The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse

by Tom Verducci

With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions.
It took 108 years, but it really happened. The Chicago Cubs are once again World Series champions.
How did a team composed of unknown, young players and supposedly washed-up veterans come together to break the Curse of the Billy Goat? Tom Verducci, twice named National Sportswriter of the Year and co-writer of The Yankee Years with Joe Torre, will have full access to team president Theo Epstein, manager Joe Maddon, and the players to tell the story of the Cubs' transformation from perennial underachievers to the best team in baseball.
Beginning with Epstein's first year with the team in 2011, Verducci will show how Epstein went beyond "Moneyball" thinking to turn around the franchise. Leading the organization with a manual called "The Cubs Way," he focused on the mental side of the game as much as the physical, emphasizing chemistry as well as statistics.
To accomplish his goal, Epstein needed manager Joe Maddon, an eccentric innovator, as his counterweight on the Cubs' bench. A man who encourages themed road trips and late-arrival game days to loosen up his team, Maddon mixed New Age thinking with Old School leadership to help his players find their edge.
The Cubs Way takes readers behind the scenes, chronicling how key players like Rizzo, Russell, Lester, and Arrieta were deftly brought into the organization by Epstein and coached by Maddon to outperform expectations. Together, Epstein and Maddon proved that clubhouse culture is as important as on-base-percentage, and that intangible components like personality, vibe, and positive energy are necessary for a team to perform to their fullest potential.
Verducci chronicles the playoff run that culminated in an instant classic Game Seven. He takes a broader look at the history of baseball in Chicago and the almost supernatural element to the team's repeated loses that kept fans suffering, but also served to strengthen their loyalty.
The Cubs Way is a celebration of an iconic team and its journey to a World Championship that fans and readers will cherish for years to come.

Genres: Sports, Baseball, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Leadership, Business

375 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2017

About the author

Tom Verducci is Sports Illustrated's senior baseball writer and a two-time National Sportswriter of the Year. He is also a two-time Emmy Award-winning game and studio analyst for FOX Sports and MLB Network. He was the co-writer of The Yankee Years with Joe Torre.

Photo credit: Fox Sports

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following the emotional month that culminated with the Cubs winning the World Series, I contemplated what sort of memento I would like to honor the season with. Shirts and hats fade over time, and, newspapers, once in their protective covers, will only be taken out every so often. Last week, the impeccable Cubs radio broadcast team had Tom Verducci on as a guest during one inning. Even the broadcasters who are with the team daily touted his new book The Cubs Way as being well researched and written so well that it read like fiction. My interest piqued, I decided to purchase The Cubs Way as my memento of 2016 because, unlike shirts, books can be revisited many times, bringing the historical Series title back to life.

Like many of the fans described in the book, my experience is multigenerational, my paternal grandparents and father all long suffering fans. I am a Series baby, born during the 1979 classic, and, until last year, that Pirates team had been the last team to successfully rally down 3 games to 1 to win game 7 on the road. I am sure this is not mere coincidence because as soon as I could walk and talk, I was watching Cubs games; in elementary school, I ran home to ensure that I caught the end of games, and I had been indoctrinated as a fan, following the team through all its rough times, curses and all. Unlike both the current manager and team president, I believed in goats and curses. How could I not, witnessing first hand the collapses in 1984 and 2003. All this history, and the fact that the championship occurred the week of my birthday, made this title the best present I could ever ask for.

Tom Verducci, who my Cubs loving son calls the best baseball reporter there is, did a remarkable job on The Cubs Way. He interviewed the entire team during their run to the title, including background information on each key player and coach, even items that I was unaware of. Although he culled his information as a reporter and he penned the book soon after the season ended, this book read like the storytelling history book genre that I so enjoy. If I did not know that the events were current, I would have thought that Verducci was writing about a title years long past. His anecdotes brought the last five years of the drive to the title back to life, ending with the euphoria of winning, and tears and joy to my eyes as though the title took place as I read about it.

Besides the fact that this title ended the longest drought in the history of professional sports, it could not have happened to a better group of people. The front office team researched and both drafted and traded for players who dealt with adversity both on and off of the field. Cancer survivors, high school stars who lost grandparents during a critical tournament, sons of professionals and army employees, all who put the team first, and if one met these young men on the street, they would encounter humble people who happen to be amazing ballplayers. I knew about 85% of the information, but using his journalistic skills, Verducci brought the playoff run back to life for me in a way that was a pure joy to read.

