When Is Great Defense Not Enough? Substituting For Matt Shaw And Pete Crow-Armstrong

[Brian Kelder]

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Defense never slumps.

This is one of the old adages that coaches on every level preach. My high school coach in western Wisconsin preached it. I preached it as a varsity coach in my 20s. 

The Cubs are the embodiment of this axiom.

In game two, the Cubs did not score. Pete Crow-Armstrong came up in the fourth inning, two outs, runners on first and second. The center fielder has been scuffling for months. At that time, he was striking out five of his first six at-bats in the postseason. Predictably, Crow-Armstrong failed to come through, weakly grounding out to first base. 

In game three, Matt Shaw stepped to the plate in a similar situation. Shaw ended the series with no hits in seven at-bats, striking out in five of them. None was as noteworthy as the sixth inning, with two runners on in a tight, tense atmosphere. Shaw did not rise to meet that moment and went down swinging, never looking like he had a chance.

The Cubs left in two young, struggling hitters in tight situations.

And it was the right call. Even when things didn't work out well, the managerial decisions here were sound. Counsell never blinked and left his struggling youngsters.

When Craig Counsell speaks, he consistently emphasizes process over results. The Cubs have slavishly followed their process. Center Field has exclusively been Crow-Armstrong's domain, even when the hitting wasn't there. The defense was keeping him in the lineup. Matt Shaw has similarly been allowed to let his offense ebb and flow all season long, as long as his defense showed up every game.

This was never going to change in October. Craig Counsell is a process-over-results manager. All season long, the Cubs have ridden the defense first. It's been the one constant this season and the main reason they won 92 games. There was no way that Counsell was going to compromise the defense.  

This time, the Cubs won the series against the San Diego Padres. The process was followed, and both players whom some fans clamored to be pinch-hit for made key defensive plays in their games. Matt Shaw, specifically, made a terrific play in the ninth inning in Game 3. Crow-Armstrong also made every play, giving fans a sense of calm any time a ball was hit to center. 

Nobody agrees with their manager all of the time. Craig Counsell, with his devotion to analytics, invokes a certain ire among Cub fans. But it is good to know what to expect going forward in the playoffs. Unless it's a ninth-inning, crucial at-bat, or tight spot, he will default to leaving his incredible defense intact. It paid off in the season, and it paid off in the Wild Card Series.

Off to Milwaukee, where we shall see what twists and turns baseball hoists upon us. But we do know one thing: the defense is what has gotten the Cubs to this point. There's no need to change priorities now. They'll ride their gloves into Milwaukee and see what happens.

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