Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Craig Counsell and his out-getters, not Chicago’s hottest new band, but Cubs’ postseason pitching mantra

suntimes.com · 2hShare

SAN DIEGO – Craig Counsell and his out-getters. New band name, I call it. This is October, when teams and managers start using their pitchers very differently than they did all summer long. For Counsell and the Cubs , that means forgetting who’s a starter and who’s a reliever and who’s supposed to pitch in which inning. It’s all about the out-getters. “There’s a rhythm to [the regular season]. There’s a rhythm to how players get used. There’s a rhythm to how everything is done,” Counsell said Monday. “Then you turn the calendar to [the playoffs], and everything is done with the utmost urgency. “It just matters that we win. That’s the bottom line, because we’ve got to win two games in the next three days, so everything – how anybody does, how anything happens – it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to win the game. “We’ve just got to figure out how to get 27 outs, and the order that that happens? Starter, reliever, closer, setup man, those words don’t matter.” The Cubs opted against naming a st

First report: Counsell playing Cubs' postseason rotation close to the vest — mlb.com, 2d