My eleven year old son is now reading The Cubs Way for a book report. Continuing the chain of being a multigenerational Cubs fan, my kids started going to games during the rebuild and are now fully indoctrinated fans. Unlike myself who wanted to be either the Cubs broadcaster or manager when she grew up, my son wants to work in the Cubs front office as a member of the player development team. He loves math and reading about Ivy Leaguers who are baseball fans that helped to end not one but two curses fosters his dream to achieve that goal. Last season was a season one could only dream of. Even if the Cubs win ten more titles with this current group of players, the first one is always the most special. Thank you, Tom Verducci for bringing the 2016 season back to life in your book The Cubs Way. Your book may not win literary awards other than best new sports book, but it will be among the most meaningful I read this year. Needless to say, I have found my memento.

[Fred Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most boys or girls, in the US above the age of 8 and adults as well, likely know who won the last Baseball World Series: The Chicago Cubs. It has been a few years since their last one, it was in 1908, when they beat the Detroit Tigers. With such a drought without having a championship team, you would think the Cubs' fans might lose interest and attendance might fall off a bit. NOT SO! Cubs fans are the most loyal I have ever known. Secondly they beat the Cleveland Indians in the Series who themselves had not won since 1948. It was the very best of baseball. Today Cubs’ fans have something to give the memory of their family and friends, Cubs’ fans who have passed on. Maybe they will leave a token at a grave site or add a World Series banner draped across a photograph.

“The Cubs Way” is the story of the vision of Theo Epstein, Cubs’ President and his General Manager Jed Hoyer and how they went about building the championship team. Tom Rickets, Cubs’ owner while not involved in day to day operations, did his part by a $575M renovation of Wrigley Field and building a new state of the art Cubs’ training facility in Mesa Arizona. He also hired the right man in Theo Epstein, and gave him a free rein as a leader.

Tom Verducci, the author who is a senior baseball sports writer for Sports Illustrated did a exemplary job with his research and his writing to convey the enthusiasm of the miracle World Series win, as it is sometimes called.

If I were building a team, sports or otherwise, this would be my go to reference. Epstein not only looked for the best talent to pitch, hit, throw and catch, but he would not have a player on the team nor a manager without the right character. He also wanted youth who could be potential leaders plus a mix of veteran players as models of maturity.

I highly recommend this book to baseball fans, sports fans of any ilk, managers and executives and those people like me who love baseball.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written book by Tom Verducci on the Cubs epic and dramatic 2016 season. The youngest club to ever play in a World Series, the acquisition of the Cubs talent was the culmination of a five year project by Theo Epstein the Cubs GM. Epstein previously had been the architect of the Red Sox two World Series Championships.

Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Addison Russell and Anthony Rizzo are all future all-stars on the Cubs roster and all are under the age of 25. Joe Madden a player’s manager who embraces saber metrics wants out of Tampa Bay. Epstein puts the pieces together with some key veteran acquisitions and the Cubs make a run at the championship.

The book alternates between descriptions of each game of the seven game 2016 World Series and flashbacks from earlier in the season. I really disliked this approach and felt it distracted from the otherwise exceptional writing by Verducci.

There were short bios on all the players peppered throughout and even extended ones on Epstein and Joe Madden the manager. These were all excellent.

The coverage of game seven in particular was dramatic and perfectly wrought. The Cubs curse was in the back of everyone’s mind as the Cubs repeatedly blew leads in the epic finale against the Cleveland Indians. Both pitching staffs were exhausted after 200 games since the beginning of spring training. And home runs were being routinely hit off the best pitchers in the game. For the final game Verducci takes us into the dugout and shows us what Madden and the players are thinking. Confidence is not the word of the day.

4 stars. I’ve seen several excellent journalists organize timelines in a non-linear way in these longer books. It could be all in a rush to publish or as my wife suggests perhaps a non-linear timeline is a better way to build suspense.

