President of baseball operations Theo Epstein announced Sunday, with Maddon by his side, that Maddon wouldn’t be returning to the franchise after a five-year run which included ending the team’s 108-year World Series drought by winning it all in 2016.
“We both agreed that it’s time, and this type of change is a win-win,” Epstein told reporters. “We’re a point where we just need a little bit of change and something new.”
Epstein and Maddon met in Epstein’s in hotel room Saturday night in St. Louis, drinking wine and discussing the future. Both parties agreed that it was time to part ways.
Maddon led the Cubs to an NLCS appearance in 2015, when they were swept by the Mets, before ending the World Series curse. They lost to the Dodgers in the 2017 NLCS and were knocked out in last season’s wild-card game by the Rockies.
The Cubs were in this year’s wild-card race before faltering down the stretch.