Struggling Cubs, Pirates Part Ways With Managers

Los Angeles, Sept 29 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2019 ) :The Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates parted ways with their managers on Sunday, insisting they needed to make changes after failing to make the Major League Baseball playoffs.

Joe Maddon will always be known as the manager who broke the longest championship drought in American sports history, but Chicago missed the postseason this year for the first time in Maddon's tenure.

"We're in transition," Cubs president Theo Epstein said. "Change was needed." The Pirates also have a vacancy at the manager position after they sacked Clint Hurdle after nine seasons.

Maddon's tenure as manager of the Cubs ends three years after he helped the franchise claim its first World Series championship since 1908.

Epstein and Maddon agreed to part ways at the conclusion of the 65-year-old skipper's five-year contract.

Maddon finishes with a 471-338 won loss record.

His .582 winning percentage ranks second in Cubs history behind Frank Chance's .664 mark from 1905-12.

Maddon guided the Cubs to at least 92 wins in each of his first four seasons, highlighted by a 103-58 record in 2016.

Elsewhere, Hurdle, 62, was let go after the Pirates finished under .500 for three of the past four seasons.

"This was an extremely difficult decision for us," general manager Neal Huntington said.

"As an organization, we believe it was time for a managerial change to introduce a new voice and new leadership inside the clubhouse." Hurdle ranks fourth all-time in wins in franchise history, trailing Fred Clarke (1,422), Danny Murtaugh (1,115) and Jim Leyland (851).

The Pirates made three straight playoff appearances from 2013-15.

But Hurdle entered Sunday's season finale against the Cincinnati Reds with a 69-92 record this season.