[Andrew Langert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to receive this great book as a Goodreads Giveaway.
When you live in Chicago and already know seemingly everything there is to know about the Cubs 2016 season, it is hard to imagine how a book about 2016 could tell you something you don't know. Tom Verducci did it.
Verducci, the well-known Sports Illustrated writer and TV baseball analyst had incredible and unique access to every member of the Cubs team and front office. He goes in depth into everything you wonder about: how Joe Maddon thinks, Theo Epstein's approach to creating a winning culture, the thinking behind the rebuilding plan that started when Theo took over and the personalities of individual Cub players.
The book walks you through the Cubs playoff run, interspersed with anecdotal chapters that flash back to how the Cubs acquired the pieces that formed this World Series championship team. It answers all the things you wonder about. The biggest question I had was about the thinking behind acquiring Aroldis Chapman, a guy who didn't seem to culturally fit with what Theo and Jed Hoyer were creating. Verducci covers this issue very well.
There will be a lot of books written about the 2016 Cubs. This one, written in an objective tone by a national writer, stands to be the best of them. Though a Chicagoan, I am a baseball fan much more than I am a Cubs fan. I really appreciated the insight and analysis this book provides, along with the absence of any cheerleading that we might see in other books.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nearly everyone, including non-baseball fans, is aware of the story of the Chicago Cubs during the 2016 season. Having not won the World Series since 1908, the team was led by a core of young position players and not only compiled the best record in baseball, they broke the so-called “curse” and defeated the Cleveland Indians in a thrilling 7-game World Series. The story of how this championship team was built is told in this outstanding book by Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci. He also narrated the audiobook, which was also done well. Authors who narrate the audio version of their books help to lend an air of authority to the work.

The story of the team is told mostly through extensive interviews with Cubs president Theo Epstein and field manager Joe Maddon. Both of them have ideas and viewpoints that go against the traditional way of building and managing a winning team, something that is noteworthy in the usually conservative business of baseball. For example, many teams try to build their teams through pitching as there are plenty of clichés and conventional thoughts that state pitching is more important.

However, Epstein didn’t follow that model. Instead, he concentrated on obtaining a core of talented position players who would live up to his standards for talent, character and leadership. Between trades and the draft, Epstein found his core players. First baseman Anthony Rizzo (trade), third baseman Kris Bryant (draft), catcher/outfielder Kyle Schwarber (draft) and shortstop Addison Russell (trade) make up that core and Verducci tells the reader why each of these players are so important to the team. Oh, and as for pitchers – through some shrewd trades and free agent signings of veterans like Jon Lester and Jake Arrietta, that was addressed as well.

The best and most extensive writing, however, is saved for the lengthy passages about Maddon and his unorthodox approach to running his team. Having already achieved success with the Tampa Bay Rays, Maddon’s complete story with the Cubs is captured with humor, detail and inside information that he was more than happy to share with Verducci. The reader will feel like he or she is part of the Cubs clubhouse – which is one of those important details that helped change the culture of the team after it underwent a multi-million dollar upgrade.

If Cubs fans read only one book about their team’s magical 2016 season, this is the one they must read. Even readers like me who are not Cubs fans but want to read about an excellent baseball team, this book should be added to their libraries. Verducci can certainly fly the “W” with this winner of a book.

http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...

[Campbell Andrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering how much I read, I don't really own that many books. (Though I'm sure my wife would disagree.)

Like, I have not even a shelf's worth of fiction. Most of the books I own are in two categories: baseball and movies. These my 9-year-old son thumbs through, and being as he reads at a high-school level he's finished most of them already.

It was my birthday and at the dentist he read a Sports Illustrated that pushed Verducci's book. He insisted on getting it for me, despite his father being no particular fan of the Cubs.

And he's read it twice already. But I have a whole stack above it and it's not a priority... but I'm a bad dad, aren't I. So when he asks me again and again over the weeks how much I have to read and finally tells me flat-out, "I'd really like you to read it," I'll finally comply. So it jumps the queue.

[Jeff Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone I have interacted with once, for about 20 minutes, around 15 years ago (I interviewed him about steroids in baseball, as he broke the initial Ken Caminiti story in Sports Illustrated on the topic, and he was terrific), I have always had a love-hate relationship with what spews forth from the keyboard of author Tom Verducci. This has almost nothing to do with Verducci’s actual work, which is typically knowledgeable, engaging, and deeply sourced. My issue has long been with the fact that Verducci moonlights as a paid analyst at MLB Network. My gripe is as much with Verducci’s primary employer, Sports Illustrated, as it is with him. It has boggled my mind for years that SI does not note in every piece he writes that he receives a paycheck from the industry he covers as a journalist. I’m not simply being persnickety – a few years ago, Verducci praised MLB’s drug-testing program while slamming those run by other leagues, namely the NFL. It is incomprehensible to me that that sees the light of day as a work of ostensibly independent journalism.

