Joe Maddon was named the Baseball Writers' Association of America National League Manager of the Year on Tuesday.
The Cubs were coming off their fifth consecutive losing season when they hired Maddon last November, and many scoffed when he said in Spring Training that he believed he had a club ready to reach the postseason. But that's where the Cubs ended up, winning 97 games during the regular season, then beating the Pirates in the National League Wild Card Game behind Jake Arrieta and beating the Cardinals in the NL Division Series before running into a Mets roadblock in the NL Championship Series.