During his conference call ahead of Tuesday’s Game 6 of the World Series, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon revealed that Willson Contreras will be behind the plate as Jake Arrieta gets the start in the must-win game for the team.
Arrieta and Contreras worked together for the first time in the postseason in Game 2 of the World Series, and the partnership worked well as Arrieta carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning in Chicago’s win over the Indians.
Despite that previous success, there were some questions about whether or not Arrieta and Contreras should get another start together, and with good reason. As a rookie playing in his first postseason, Contreras has made some flashy plays with his glove and with his arm, but he has also made some pretty serious mistakes that have cost the team runs, and that’s not where the issues stop.
There is also the question of whether or not Contreras will be able to call a good game for Arrieta on a second night in a row. Although he did have a great deal of success in Game 2, overall this season Arrieta’s numbers have not been great with Contreras behind the plate.
In six regular season starts, Arrieta did hold batters to a .191 average, but those balls that were put into play were hit especially hard. He gave up five home runs in just 33 innings, and his ERA of 5.18 in games Contreras caught was his highest among any of the four Cubs catchers that played that role this season.
Finally, there is one more piece to the puzzle that has to be addressed, and that is the identity of the umpire behind the plate for Tuesday’s game: the controversial Joe West.
West, who memorably ejected Joe Maddon earlier this season after Kyle Hendricks had a no-hitter broken up in the ninth inning of a game, is notorious behind the plate, and a rookie catcher like Contreras, who routinely talks to umpires during a game, may not be the best guy to deal with him.
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With all of that in mind, Maddon may have been wise to pursue another option in this situation. Instead of having Contreras catch, the option of having him play left field at Progressive Field, which has the second-smallest outfield in Major League Baseball, thus negating a lot of defensive disadvantage of having him out there, may have been the better play, with David Ross catching and dealing with West.
In that scenario, Ben Zobrist would then come in and play second base, with the slumping Javier Baez relegated to being a likely defensive substitution during the game.
We’ll find out whether Maddon’s decision paid off Tuesday night, as the Cubs try to stay alive against the Indians in Game 6 of the World Series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:08 p.m.