Anyway, “The Cubs Way,” Verducci’s new work, is a 363-page book that aims to be the definitive account of the Cubs journey to the 2016 World Series title. In large part, it is the journey of general manager Theo Epstein and field manager Joe Maddon. There is a reason for this. On the surface, it seems thrilling that the Cubs were led by a core of players under 25 years old, including Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez. The fact that they all seem like proverbial good guys certainly has not hurt the team’s popularity in Chicago and nationwide, and it provides for the possibility of a bright future. As subjects for a book-length work, however, a group of talented, good guys from largely upper-middle class backgrounds doesn’t exactly drive narrative. Rizzo, it should be noted, is a cancer survivor. (So is ace pitcher Jon Lester.) But even that doesn’t really keep one turning the pages here. He is granted a 97 percent chance of survival, comes through the ordeal with flying colors, and then keeps on mashing. Bottom line: This ain’t the “Bronx Zoo” Yankees.

Every since Michael Lewis wrote “Moneyball,” the market has seen an endless procession of copycats attempting to explain how top baseball organizations came to be that way. Here, you get the feeling that Epstein, right-hand man Jed Hoyer, and the rest of the Cubs front office and field staff are not necessarily doing anything groundbreaking – at least nothing they were willing to reveal to a reporter, understandably. They just happen to be better at their jobs than their peers, who also presumably work hard and speak to potential draftees. Better at drafting. Better at advance scouting. Better at managing personalities. At one point Verducci explains that Epstein seeks pitchers who throw a lot of strikes, but who are also adept at making batters swing and miss. That doesn’t strike one as a state secret. I’m underselling a bit, though. There is more than enough detail here about how the Cubs, for example, revived the careers of Arietta and Hector Rondon to satiate one’s appetite for inside baseball. And if there is a relatable takeaway about Epstein's management philosophy, it is that he believes in the talismanic power of information, whether that means analytic data or anecdotes about how a high school star treats his parents.

On the whole, the book serves as a nice one-stop shop to learn about the Epstein-Maddon regime in Chicago, and there is a considerable amount of behind the scenes detail to make it a worthwhile read. Arietta’s hours long pregame ritual is meticulously documented. Maddon’s journey from the Lafayette University football team to the World Series is a compelling one. A frat house prank turned tense prior to Game 7 is something I've never read about previously. And David Ross's fraught pitch-calling of Aroldis Chapman transforms Ross into a living, breathing, flawed ballplayer, not "Grandpa Rossy" the cartoon character.

As is the case in much of his Sports Illustrated work, Verducci can get bogged down in endless recitation of statistical minutiae. Save the minute details about how batters perform against Josh Tomlin’s two-strike curveball for an end note. It suffices to tell me that it is a difficult pitch to hit. This is the kind of thing that turns a lot of current sports writing into a slog, particularly NBA writing. That said, overall Verducci’s format works, with the seven-game series against Cleveland serving as the narrative backbone, upon which he layers details about the participants. There are a few hiccups along the way – for example, the Chapman trade clearly was a bomb dropped into the “character first” narrative that Verducci bought lock, stock, and barrel from Epstein, and it's gross to me that Verducci thinks Chapman was personally redeemed by Game 7. Yes, he's more than just a person who allegedly fired eight bullets into his garage during a domestic incident. But he's still a person who allegedly fired eight bullets into his garage in a domestic incident, even after setting the Indians down 1-2-3 in the ninth.

So buy it, read it, and realize that the definitive account of the potential Cubs dynasty will be written once the men in uniform battle adversity and aging.

[Dan Lalande · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dense, detailed account of how baseball's biggest losers became, at long last, World Series winners (prior to that fateful season, any book titled "The Cubs Way" would have been found in the humour section.) Verducci's admirably organized style goes a long way in chronicling cultural operandi, rationalizing in-game strategy, and supporting sub-radar statistics. But while the book rightfully spotlights the team's kookiest characters, led by one-of-a-kind manager Joe Maddon, the analytical Verducci, try as he might, is the wrong writer to bring them to life. For years, the Cubs were all heart, no team. Here, they're all team, no heart.

