Chicago Dogs bring Cliburn twins back together for 2026 season

After eight years coaching Double-A and Triple-A baseball together for the Minnesota Twins organization, twin brothers Stan Cliburn and Stu Cliburn were separated.

In 2001, the twins, in their first year coaching together, helped the Double-A New Britain Rock Cats become co-champions of the Eastern League. Stan was the manager, with Stu as the pitching coach. But when the Twins forced them to part ways in 2008, Stan Cliburn lost part of himself.

“My last year Triple-A, they sent Stu back to Double-A, left me there Triple-A in Rochester,” Stan Cliburn said. “It affected me a little bit. I felt like I got my right arm cut off. That’s how much Stu meant to me as a pitching coach.”

Eighteen years after the twins were separated, they are reuniting for the Chicago Dogs of the American Association.

For the past six years, Stu Cliburn has been the pitching coach for Chicago, while Stan Cliburn has been the manager for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the Atlantic League. But after Stan stepped away from Southern Maryland in December 2025, his eyes glanced toward the Dogs.

“Eighteen years later, let’s get back together,” Stan Cliburn said. “Shawn Hunter, the owner of the Dogs, and I got together during the offseason, and we worked out a contract for me to come up here and be the manager. Here I am.”

Stan Cliburn comes to Chicago with an incredible sense of familiarity. Not only has he followed the organization because of Stu Cliburn’s presence, but Stan Cliburn was actually the first of the twins to be a Dog.

In 2018, the Chicago Dogs’ first year as a franchise, Stan Cliburn was the team’s pitching coach under then-manager Butch Hobson. He developed a close relationship with Hunter, paving the path for his return as manager eight years later.

“The timing was right for Stan’s move, and I was invited back to be the pitching coach again this year for my sixth year,” Stu Cliburn said. “I think the stars just aligned, and it got us back together.”

The Dogs return just seven players from last year’s squad. In assembling this year’s team, Stan Cliburn said he targeted speed and power, seen through newcomers Giovanni DiGiacomo and Ethan Wilder.

Stan Cliburn, who has won over 2,000 minor-league games in his decades as a manager, said that aggressiveness is critical to his managing philosophy. He encourages his players to steal bases.

“If you try that or try to do that goal every inning — to get a runner in scoring position — you’re going to have a chance to average five to six runs per game,” Stan Cliburn said. “And then you do that, if you average five to six runs per game, you’re probably going to win six or seven out of every 10 games.”

Notably returning for Chicago is Chance Sisco, who led the team last season with a .404 on-base percentage, .573 slugging percentage, 103 hits, 61 RBI, 38 doubles, and 17 home runs.

Sisco, 31, will be a player-coach this season. After contemplating retirement as a player in order to jump-start a coaching career, he asked the organization whether he could assume a dual role for the 2026 campaign.

“I was honored that we could make something work and that they were willing to have me on staff in that role,” Sisco said. “It’s obviously a pretty important role, being out on the field every night to play but also being in coaching meetings and evaluating players, helping players.”

Stan Cliburn’s main goal for the Dogs this season is to crack one of the eight playoff spots. To do so, he expects to see month-over-month improvement from the team that will allow it to peak at the right time.

“You get in that playoff scenario, it’s, ‘Who’s hot at the right time? Who’s strong at the right time?’” Stan Cliburn said. “Anything can happen.”