When the Chicago Cubs hired Joe Maddon as their manager ahead of the 2015 campaign, they hoped he would help them return to the promise land for the first time in over a century.

Maddon did just that, leading the Cubs to a World Series during his second season at the helm, representing Chicago's first championship since 1908.

However, this past year, the Cubs won just 84 games and missed the playoffs for the first time in Maddon's tenure with the club, ultimately resulting in the two sides parting ways this offseason.

Maddon, who was recently hired as the new manager of the Los Angeles Angeles, said that both parties basically knew that things needed to come to an end after a disappointing 2019 campaign in the Windy City:

“When it got down to the last couple days it was really obvious to both sides,” Maddon told Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. “I didn’t want to be back either. It was more of a bilateral than a unilateral decision.’’

Maddon also holds no ill will toward his former organization, which hired former catcher David Ross—who was on the Cubs' title team in 2016—as its new skipper and even hopes to meet the Cubs in the Fall Classic someday:

“I do want to play them in a World Series, because it would mean both sides are successful,” Maddon said. “And I want us to win the last game, which I think is only appropriate. … I love David, I think he’s going to do a great job actually, and I love a lot of the players there. I’ve got more thought- provoking, tear-provoking outreach from some (Cubs players) at the end of this season than I’ve ever gotten before.’’

Maddon went 471-339 in five seasons with Chicago.