[Andy Schmitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young me would be appalled to read a book on the rival baseball team growing up. However, The Cubs Way is filled with rich leadership and enjoyable stories on folks who choose to change the mindset of an organization that had been plagued by losing and what’s worse, a losers mindset. The profiles of Theo Epstein, John Madden, and so many others, in particular the core four impact players, is compelling. It also helps that the author is the narrator as this is a very fun listen. Even capped this book off by inviting some buddies over to watch game seven of the WS. What a wild and unusual game! Had a blast sharing stories from the book and reliving a wild sports moment. Only reason I can’t give this five stars is simply that I’m a Cards fan.

[Robert Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of baseball's best stories told by its best writer. Worth the read for every baseball fan.

[Stan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I enjoyed reading about baseball during the playoffs, but for me this book had more things to not like than like. If you are a Cubs fan, you might enjoy, though. First, I'm not a huge Tom Verducci fan. He is obviously passionate about baseball (see his pitching articles, which dissect the art and science of pitching in minute detail and can be found frequently online at SI.com and in the pages of Sports Illustrated). But there are sections here where the spin rate of pitches is just not that useful to the narrative. I'm not that geeked out. Beyond that, his book with Joe Torre, The Yankee Years, was a lot better, probably because they were co-authors. In that situation, Verducci had to let Torre's voice come through, and it did, very effectively. Here, Verducci inserts himself into the narrative in a few places and, at least for me, that just doesn't work. (Especially when discussing what happened when Aroldis Chapman walked past him in dugout during rain delay of 2016 Game 7... Tommy, you're not part of the story.) I could definitely do without descriptions of Rizzo dancing naked to Rocky music before Games 5, 6 and 7. Did anyone find that hilarious? Or is it kind of weird, especially when we get to learn a teammate sprays shoe polish on his groin? So, yeah, I was out on that part too. For my part, I was expecting to be endeared to Joe Maddon. Instead, I came away believing that Maddon is not the aw-shucks good guy from small-town Pennsylvania. He's got a gigantic ego and is not above claiming credit for just about everything that goes right during a game, even super-rare, super-crazy game situations. For example, he says that he actually thought, before Game 7 of the 2016 Series, what he would do in a late inning if (a) Baez was at bat, (b) he had two strikes, (c) Heyward was on third base, and (d) the game was tied, (etc.). He claims (pg. 340) he thought BEFORE the game that he would try and have Baez safety squeeze ... really? Before the game? If Joe says so, it must be true (?). Finally, I'm completely out on the rationalizations offered by all the Cubs management about how they didn't break with their "character first" approach when renting Chapman, post-domestic assault incident, for the last 2 months of the season and the playoffs.
I'm giving this one away.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is NOT like a sequel to Moneyball. This is literally inside baseball for Cubbies fans. Only by reading between the lines can one gain insight into how Theo Epstein could leave Boston and repeat his curse-breaking magic in Chicago. Much of the detail in this book is irrelevant to that.

[Brad Lyerla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Verducci is senior writer at Sports Illustrated and a regular commentator on Fox baseball broadcasts. He published THE CUBS WAY: THE ZEN OF BUILDING THE BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL AND BREAKING THE CURSE earlier this spring. It is a very good read. So good, that I would call it a must read for any serious fan of the Chicago Cubs and a very highly recommended read for other baseball fans.

The release of CUBS WAY was timed to capitalize on the Cubs’ enormous popularity after the hugely entertaining World Series Championship that the Cubs won against the Cleveland Indians last fall. But don’t dismiss it for that reason. Verducci is a talented writer and he clearly was working on the book long before it was known that the Cubs would emerge as the champions after the 2016 season.

CUBS WAY begins with Verducci’s description of Joe Maddon’s brightly color-coded game plan notes prepared in advance of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. Maddon’s notes are unusual, to say the least. His game plan for Game 7, as is true for every game, included a great deal of uniquely personal information, including wise sayings, superstitious references, inspirational thoughts and remembrances of friends and and loved ones. Of course, most of the game plan addressed saber metrics for hitters and pitchers, with an emphasis on match ups. Maddon eschews many traditional baseball stats. For example, he claims not to know anyone's batting average. He makes his decisions based on current trends in performance, not season long aggregated data.

