Cubs' Joe Maddon Leaves Door Open To Using Aroldis Chapman In 7th Inning In The Playoffs

(CBS) Cubs manager Joe Maddon has a plan for how he'll use newly acquired closer Aroldis Chapman in the regular season. The ninth inning will be Chapman's to own, and perhaps he'll appear in the eighth inning here and there when the moment calls for it. That'll allow everyone in the bullpen to settle into a routine.

As for the playoffs? Anything is possible, Maddon said.

"I can't say you won't see him earlier as it gets deeper (in the season)," Maddon said on the Spiegel and Goff Show on Tuesday when asked about a hypothetical high-leverage situation in the seventh inning of a playoff game.

Maddon made clear that he hasn't much thought that far ahead. What he has thought about is how he'll use his bullpen now in the present day after Monday's acquisition of Chapman, and he likes his choices. Previous closer Hector Rondon will move into a setup role, while reliever Pedro Strop will likely pitch in the seventh inning more often.

Maddon believes the domino effect will help everyone.

"What he does is make everybody before him better also," Maddon said. "That makes Ronnie (Rondon) better, it makes Stropie better. It makes C.J. (Edwards) better, it makes Travis (Wood), it makes everybody better because they're put into a different moment and it really does relax some of the tension in their particular role. I really anticipate seeing these guys you've seen in the latter part of the game pitch even better now in an earlier part of the game knowing he's going to be there at the end.

"So there's always this kind of trickle-down effect in a positive way."

On another topic of interest, Maddon also explained his decision to pinch run for star Anthony Rizzo in the top of the ninth inning of an eventual 5-4 loss to the White Sox on Monday night. Maddon subbed Matt Szczur for Rizzo after Rizzo had hit an RBI single to tie the game at 4-4 in the ninth.

Some were perplexed by the decision, wondering why Maddon would remove a dangerous bat in a game that could go to extra innings. Maddon indicated two recent factors played a big role in his decision. His bullpen was taxed, so he was trying to win the game in the ninth, and the Cubs have had several runners thrown out at the plate in recent weeks.

Perhaps Maddon preferred a ninth-inning result, win or lose, rather than a long extra-inning game at all.

"We've had guys gunned down at the plate," Maddon said. "You just have to make the decision in that particular moment. The other thing I was talking about was our bullpen was really depleted last night, so I didn't anticipate a long game. And the final point is if we score that run, then Rondon's in the game for his one inning. I thought that gave us the best chance to win. I wasn't really concerned about Rizzo coming again, because you didn't know if that was going to happen. But I did know that if the ball was hit in the outfield by Heyward there, Szczur had a better chance to score than Anthony did.

"The other point would be if we came back around ... we'd also still have (Tommy) La Stella still on the bench to hit if we needed versus a right-handed pitcher. That was all available to us.

"So at the end of the day, it's just about trying to win the game right there based on the resources that were available to us after that.

Listen to Maddon's full interview below.