When the Cubs decided to bring Joe Maddon’s incomparable tenure as the team’s manager to an end last month, the reviews were in: He was the right guy at the right time.
Hindsight allows us to make that call, considering he did an awful lot of winning during his five seasons on the North Side. That stretch included the curse-breaking World Series championship in 2016, three straight trips to the NLCS, four straight trips to the playoffs and a grand total of 471 flyings of the “W” flag above the corner of Sheffield and Waveland.
But the Cubs decided that Maddon was not the right guy for the current moment, and it’s through that lens David Ross will be judged.