the Cubs did something yesterday that ive never seen before, which is saying something because ive watched baseball every day for several decades now.

it was the 14th inning. game was tied. their pitcher was getting tired so Joe Maddon the genius manager of the Cubs, and my hero, put in a relief pitcher

but he didnt put him on the mound, he put him in left field.

he let an out get recorded and then he brought that “left fielder” in to pitch and put the original pitcher in left field.

another out was recorded and he did the left field / pitcher switch again.

that way he could do the Lefty/Righty thing

it totally worked.

then in the next inning he did a similar thing with a new pitcher. he put Pedro Strop (pictured, above) in LF so he could be used as a pitcher, if needed.

there was no need because not only were the Reds flabbergasted by this, but their hitters kept trying to push the ball to left field instead of pulling it and their superpowers were taken away.

it was the most brilliant bit of managing i have ever seen in my life.

here’s how the professionals wrote about it on MLB.com

this game was proof that the Cubs will win the World Series because often champs win games like this. tough games. close games. games that losers lose. even though the Cubs are only about .500 in 1-run games i feel like this is a turning point. they believe even more in their skipper now than ever because they too have now seen him do something that most of us have never seen.

and it worked. and no one challenged it. and the umps even let the pitcher/LF warm up properly and it was entertaining

and it was solidified by a G-D grand slam by Javy Baez our secret power hitting utility man

i love this team so much i cant wait to see what happens next.

update: how some dude on reddit laid it out