. I don't want to throw guys into situations without giving them some kind of work in advance. I thought it was a good time to do it."
In addition to starting Schwarber in right field Friday, Maddon put Kris Bryant in left field while starting Tommy La Stella at third base.
Not overthinking things:
The Cubs played the Pittsburgh Pirates 19 times this season, winning 11 games. So they won't overdo their preparation for Wednesday's wild-card game or get too bogged down in the details.
"I'm just talking about us against that pitcher on that particular day," Joe Maddon said.
"The minutia, I've learned that the scouting reports at that time of the year, if you can grab a nugget or two, and I mean a couple nuggets, and furthermore, don't even give them to your players. The players just need to go play.
"Our game requires an open, free mind to play and if you're bogging it down with stuff, man, it can only get in the way. Nineteen times. We didn't play them in spring training, thank God. I've gone through that, with the Red Sox. You talk about overkill. The team that plays the better game that night, catches the ball, works the better at-bat. Your pitcher is going to be in charge of the moment primarily. That's how I look at it."
Finishing strong:
Starlin Castro's double in Friday night's fourth inning put him within 10 hits of 1,000 for his career. No doubt Castro would have reached the milestone had it not been for a rough go in the middle of the season and losing his full-time starting job at shortstop to Addison Russell.
Castro does his starting at second base these days, and he's had a productive finish to his season. In Wednesday's game at Cincinnati, he matched his career high with 4 hits. In his previous 22 games entering Friday, he had a .440 on-base percentage and 20 RBI.