Verducci organizes the rest of the book around the seven games of the 2016 World Series. But the great substance of CUBS WAY is Verducci’s character studies of Tom Ricketts, Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon. Verducci had substantial access to the foregoing and he took advantage of that access. I follow the Cubs closely, but I learned a lot of new information about the team from reading the fruits of Verducci's interviews.

Ricketts’ decency and authenticity come across clearly in Verducci’s account. Consistently with how he is widely perceived by fans in Chicago, Ricketts loves the Cubs and genuinely wants the best for the fans. Even better, he has the self-knowledge to be able to step back and let real baseball people run the team, on both the business and baseball sides of the house. His humility is Rickett's most admirable quality.

Epstein's story is even more fascinating. Verducci begins with Epstein's boyhood love of baseball and traces Epstein's history from his ivy league education through his wildly successful years with the Red Sox to building the baseball squad that ended the Cubs' 108 year championship drought. Epstein combines a high powered intellect with a likable relaxed charisma. He readily shares credit with his front office team and prefers a low profile that is endearing. Baseball fans will enjoy Verducci's description of how Esptein, Jed Hoyer and their front office colleagues agonized over the trade for Aroldis Chapman that called into question the sincerity of the team's professed commitment to doing things the right way with an emphasis on good character and professionalism.

Perhaps, the most interesting part of CUBS WAY for me was the character study of Joe Maddon. He really is a different sort of cat. I found myself liking him and his eccentricities more and more as I learned about his career in baseball. There was nothing about Maddon's early career that would suggest that one day he would become one of the top managers in the major leagues. He had to work his way up slowly from the lowest echelons of the game and it took decades. It is hard not to admire Maddon's determination and ability to learn and absorb information from the many bosses he had along the way.

At the same time, I could not ignore that Maddon seems very concerned for his image and legacy. I found myself liking him less as it became apparent that he actively cultivates a sort of folk hero-type status and seemed to be using Verducci for that purpose. I liked him even less as Maddon continued to persist, very improbably and long after the World Series was over, that his use of the bullpen was mostly consistent with what he had contemplated all along and that it worked! Reading Verducci, it seems that Maddon lacks the ability to admit to a mistake.

For me, this was a disappointment. It undercuts the public's perception that Maddon is a cool dude who is secure in his unusual personality. In fact, the closer that Verducci looks at Maddon, the more the opposite seems to be true. By the end of the book, Verducci had me wondering if Maddon may not be all that he seems. And that some of of the beatnik manager routine is window-dressing.

[Mike Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic book. One of the best baseball books I have read in a long time. Full disclosure I am a long suffering Cubs fan, but Verducci is such a great writer he brings the book to life for everyone to enjoy. He is such a good writer, and is extremely knowledgeable about baseball. His only failing is he only has two books to his credit. (The other is another great read, Joe Torre: The Yankee Years)

This books retells how the Chicago Cubs went from lovable losers to World Series Champions. Verducci alternates chapters between World Series games and the five years leading up to the games. He does a great job going behind the scenes to show you what went on. Verducci is also excellent at portraying the participants, and really giving you a great view into their thinking. I especially enjoyed how he gave manager Joe Maddon's insight from the World Series games.

The Cubs went about building their team on high quality character players, and that makes the book even more enjoyable. You are rooting for these guys to win because they are good guys. This team has it all from young superstars like Kris Bryant, Javy Baez, and Addison Russell, just scratching the surface of what they can do. The young leader, Anthony Rizzo, who can connect with everyone. The grizzled vet, David Ross (aka Grandpa Rossy), who is on his retirement tour. The high priced free agent, Jason Heyward, who despite his struggles at the plate brings the team together at the right time. I could go on and on. If I didn't witness the 2016 Cubs myself, I would have thought it was a made up team from a book or movie.

The story of the 2016 World Series itself has a good amount of drama, and highs and lows. Again seems like it was taken from Hollywood. It seals the deal on making this a great book. If you are a baseball fan it is a must read, and even if you just like a good story you should pick it up.

[Jude · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cubs Way - Tom Verducci
My rating - 6 Stars (out of five)

This. Book. Is. AWESOME. It’s hard for me to say how much I love the writing and description in this book making it (even though it’s a non-fiction book) extremely well paced and written.

The book is unlike a lot of other Non-fiction books out there, it does not have the normal side topics that, to be honest, aren’t that good. Instead it covers up empty space by giving the reader a bit of back-story about the games a player scouting leading up to the 2016 World Series.

