The turning of the page

Ordinary Joe

From the moment Joe Maddon joined the Chicago Cubs, taking the reins in a Wrigley ville bar five years ago, he talked about winning.

He was the right manager at the right time for a franchise that had experienced mostly terrible timing for more than a century. Right until his time in Chicago ran out.

The Cubs will have a new manager next season after Maddon and president of baseball operations Theo Epstein announced Sunday it was time for a change. 

Three years of declining results following the franchise’s historic World Series championship in 2016.

 The situation was finalized when Maddon and Epstein met in Epstein’s hotel room after the Cubs’ 8-6 victory at St. Louis on Saturday, sharing some wine and reminiscing about their successful five-year partnership.

 Maddon’s contract expired after the Cubs’ 9-0 loss to the Cardinals in Sunday’s season finale, which clinched the NL West title for St. Louis.

 ‘‘Change can help you grow,’’ Epstein said. ‘‘And Joe said this change is going to help him grow and I feel it’s going to help the Cubs grow, too.’’

The move begins what could be an active offseason for the Cubs, and the 65-year-old Maddon once again becomes one of baseball’s top free agents.

‘‘I want to continue to do this, whatever’s next out there, I want to be able to be on top of that too,’’ Maddon said. ‘‘All of it’s been positive, man, and it’s been interesting, entertaining and quite frankly for this time of year, feeling pretty good, feeling pretty eager about everything, so it’s been a good year.’’

While Maddon is out after five seasons, he is tied to Chicago forever after managing the Cubs to the franchise’s first title in 108 years.

Chicago also made it to the NL Championship Series in 2015 and 2017, but it lost in the wild-card round last October and tumbled out of the playoff race altogether this year. Weighed down by a puzzling discrepancy between their 51 wins at Wrigley Field and 33 road victories heading into the finale, the Cubs finished third in the NL Central.

‘‘You look at the home and road splits and what we've done on the road . . . I mean these are like some really crazy, hard-to-wrap-your-mind-around things,’’ Maddon said this month. ‘‘I don’t know if somebody’s going to dig deeply enough to really figure it out, but it’s really, just to have your mind try to extrapolate what is going on here, it’s hard to pinpoint anything.’’

The Cubs were in position to make the playoffs for much of this season. They had a half-game lead in the NL Central on Aug. 22. They had control of an NL wild card into September.

But a nine-game slide, including five consecutive one-run losses for the first time since 1915, wiped out their postseason chances and sealed Maddon’s fate.

Even with the disappointing finish each of the past two years, Maddon likely will have plenty of suitors. And there will be a ton of interest in the Cubs’ job.

‘‘Oh yeah, I don’t want to wait. I'm ready,’’ Maddon said.

 The last time Maddon was available, Epstein fired Rick Renteria after just one year to create an opening in Chicago.

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