Joe Maddon looking for Cubs to ‘just go play’

After Saturday’s game, Ben Zobrist didn’t know all the Cubs’ playoff scenarios.

That’s fine with manager Joe Maddon.

“Just go play. Just go play,” Maddon said. “I love that, actually.”

Maddon recalled a moment from the baseball documentary “When It Was A Game” when Boston manager Joe McCarthy asked Joe Cronin what his batting average was, and Cronin said he didn’t know, which McCarthy loved. Maddon, apparently, loves it, too, when it comes to Zobrist and the Cubs.

“Just get yourself ready, treat it like any other day, go play a good game of baseball and hope that the result’s going to be a good one based on working the process properly,” Maddon said.

Maddon did not watch any baseball Saturday night. He said he watched the Ohio State-Penn State college football game, with a little Stanford-Notre Dame mixed in. Maddon said since he knows OSU coach Urban Meyer and is from Pennsylvania, that’s what he chose to take in.

“But I was aware that (the Brewers) won,” Maddon said.

Weakened side

The Cardinals were eliminated from postseason contention Saturday night, and their lineup Sunday was weakened but not entirely punchless. Yadier Molina, Marcell Ozuna, Jedd Gyorko and Kolten Wong didn’t start, though Matt Carpenter, Jose Martinez and Paul DeJong were in the lineup.

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said the Cardinals owed it to themselves, baseball, the Cardinals and Brewers to “go at this thing (Sunday) but also owed it to themselves to rest some players.

“We’ve got some guys who have more than played this game in some level of compromised health. They’ve been able to do it or we wouldn’t have run them out there and jeopardized them,” Shildt said. “By the same token want to respect them and know they’ve more than done their duty to put us in the position they’ve put us in.”

Maddon said he wouldn’t have played Molina and understood sitting Ozuna. He would have been mindful of players looking to hit statistical marks and would’ve played Carpenter, unless he said he didn’t want to

“You try to win the game,” Maddon said. “Of course you try to win the game.”

History lesson

Sunday marked the first time the Cubs entered the final day of the regular season tied for first in their league or division since 1908. On October 8 of that year, the Cubs were tied at 98-55 with the New York Giants for the National League lead, and beat Christy Mathewson 4-2 at the Polo Grounds for the pennant before going on to beat the Tigers for their second straight World Series title.

That game was a makeup of a Sept. 23 contest in New York, which was called a tie after the infamous “Merkle’s Boner” play, which cost the Giants what would have been a decisive win over the Cubs in the NL pennant race.

Full circle

Mike Montgomery got the biggest out in Cubs history when he closed Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. Sunday was arguably his second most important moment with the Cubs.

“There’s a little symmetry there,” Maddon said.

Hey, Gardy

Maddon said he hadn’t sent Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire a message asking for help by beating Milwaukee, but he would have offered usage of his famous “Cousin Eddie” RV.

Maddon revealed that Gardenhire is a “big RVer” and that he game the Cubs manager the “nerve to step up” to buying a 40-45 foot RV. At that point, Maddon was only in the 30-foot range.

“He’s such a good fella,” Maddon said. “I’d be happy to offer him two months of the Cousin Eddie for a win today.”