It should come as no surprise to Cubs fans, but manager Joe Maddon has officially parted ways with the club after five seasons, making the announcement with team president Theo Epstein in St. Louis on Sunday (Sept. 29) ahead of the Cubs’ game against the Cardinals.
Maddon made history with the team in 2016, breaking baseball’s most long-standing curse and leading the Cubs to their first World Series victory in 108 years. This year, the Cubs failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
“We’re both going to move on,” Maddon told reporters. “Hopefully, the Cubs are going to flourish. Hopefully, I get a chance to do this someplace else. But there’s no tears shed. It’s a good moment for everybody. And we’re both excited about our futures.”
Maddon’s .582 winning percentage with the Cubs is the second-highest in franchise history, ranking behind Frank Chance (.664), who managed the team from 1905 to 1912. The Cubs finished above .500 in every season of Maddon’s tenure, and his four straight playoff appearances are a franchise record, but after a disappointing 2019 and an early wild card loss in the 2018 postseason, it was time to move on.
“We both agreed that, this type of change, that it’s time and that this type of change is a win-win,” Epstein said. “We never could have imagined this working out as well as it did. I personally never could have imagined having such a wonderful partner, someone so loyal and supportive and someone from whom I learned so much about baseball and life.”
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