After five seasons in which Joe Maddon took the Chicago Cubs franchise to heights that it hadn’t seen in over a century, the two parties have decided to move on.
At a press conference on Sunday morning before Chicago’s season finale against the St. Louis Cardinals, Maddon and team president Theo Epstein announced that the veteran manager would not be back for the 2020 season.
Maddon’s current contract expired at the end of this year, and both parties agreed that it would be best not to pursue a contract extension.
2019 was the first blemish on what had been a strong record for the affable Hazleton, Pennsylvania native with the Cubs, as he failed to lead them to the playoffs for the first time since taking over as the team’s manager in 2015.
While with Chicago, Maddon won two NL Central championships and two NL Wild Card berths, taking the Cubs to the 2016 World Series and winning the team a title for the first time since 1908.
After a disappointing 2019 that saw the Cubs miss the playoffs and go 84-78 despite a high payroll and a lot of talent, it became clear that Maddon’s good run was going to come to an end.
Maddon says that he wants to manage again next year, and he will certainly be a hot commodity on the market this winter.
