It’s the end of an era in the Windy City.
The Cubs announced Sunday that they are parting ways with manager Joe Maddon following the 2019 season. The 65-year-old spent the last five years at the helm and helped lead Chicago to its first World Series title in 108 years in 2016, although the team went on a steady decline over the following three seasons.
Maddon remained positive throughout his final hours with the Cubs, even after Chicago dropped its final of the season in a 9-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. He even did his final press conference with a Corona in hand, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian.
Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said the two celebrated “an unbelievable five-year run” over a bottle (or more) of wine Saturday before agreeing it was time for the team and the manager to part ways.
“We never could have imagined this working out as well as it did,” Epstein said. “And I personally never could have imagined having such a wonderful partner — someone so loyal, so supportive and someone from whom I’ve learned so much about baseball and life and someone who I consider a life long friend. And our friendship continues … We both agreed that it’s time and this type of change is a win-win.”
Just because he’s been let go by the Cubs, however, doesn’t mean he’s done managing.
“I think I still have a good three to five (years) in me,” Maddon said, per ESPN’s Dan Shulman. “I just saw Mick Jagger rock it at 75.”
Epstein even hinted about his future in Major League Baseball.
“He won’t talk about this, but I will,” he said. “There will be a bidding war for his services.”
What Maddon’s future holds, however, remains to be seen.