As a sum-up, I highly recommend this book to any fan of sports or the Cubs Franchise.

Random reviewer out.

[Diane Yannick · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating of this book should hold about as much weight as a treatise by Donald Trump on the Middle East. However, since I read every word, I'm determined to review it and count it toward my 2017 book challenge. I am not a big baseball fan but I love to read stories about underdogs coming out on top. I knew that Tom Verducci is a reputable author who has spent his life covering baseball for SI. Plus I read glorious reviews by baseball lovers. AND I saw David Ross on DWTS and I totally liked his personality and awkward dance moves. All this to say, I didn't just randomly grab this book.

Just as I believe that nine innings is way too long for men and their bats, winning this World Series was positively endless. What would ever make anyone think that I'd want to know about every nuance of the game? Who ever knew that base assignments and batting order weren't determined by seniority or maybe alphabetical order (which worked fine in my teaching career). Oh no, Maddox spends his waking hours making decisions about these details and scribbling notes about their opponents. Can't he just focus on his own team?
It seems like stalking to me. Aren't there any privacy laws to protect the opposing team?

I would have appreciated more details about the players' personal lives. How did their wives feel about all this ball chasing? Any affairs, divorces, wayward offspring? Did they have pets you could have warmed our hearts with? How about some embarrassing grade school stories? Who mows their grass while they're chasing balls? Stuff like that would have spiced up this boring book. I know it was well written but so is the dictionary.

I absolutely could not wait for them to win the damned World Series. They hadn't won in about 100 years but is it THAT important? These Cubs fans seem a bit rabid to me. Shouldn't' they be worried about their city's infrastructure? Perhaps Maddox could help them get those crime numbers down; he's had pretty good luck figuring out stuff like ERAs, RBIs, batting averages. I'm sure he could work out some chants and statistics for the Windy City. FYI this dude Fowler had an "on-base-plus slugging" mark (??) of 1.203 which by my calculations means that he has an invisible minion that does .203 of the batting, plus whoever heard of slugging the ball from anywhere except home plate? You couldn't make up this shit.

These baseball men don't seem fully evolved to me. They have these crazy rituals---handshakes, foods, poems, special bats, head twitches. Rodon "mistakenly abbreviated Rizzo's pregame jocularity by spraying him in the groin with shoe cleaner". Come on now, even 5 year olds know better.

I give 3 reluctant stars as this author did his homework and did it well. He spent countless hours interviewing each of the cubs then putting together this pitch by pitch account of how the Cubs finally won the World Series. Lots of people care about having such an authentic record. Obviously, I'm just not one of them. Perhaps because the forever losing Phillies are my home team?

[Sean Nemecek · Rating 5 out of 5]

At times Tom Verducci seems to love his massive vocabulary more than his readers - I found myself thinking "who uses those words?" That one complaint aside, this is a very well written book. Verducci structures the book around the seven games of the 2016 world series - each game has one chapter dedicated to it. In between these are chapters telling background stories of the players and front office staff that made this team a winner. This structure makes for a very compelling story.

This book is also about the culture of the Cubs as an organization and the leadership principles that make them a great team. Starting with Tom Ricketts and Theo Epstien the Cubs developed a culture based on character and a winning attitude. Verducci shows how this led them to aquire players who fit within that culture. To cap it all off, the signing of Joe Maddon was the perfect fit for the culture they were developing. This book is like a class in leadership, organizational culture, and how these drive the winning ways of the Chicago Cubs.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did, but the writing and organization of the book just isn’t there. Instead of an inside look at how the team was constructed (and the book starts by talking about Theo Epstein) like how the Addison Russell trade came about, it spends the bulk of the time talking about and to Joe Maddon. That’s fine for what it is, and maybe I’m being unfair because the best parts were prereleased in SI and elsewhere, but the rest of the book feels like it was rushed to get to print before the start of last season, and doesn’t spend enough time talking to the players or anyone other than Maddon. Would have been better as a bio of Maddon than a profile of the team. Still good, but not great.

[Christina Dudley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating and fun read for baseball lovers, and how I wish Theo Epstein would next turn his sights to helping the Mariners. The Cubs may not have won the World Series for a century, but we've NEVER EVEN BEEN, for Pete's sake!

