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Not only was Thursday a huge day for the Chicago Cubs after completing the four-game sweep of the New York Mets at Wrigley Field, it marked another milestone for manager Joe Maddon.
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So far this season, it’s been nothing but high expectations and the usual woes considering how much this bullpen struggled before this series against one of the top teams in the National League.
This organization’s front office found itself in a bit of a pickle once the Tampa Bay Rays accused them of tampering with Maddon, who as we all know, opted out of his contract and jumped ship to the North Side of Chicago.
While the higher-ups began to dig deep in order to find out if they were guilty or not, Maddon continued to do what he does best. There’s no doubt that the players and their fans have grown to love and respect him as he helped lead this team to their first winning April since the 2008 campaign.
A season in which they clinched the N.L. Central, but were swept in the playoffs while Maddon found himself in the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. Tampa Bay carried a 97-65 record which resulted in him being voted named the ‘Manager of the Year’ and would win the honors again in 2011 after finishing the season 91-71.
Now according to MLB.com, Maddon picked up career win No. 800 after Thursday’s 6-5 victory, placing him in eighth among active big league managers. Joe began his managing career with the California and Anaheim Angels back in 1996 and 1999, picking up a combined 27-25 record before joining Tampa Bay in 2006.
Things started off slow for the then early 50-year-old as the Devil Rays would fail to win more than 66 games over his first two season. Since then, Joe has managed to hit 90 plus wins in five of his nine years before leaving for the Cubs last winter. He won a total of 754 games as a skipper in the American League East.
When looking at the list for managers, you have guys such as Connie Mack, John McGraw, Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox, Joe Torre, Sparky Anderson, Joe McCarthy, Walter Alston, and Leo Durocher sitting in the top 10. Mack leads the pack with 3,731 wins but had more losses (3,948) than any other manager in the top 60.
The chances of Maddon cracking this list are almost slim to none, but still has the opportunity of becoming one of the greatest managers in franchise history. He’ll definitely receive that nod once he brings this team and city a World Series title in the near future.