Cubs won't file protest over Doolittle's toe tap

The Chicago Cubs will not file an official protest over the ninth inning of Saturday night's game against Washington, when they contended that Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle was using an illegal toe tap on the mound during his delivery.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon twice came out in the ninth inning Saturday to discuss Doolittle's delivery with umpires. His main issue seemed to be that his own reliever, Carl Edwards Jr., was not allowed to use a version of a toe tap during a game early in the season.

After informing umpires he was playing under protest before the Cubs lost 5-2 to the Nationals, Maddon backed opted against filing the protest on Sunday. He had 24 hours to file the protest with the league.

"I really didn't anticipate whole lot to be done with it even though I still don't agree with the conclusion because I think it's exactly what Carl did, just a different version of it," Maddon told reporters Sunday.

Umpires did agree with Maddon on one element of the situation -- what Edwards did earlier in the season was not the same version of Doolittle's tap.

"(Maddon) thought he was tapping his foot, which in itself is not illegal, and this all kind of stems from his pitcher being called on something that was a little bit different than what Doolittle was doing," crew chief Sam Holbrook told a pool reporter late Saturday night. "So in our judgment, Doolittle did nothing illegal at all."

--Field Level Media