Maddon wants young Cubs to stay in the moment

It was, is and will be just a game in the eyes of Joe Maddon.

So what if it were the first game of the NLCS on Saturday, or that Sunday will be Game 2 on national TV with the world watching?

The Cubs manager wanted his young Cubs to treat it like, well, any other game which he always wants his Cubs to treat like an NLCS game.

“We’ve been talking about it all season. Actually, that was one of the first things I talked about in spring training,” Maddon said before Game 1. “Just think about a bunch of young guys that a regular season game can be intimidating to.”

So if you really contemplate what could be at stake, you might just roll up in a fetal position and weep. So think of a big game like a Grapefruit League game. Only they use baseballs instead of grapefruits.

“So from the beginning of the year, we’ve tried to impress upon them not to treat any day differently, Maddon said. “Apply the same amount of weight to every game, whether it’s a spring training game in March or a game in the middle of the season or hopefully a playoff game at the end of the year.”

And of his team, Maddon said, “I’d be disappointed if they were acting any differently.”

Maddon certainly doesn’t change.

“Well, we had a cheetah up on the table the other day in the clubhouse. We had a sloth crawling around everywhere,” Game 2 starter Jake Arrieta said of Maddon. “He gets the families involved and all the kids out running around on the field. It creates a really laidback atmosphere for everybody to kind of get to know each other and have fun and experience this and really enjoy it. I think one thing he always says is, ‘Don’t let the pressure exceed the pleasure,’ and his personality really exudes that and it allows the players to do that.”