USA TODAY International Edition
Fates of Cubs, Dodgers intertwined during their journeys to NLCS
If not for Los Angeles Dodgers President Andrew Friedman, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon still is in Tampa.
And if not for Maddon, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts never gets his opportunity with Los Angeles.
And if not for Roberts, the Boston Red Sox don’t win the 2004 World Series championship, a historic achievement that ultimately led the Cubs to hire Theo Epstein to be their president of baseball operations.
And if not for Epstein, he doesn’t hire vice president Jason McLeod, who helped persuade Boston to trade for Roberts, his former high school teammate in San Diego who got the most famous stolen base in Red Sox history. It was Roberts’ steal that triggered the Red Sox’s historic 3- 0 comeback against the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series en route to their first World Series title since 1918.
And if not for history, the Dodgers don’t change their mind about acquiring closer Aroldis Chapman after his domestic assault case. Now, they’ll face him in the ninth inning, or earlier, in this National League Championship Series.
And if not the city of Chicago, Tom Ricketts doesn’t fall in love with the Cubs and talk his family into buying the club, which led to fellow Chicago native Mark Walter buying the Dodgers.
This NLCS, featuring one team that hasn’t won the World Series in more than a century and another that hasn’t done so in nearly three decades, will continue Sunday at Wrigley Field and then move this week to Dodger Stadium with enough subplots to fill a Russian novel.
Perhaps no one has influenced this matchup more than Friedman.
Friedman, the Dodgers president of baseball operations, has hired two major league managers in his career. One is managing the Dodgers and is the heavy favorite to win this year’s NL manager of the year award. The other is with the Cubs and won last year’s NL manager of the year award.
Yet if Friedman doesn’t leave the Tampa Bay Rays two years ago for the Dodgers, the Cubs never get Maddon.
The only reason Maddon wound up in Chicago is because of an out clause triggered by Friedman’s departure. Maddon had a two- week window to determine whether he was going to stay with the Rays; when they couldn’t reach an agreement, Maddon departed for the riches of Chicago.
“I remember the conversation I had with him when that all occurred,” Maddon said. “I was in my RV, actually, began in Pennsylvania, then eventually got the news driving through Virginia. So I was really happy for him. Because being the age that he is, getting that opportunity to go to a market like that, I knew how much he wanted to do something like that. “It was a perfect fit.” Really, if not for Friedman, maybe Maddon never becomes a manager, because he believed in Maddon’s skills while he was a bench coach with the Los Angeles Angels.
“He obviously gave me the opportunity to manage, him and ( Rays President) Matt Silverman, in a hotel, one of those little conference rooms in Houston prior to the World Series in 2005,” Maddon said. “So we went down there, talked. And we hit it off immediately. A lot of commonality.
“At that point, if that was the one job that I had not gotten it, I would have been disappointed, because I thought the fit was that good.”
If the Dodgers didn’t already have a manager in Don Mattingly, Maddon likely would have wound up in Los Angeles with Friedman, which would have never opened the door for Roberts.
Roberts, a bench coach with the San Diego Padres, was not even given an interview by the franchise for its managerial vacancy. But Friedman took a chance, and, voila, here are Roberts and Maddon managing against each other for the right to be in the World Series.
“I just pride myself on being a life- long learner,” Roberts said. “I think that Joe is a guy that, obviously, we all know and respect, as an outside- of- the- box thinker, forward thinker, and loves to teach players and people.
“I kind of, we’re aligned a lot in certain things and certainly have a lot of respect for him.”
No Cubs player has more respect for Roberts than catcher David Ross. Roberts was the mentor for Ross when he came up in the Dodgers organization, and the two are still the best of friends.
“There were a lot of stereotypes in this game when I was coming up,” Ross said. “Steroids were an issue. There were a lot of things going on. And this guy was a quality human being doing things right.
“He’s a guy that took me under his wing. When you have a veteran player that was a role player too, it was just nice to hear his side of things when you talk baseball and a guy who’s a big faith guy. A quality human being as well as a phenomenal player, you understood you could be a wellrounded person and a good player.
“I really believe good things happen to good people, and you’re seeing that.”
Really, Roberts is the same guy who played center field and quarterback at Rancho Buena Vista High School in San Diego, McLeod says.
“He’s been this guy since high school,” McLeod said. “He’s one of the best human beings in the game. He’s incredible. It’s crazy how this all worked out.
“I was texting with Dave a couple of days ago. I told him, ‘ You got to get this done. I want to see you in Chicago.’ Now, it’s, well, careful what you wish for.”
There’s also the coincidence of two businessmen in Chicago who both loved baseball, with Ricketts buying the Cubs, leaving Walter to search for another team and landing the Dodgers with his Guggenheim group.
And, yes, when Chapman takes the mound to close out games for the Cubs, they can thank the Dodgers. The Dodgers backed away from a trade with the Cincinnati Reds when details of his domestic violence case with his girlfriend were discovered in a background check. The Reds instead traded him to the Yankees, and New York in turn traded Chapman in July to Chicago.
“He’s been wonderful,” Mad- don said. “I’ve developed a relationship with him. We speak almost daily. He’s fit in seamlessly with the rest of the group. The other night when we attempted to get that six- out save and he did not get it done, he was really upset with himself. Highly accountable to the moment.
“I only can judge or gauge him by my interaction with him, and it’s been really good.”
Now, with the parallels, plots, subplots and story lines interwoven in this series, it will all serve as a backdrop to whether this finally will be the year the Cubs break the curse and are the last team standing for the first time since 1908.
“I can kind of relate a little bit, playing for the Red Sox in 2004, where it felt like the whole country was supporting us and was hoping for us to break the curse,” Roberts said.
The Cubs are the heavy favorites in this series and should win it in five games, no more than six. But then again, the Dodgers have been counted out plenty of times this year and are still playing baseball.
“From Day 1, this has kind of been our mind- set,” Roberts said. “Whether people felt we were better than we were or not as good as we were or we were done in May or June, I think that’s the same thing going on.
“For us, it’s just a lot of noise. It comes down to 25 players playing against one another, and it’s the Dodgers and the Cubs.”
A best- of- seven series that could wind up captivating the country.