Chicago Cubs

Joe Maddon Makes Colorful Threat After Game 4 Ejection

Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon is generally known as a cool customer, but he went ballistic during Wednesday’s Game 4 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Maddon, who was already ejected once in the series for arguing, was tossed again after a controversial call robbed Wade Davis of what looked like a strikeout of Dodgers outfielder Curtis Granderson.

In true Maddon style, he expressed his rage in colorful fashion.

“If Granderson hits the next one out, I may run out of the clubhouse in my jock strap,” he said. “It was really that bad. You can’t permit that to happen. The process was wrong.”

The call occurred in the eighth inning of the game, as Granderson batted against the Cubs’ closer. It appeared that Davis had struck Granderson out, but the outfielder insisted that he had foul tipped the ball, meaning that he shouldn’t be out.

Initially, umpire Jim Wolf ruled Granderson out, but after talking to the other umpires, he reversed the call and incurred Maddon’s wrath.

“There’s no way – no way – I’m not getting ejected at that point,” Maddon said. “I got to make my point.”

Video replay showed that Granderson did not make contact with the ball, but fortunately for the Cubs, Davis struck the outfielder out on the very next pitch.

After the game, Wolf admitted that his crew had blown the call.

“I was dead wrong,” umpire Jim Wolf said. “I talked myself into the whole thing.”

With the ejection, Maddon became the first manager to ever be ejected from multiple games in the same postseason. He was also ejected from Game 1 of the series after umpires ruled that Willson Contreras blocked a path to home plate, allowing a run to score for the Dodgers. 

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