In what should come as no surprise, the Chicago Cubs and manager Joe Maddon are officially parting ways, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
Maddon is out as Cubs Manager
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) September 29, 2019
It truly is the end of an era. Maddon was brought on as manager in 2015 and won Manager of the Year that same season, during which he led the Cubs to the NLCS for the first time since 2003, the Steve Bartman year. The very next year, he did the impossible by bringing a World Series title back to Wrigley for the first time in 108 years, breaking the infamous curse of the billy goat.
Maddon has also been a divisive figure in all of baseball due to his full-on embrace of analytics, especially the shift. Those who love him claim his numbers-driven managerial style is the future of baseball, and the results speak for themselves. On the other hand, his critics believe that Maddon over-manages the game, and doesn’t allow it to flow naturally like baseball “should.”
Regardless what you may think of him, t’s hard to imagine someone with a resume like Maddon’s being out of a job for very long. Nightingale tweeted that he expects a bidding war for Maddon’s services, and one could easily see a team like San Francisco or the Angels making a push to sign him.
