Offtopic » Despite a disappointing end to their 2018 season

the Chicago Cubs are expected to bring back Andy Pettitte Jersey manager Joe Maddon.Per ESPN.com's Jesse Rogers, sources said Maddon will likely return for his fifth season with the Cubs in 2019.Speculation about Maddon's standing with the Cubs has been an ongoing topic during the season's second half.USA Today'sBob Nightengalewrote in August that Maddon's "fate is tenuous" if the Cubs missed the playoffs or were eliminated early.The Cubs started September on their way to earning home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs. They had a five game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 2, but they went 14-13 in their final 27 games and lost the NL Central tiebreaker to Milwaukee on Monday.The Colorado Rockies eliminated the Cubs from the postseason with a 2-1 victory in 13 innings in Tuesday's NL Wild Card Game.Maddon signed a five-year contract with the Cubs in November 2014. The 64-year-old has one year remaining on his deal. He has a 387-261 record in Chicago, leading the franchise to four straight playoff appearances and the 2016 World Series title. John Gibbons, one of the real baseball men in the game Jose Cruz Jr. Jersey , begins the final weekend of his second tour in the Toronto dugout as the Blue Jays face the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-game season-ending series at Tropicana Field.It was announced Wednesday that Gibbons will not return to continue to oversee the Jays’ rebuild — and his team presented him with a victory in his home finale Wednesday night on John Gibbons Day in Toronto.“It was pretty neat,” Gibbons said after the win over the Houston Astros. “It’s just kind of embarrassing for me, just felt different today. So I enjoyed it.”Article continues below ...Said Kevin Pillar: “There’s a lot of things he’s done for a lot of us. It’s nice to kind of put him at the front of it for once.”But there is one more series to be played.A pair of young pitchers who have impressed down the stretch face each other in the series opener Friday night — left-hander Thomas Pannone for the Blue Jays and Tyler Glasnow for the home team.Glasnow, 1-5 in 10 starts with the Rays since coming over from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Chris Archer deal, has two of those losses against the Blue Jays — one of them against Pannone last weekend. Glasnow has 127 strikeouts in 106 1/3 innings this season.The big right-hander has had two good starts and one bad one against Toronto. Last Saturday http://www.astrosfanproshop.com/authentic-nolan-ryan-jersey , he gave up three runs on six hits in a quality start — six innings — losing to Pannone, who went 6 2/3, yielding two runs in his third straight win.Pannone has given up two earned runs in each of the three starts, allowing 14 hits in 20 innings to go to 4-1 with a 3.58 ERA in 11 games (five starts).Glasnow has registered quality starts in four of his last five outings.Wednesday’s win clinched a career winning record for Gibbons (792-787), who said http://www.astrosfanproshop.com/authentic-yuli-gurriel-jersey , “I didn’t want to end below .500. Then they’d call you a loser.”The Rays, who were officially eliminated from their late-season charge at a wild card Monday night, lost 3-of-4 to the Yankees, with Thursday’s 12-1 victory by New York at the Trop giving the visitors the season series 10-9.The game was marred by a bit of beanball battle, with Andrew Kittredge throwing a pitch behind Austin Romine and CC Sabathia then retaliating by hitting Jesus Sucre in the thigh http://www.astrosfanproshop.com/authentic-jake-marisnick-jersey , earning an ejection.While Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash called it “people protecting teammates,” Kittredge said, “Just baseball. I really don’t have a comment. I’m just trying to do my job and today obviously I didn’t do a very good job.”Asked about Cash’s comment, Kittredge said, “Like I said Michael Saunders Jersey , it’s baseball.”The Rays fell to 88-71 with the three games left and need one victory for a 50-win home season.