Oct. 31 Joe Maddon workout day interview

Q. Joe, you’ve talked the last couple of days about how this World Series is a great advertisement for baseball. I’m just wondering if you’re feeling now that this may go down as one of those epic series that people talk about for a long time? JOE MADDON: Yeah, I’m sure the people in Chicago, especially after last night’s victory, that was pretty amazing. So even getting to that juncture definitely is going to stand out for many years. Now it’s up to us to take it to that 7th game, then you’re really going to have a classic that everybody will remember. So having Jake pitching tomorrow, we feel really good about that ball by Kyle. But overall, I think it’s kind of lived up to the billing. You talk about the Fall Classic, two really good teams. Teams that are really playing with a lot of passion nightly and a lot of young players. I love the fact that there are a lot of good young players on both teams. Like I said, it’s great for the industry. It’s great for baseball, and hopefully we’re going to start attracting more youngsters, regardless whether they want to play or not, just growing them up to be baseball fans.Q. What are your catching plans for the next couple of days? JOE MADDON: Tomorrow will be Contreras. It’s normally been Contreras with Kyle also, but tomorrow you’re going to see Willson.Q. So that leaves Ross to basically pinch-hit duties for the last couple of games? JOE MADDON: Oh, you never know. You could see how the game plays out. There’s also Jonny Lester in the bullpen, and you’d have to make a decision how you want to utilize that if you actually put Jonny in the game, who you want catching Jon in that moment. So there’s a lot of little subplots going on. But for right now, Willson’s done a great job. He caught Jake well in Cleveland a couple days ago, and he’s done a great job with Kyle all pretty much the second half. So you’ll see Willie tomorrow.Q. How do you feel about the production of your catchers? They’re like 2-for-21 in the series. And Ross had the game-deciding RBI last night. JOE MADDON: Yeah, I don’t worry about it, quite frankly. They’ve been great all year. The postseason our catchers have done a great job. Among the three of them they’ve been very instrumental in getting us to this point. I think it’s a function more of Cleveland pitching as opposed to anything our catchers are lacking. So we’ll keep throwing them out there. The three of them have gotten us here. They’ve all had their own individual roles in doing so. I think, and don’t forget, man, catching and throwing and blocking and calling games is a big part of what they do. But our guys for the most part can play it on both sides of the ball.Q. A lot of times in the World Series with the DH and no DH thing the National League team can be at a disadvantage in the American League park because the AL lineups are built more for it. But I’m guessing you don’t feel that way with Schwarber, and now you get to put him back in there for four at-bats. JOE MADDON: Agreed. When I managed in the American League I always thought it was somewhat of a disadvantage going to the National League, subtracting one offensive player, and probably even more pronounced for different teams that have really profound legitimate DHs. But going back right now and I mentioned yesterday, I’m a much bigger fan, having had a chance to do it in both leagues. I’m a much bigger fan of the National League game in general, but under these circumstances where we are right now in the year, I’ll take that American League game just to get Schwarbs involved; you’re absolutely right. But they’re good, too. They’ll put an extra guy in there, and like you said, they’re used to it. But for right now, at this moment in time, the fact that Kyle cannot play defense but can still play offense and run the bases, it does work out well for us. So I’m very excited about writing his name in tomorrow.Q. What would be your expectation on the availability of Chapman tomorrow? Does this open the possibility of him having a long stint in Game 6 or Game 7? JOE MADDON: Yeah, I don’t know to what extent. I don’t know that we could do what we did yesterday, necessarily. But I’ll talk to him tomorrow. He’s a pretty strong guy. Beyond that I don’t think we’ve overused him to this point. I’m just talking about the latter part of the season as well as the playoffs, he’s been in pretty much a little dabs, not the lengthy moment like you saw yesterday. So I’ll check with him tomorrow. I’ll definitely listen to what he has to say. I’m betting that he would probably think that he would be good for two innings, I would imagine tomorrow, but if it’s not, we’ll take what he can give us …

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