If Cubs manager Maddon is gone, he's going out with a smile
ST. LOUIS - Pity party for Joe Maddon? Nah, every day is just a party.
Before Friday night's series-ending series against the St. Louis Cardinals began at Busch Stadium, the Cubs manager was peppered with questions about his future, perhaps with underlying or unspoken presumptions that he will be fired after the season because of the Cubs' inconsistent performance all year and a crash at the end.
"The guys that have been around me, how have I done?" he asked the media in general. "Honestly, I'm having a pretty good time still, and I will. The future has not been decided yet. But quite frankly, I'm doing pretty good.
"When you get to do this, what I'm doing every day and you get to do it here under the circumstances of what we've done the last several years, it's hard to get upset or to get down. Why would you do that? Why would you permit a game to drag you down like that? I feel really good about the future, very strong about the future, whether it's on or off the baseball field. Why would you permit moments to drag you down like that? It's just been wonderful - wonderful."
Part of Maddon's self-confidence and self-assuredness no doubt stems from knowing that no matter what happens with the Cubs, he'll be in high demand this off-season from around Major League Baseball.
"I'm not conceding anything right now," he said. "Right now, you know what I'm excited about? I'm going to get in that car and drive to our pad in Hazleton (Pennsylvania), which is on this really cool little golf course, the Valley Country Club, and my buddy Frankie is the golf pro. And I do need some work.
"My mom is right down the street. So is my sister. And of course Jaye (his wife) is going to be there. My buddy Willie is going to stop by. Come on. What's better than that? And you get to sit there and reflect and try to plot, plan, whatever the heck is going to be around the bend. All this stuff, I hate to tell you, folks, but I'm real excited."
Maddon also flashed a bit of pride or even defiance. The Cubs went to the postseason each of his first four years as manager of the Cubs, making a surprise visit to the National League championship series in 2015 before winning the World Series in 2016.
The 2017 Cubs fell to the Dodgers in the NLCS, and last year's club won 95 games but lost in the one-game wild-card playoff. This year's team go home after Sunday's game.
"Just a couple knocks away from three World Series in a row," he said, even though the Cubs were swept by the Mets in 2015 and handled by the Dodgers in 2017. "People want to focus on thoughts. Focus on that one. Everybody tends to focus on negativity. I don't. To me, we were really close to three consecutive World Series appearances.
"Last year, my God, the schedule was just brutal. You don't often ask any major-league baseball team to do what we did at the end of last year. But then you regroup, and you come back again. You can slice it, dice it, but we won one World Series, but we came close to getting into three in a row."
After last September's swoon, team president Theo Epstein asked Maddon to become more hands-on and to coach more as opposed to only managing. Maddon made his presence felt in spring training and carried it into the season.
"I was asked to do some things differently this year, and I did," he said. But I've actually kind of enjoyed it. I think I've grown this year as a coach.
"I cannot be more eager for today than I am right now. This year has been weird. I know our record is not good. We're not in the playoffs. But I've really had a blast. It's hard to feign that. I've really enjoyed this year, and I've enjoyed my guys, every day."