Manager Joe Maddon said he hasn't thought about life without free agent Wade Davis in 2018, but he knows the challenge of winning without a bona fide closer.
"When you have a legitimate closer, what that really means to me is it really permits you to manipulate before the ninth inning on a normal night," Maddon said.
"When you don't, you're always saving something for the ninth. Any team would prefer having a guy that you know is in in the ninth because that lets you use the (Carl) Edwards and the (Hector) Rondons and (Pedro) Strops however you want.
"But when you don't have that, then all of a sudden one of those guys has to be that ninth inning dude and you have to build into it."
Maddon was able to navigate the Rays to the 2008 World Series without a full-time closer for the entire season. Troy Percival's work was limited in the second half because of back problems that eventually led to surgery. So Maddon said he leaned on left-hander J.P. Howell and Grant Balfour for the middle innings, followed by Dan Wheeler and eventually rookie David Price for the final half of September and the postseason.
"But we were trying to hold small leads or small deficits in the middle of the game _ fifth, sixth and seventh (innings), and whatever was left at the end, you just try to match it up," Maddon said.
He was describing the formula he was hoping to use in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series with the likelihood Davis would be unavailable after throwing 48 pitches in helping stave off elimination in Game 4 Wednesday night.
Hangover cure? This marks the Cubs' third consecutive National League Championship Series appearance, and it comes in the wake of their successful 2017 World Series run that was thought to cause a "hangover" because of the energy spent and lack of recovery time as spring training started early because of the World Baseball Classic.
Maddon said he addressed the need for rest in spring training and might make some changes heading into the early part of 2018.
"I really believe part of the (hangover) is the lack of motivation in April in May after you have done something really spectacular," Maddon said. "Maybe it requires more platooning early in the season when it's not normally thought as being necessary."