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was fun. A chance to relive the 2016 World Series? Count me in. A great way to get excited for Opening Day 2018! Verducci mixes game details with the story of how the Cubs roster and organizational structure were built. interviews with players, coaches, front office personnel and ownership.

I'm giving this 3 stars because Verducci's writing is better suited for his magazine columns. He loves metaphors, and one can only handle so much for 12 hours. He also writes more as a fanboy than a journalist. When discussing the Cubs' preference for high character players, I kept waiting for Verducci to foreshadow that abandonment in the midseason trade for Aroldis Chapman (a player suspended for domestic violence). It was discussed eventually, but it should have come much earlier. The book could have also been trimmed down some and still be effective. Some interviews needed paraphrasing or shortening. This would have reduced repetitiveness.

[Avid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just not enough stars to show my love for this book. I read it two years after the fact - during the 2018 playoffs, where the cubs were eliminated in the wild card game - and cried anew at verducci’s detailed descriptions of 2016’s WS Game 7 that make up the last 50 pages or so of the book. Yes, i’m a lifelong cubs fan who totally appreciates being able to relive the 2016 WS over and over, but this book also contains universal philosophies and insights that any baseball fan can appreciate. Verducci’s access to individuals at all levels of the organization helped him create a truly meaningful and comprehensive look at what it took to build the 2016 champs, and what some of the driving factors were along the way. I just really appreciate the depth and sensitivity with which verducci created this book. It is one of the few titles i care to own, and i plan to treasure it forever.

[Liz De Coster · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was in high demand even at my non-Chicago-area public library, so I didn't finish it in one go. I think that speaks to the broad interest in a story told by a veteran sportswriter. Verducci makes the 2016 season read like a story, and for the most part doesn't shy away from on- or off-field issues, like Chapman's domestic violence history, or Maddon's pitcher management in Game 7. The book has a good mix of journalism, sports reporting, baseball analysis, and management theory - really this is more of a 4.5.

[David Pfanschmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a baseball fan, this is a "must read" book. If you're a Cubs fan, this is a "must read twice" book. Tom Verducci has given Cubs' fans the second greatest gift ever. (The World Championship was, of course, the top gift of all time.) This book has so many incredible stories, tidbits, facts, human observations, and details that you'll be thoroughly entertained and yearning for more.

As a long suffering fan of the Chicago Cubs, I thank Tom Verducci for writing perhaps the top non-fiction book I've ever read.

[Matt Athey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this novel like approach to a story where you already know the ending. The backstories, detail, and analysis are expertly written in a very engrossing manner. Maybe it's the Cubs fan in me but I felt like I could smell the grass, hear the sounds, and see the games being described. My heart pounded reading the game narratives almost as much as it did while watching it live. Good book for any baseball fan and an excellent one for any die hard Cub fan.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is as much about teamwork, management and the belief in everyone's ability to contribute than it is about a baseball game. Set against the backdrop of the Chicago Cubs amazing 2016 World Series this book tells how the management of the Chicago Cubs, and the players themselves, worked to build a team that could accomplish the impossible.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alternating between the game-by-game details of the 2016 World Series and the backstories of several key Cubs players, Verducci provides a thorough understanding of how Theo Epstein's emphasis on character, and Joe Maddon’s unconventional management style, guided this talented team to its first championship in 108 years.

If you’re like me and you’ve been in a state of euphoria ever since Michael Martinez grounded a ball to Kris Bryant, this book offers a comprehensive look back at that incredible Chicago Cubs' World Series Championship and recalls every detail of that legendary team.

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cubs way: the zen of building the best team in baseball and breaking the curse took me three times checking it out of the library. It’s not because it was so bad. It’s because it was such a fabulous book to read. I wanted to linger over it. I know that Harry Caray was crying when they won because I was crying too.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up as a gift for a huge baseball fan. Great pictures in the center section. The index of names is extensive. And, this book is written by a baseball expert, the senior baseball writer for Sports Illustrated.

[Travis Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing new here, really, but Verducci is one of the best writers of baseball today, and the story is still a fun one. Even when it gets heavy handed, it's tolerable. Worth a read - especially if you're a Cubs fan, I gather. (I am not, but I am a baseball fan, so there's that)

[Jason Teckenbrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of the Chicago Cubs since I was a small child (my grandpa got me hooked by watching games on WGN), this was a fascinating read. It gave insights on how the world series championship team was created and took you back years.