Cubs' Maddon focused on journey of season

No, Joe Maddon's saying for this Cubs season isn't "remember the mime."

Never mind that few could forget Maddon bringing the sounds of silence into spring-training camp recently to liven up the daily stretch. He outdid even that a few days later with bear cubs.

But with Maddon, there are always words of wisdom and inspiration. This year, it's "embrace the target."

There's a nice double meaning there. Of course, the target for the Cubs is to get beyond where they went last year and into the World Series. Coming off a 97-win season and an appearance in the National League championship series, the Cubs also will have targets on their backs.

How to handle it all? Enter Maddon.

"There is a target," said the 62-year-old Maddon, entering his second year as Cubs manager. "It's much bigger than it was last year. I want it to continue to grow. When you say that, you also have to define it for your group. Really for me, in order to embrace the target properly and understand that, you have to accept the fact that you have to really beat to death 'process.' If you, on a daily basis, really attack the word 'process' and what it means, then you can more easily handle the expectations and pressure, all the items that build the target."

"Process" is another of Maddon's favorite terms. Although the Cubs have an end goal in mind, Maddon believes the end result takes care of itself by focusing on the day-to-day things and not getting caught up in outcomes.

"Our relentless execution of managing expectations, that equals our process," he said. "Without getting too academic, I try to put it into words our guys can understand. You run toward the fire as opposed to away from it. I want our guys to understand that. That's the way it is. It's great. It means you're good. We are good. Then how do we deal with this daily? I think you need to talk about it upfront.

"We have not won a World Series in a century, so there is nothing to get complacent or cocky about. Bring that all on the table. Talk about it. Say it up front and work it from there. That's why I believe it's important to embrace the target."

Maddon has spent the last month and a half drilling that into his players. It might be easier for them to embrace process than it is for Cubs fans, whose team has not won a World Series since 1908 or played in one since 1945.

In the early days of camp, Maddon acknowledged that he and his players are in an outcome-based business. At the end of the day, it matters if they've won or lost. At the end of the year, it matters whether they've reached and won the World Series.

"My point is that you take care of the seconds, the minutes and the hours, and the days will take care of themselves," he said. "Why would you want to focus on the end of the book as opposed to each sentence and each line? That's what I'm talking about regarding the process of this thing. The game ebbs and flows so much. The season ebbs and flows so much. Why would you be constantly focused on your record at the end of the year?

"But how do you arrive at a good outcome, a positive outcome? How do you define that? I'm into defining everything. My definition would be to do what I'm talking about so you achieve the outcome you're looking for."

So what does this look like on a baseball field day after day from April to October?

"He lets us relax and have fun," center fielder Dexter Fowler said during last year's playoffs. "That's huge. He doesn't get too uptight. He lets the veterans in the clubhouse manage the clubhouse, and he goes out and manages on the field. That's been working, and he's our manager for a reason. He's had success for a reason."

In his first year as Cubs manager and his first in the National League, Maddon gave us a good look at how his teams play ball and how he manages games and people. Some of those looks show up in the numbers. Others do not.

To wit:

• The Cubs ranked 14th of 15 NL teams last year in sacrifice bunts, with 32. Part of that stemmed from the pitchers having trouble laying down bunts. Part of it was that Maddon does not like to give away outs via the bunt.

• Cubs baserunners were sixth in the NL in stolen bases, with 95, showing that Maddon likes to put things in motion.

• Maddon is not afraid to ruffle feathers, but in doing so he tries to avoid "losing" a player mentally. He benched since-traded shortstop Starlin Castro during the season but reinstated him at second base. Castro, to his credit and perhaps because of the way Maddon handled him, responded by being one of the Cubs' most productive players down the stretch and rebuilding his value enough so that the Cubs could trade him.

Maddon also took away pitcher Travis Wood's starting job, sending him to the bullpen, where Wood became an effective reliever.

• Rare was the day in August and September that the Cubs took a full on-the-field batting practice, an exercise Maddon calls overrated. That may have kept the players fresh, as the Cubs went 19-9 in August and 23-9 in September-October for a .700 winning percentage.

• Maddon led both leagues in successful replay reviews.

• Showing that he'd stand up for his players, Maddon was ejected five times last season. He also wasn't afraid to verbally rip up the "book" the Cardinals allegedly wrote on how to play baseball, as he launched into a shrewdly crafted postgame speech in September about how the Cubs would not back down.

This season is upon us, and of course Maddon already has thought of how the team should handle the "pressure" and "expectations" that come with it being on the cover of Sports Illustrated and widely picked to win the NL Central.

"What I'm really trying to have our players understand, our fan base understand and maybe all of humanity understand is that sometimes, most of the time, 'expectations' and 'pressure' are positive words," he said. "When there are expectations placed on you, that means there is probably something good, a carrot, at the end. When the word 'pressure' is utilized, same thing. It means you're in the situation where you have this opportunity to do something very special.

"Too many times, when you hear those two words, automatically, I think, people cringe about the negative component attached. Then all of sudden, you're supposed to cower and run away from them. I totally disagree with that. How do you battle expectations and pressure? You do that by the relentless execution of the process. You really have to make the process your primary objective.

"It's easier to approach the day that way. Outcome is really the enemy. The people who want to focus and dwell on outcomes all the time, that's where you feel pressure. That's where you feel expectations. To me, that's not really a good way to live in general."

• Follow Bruce's Cubs and baseball reports on Twitter @BruceMiles2112.

NL's top managers

Bruce Miles lists the National League's top managers:

1. Bruce Bochy, Giants

2. Joe Maddon, CUBS

3. Clint Hurdle, Pirates