Joe Maddon

There are few people more superstitious in the world than those involved with sports—specifically, baseball. This includes the likes of Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who has made his lineup all season on his iPad.

Well, prior to Wednesday’s crucial NLCS Game Four between the Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers, Maddon found himself in a conundrum. His iPad wasn’t working, and he needed to set his lineup. After an hour-and-a-half on the phone with tech support, Maddon was forced to put the lineup together on his phone.

While we didn’t hear this directly from Maddon, the folks on the FS1 broadcast relayed the story to the viewers during Wednesday’s game.

One quick side note: whoever had that device that looked like a PalmPilot needs to return that dinosaur back to 2002.

Anyways, back to Maddon. Spending 90 minutes with tech support is a tall task for anyone, especially a manager of a Major League Baseball team. But it’s hard to blame Maddon when you’ve had a season-long tradition and your team’s season could potentially be riding on that game. And his response to technology not working seems a little better than Bill Belichick’s.

But as the broadcast pointed out, Maddon might have to change traditions. Wednesday was one of the rare times this postseason where Chicago’s bats have come out. The Cubs tied the series at two with a 10-2 win and will head into a crucial Game Five on Thursday. The biggest question might be which device Maddon uses to set his team’s lineup.

About Ryan Williamson

Ryan is a recent graduate of the University of Missouri and has recently returned to his Minnesota roots. He previously has worked for the Columbia Missourian, KFAN radio in Minneapolis and BringMeTheNews.com. Feel free to email me at rwilliamson29 AT Gmail dot com.