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Joe Maddon, master of lineup shenanigans, plays three Cubs catchers at once

mike oz

If you know Joe Maddon, you know a few things: He gives the best interviews of any manager in baseball, he loves his RV and he’s never too far away from doing something kinda funky with his lineup. This is a guy, after all, who has used Kyle Schwarber as a leadoff hitter and honored Tommy Tutone with a 867-5309 lineup.

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So on Monday night, as his Chicago Cubs were getting blown out 10-2 by the Philadelphia Phillies, Maddon did something kinda funky: He put all three of his catchers on the field at the same time.

Some teams don’t even have three catchers on their 25-man roster — the Cubs had all three playing in the eighth inning. Just look at the log of lineup changes:

Joe Maddon pondering his next lineup move, probably. (AP)
Joe Maddon pondering his next lineup move, probably. (AP)

That’s Miguel Montero at first, Willson Contreras at third and Schwarber behind the plate. The Cubs are aided here by the flexibility of their roster. Schwarber plays catcher and left field, which in itself is pretty unusual.

The A’s did a three-catcher lineup a few years ago, but they had one of them at DH, so that’s not nearly as fun as Maddon putting all three catchers on the field at once. Because, heck, when you’re already losing 10-2, there’s not much more that can go wrong.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!