Joe Maddon defends himself from Aroldis Chapman criticism

The Chicago Cubs may have won the World Series, but Joe Maddon is still defending his usage of Aroldis Chapman in the World Series.

After Chapman was critical of how he was used by Maddon in Game 6 of the World Series, Maddon once again said he wouldn’t do anything differently.

“Would I do it differently? No,” Maddon said, via Kevin Kernan of the New York Post. “There is no Game 7 without winning Game 6. And there is no Game 8 if you don’t win Game 7. That’s why you do what you have to do.

“I appreciate what he said. If he feels that way, he did not tell me about that at the moment or after the moment. At the end of the day, man, we would not have won without him, and I appreciate everything he did. But I promise everything we did do, we did with his consent by talking to him prior to the game.”

By Chapman’s own admission, he never brought it up with Maddon. Still, the comments were interesting and sparked something of a miniature controversy. Maddon is sticking to his guns, though. Why shouldn’t he? They did, after all, win the series.