Cubs manager Joe Maddon said again recently what he has said for months: He expects to be back managing the team next season.
Granted, this is the same perpetual optimist who kept saying he expected good results this season, even as each wrecking-ball blow by the Cardinals destroyed what was left of the Cubs’ season during a four-game sweep at Wrigley Field.
By Monday, social media, local sports airwaves and national pundits were abuzz with varying degrees of venom and certainty that Maddon will be let go 11 months after team president Theo Epstein lobbed the first shot across his bow by announcing Maddon would enter the final season of his contract without an extension.