Joe Maddon Q&A: Who makes guest list at Cubs manager’s ultimate dinner party?

10:10 AM ET

PITTSBURGH — Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon is piloting the best team in baseball right now. The eclectic skipper took time to talk all things Cubs as well as have some fun with some other pressing questions.

Have you ever had or even been around a more dominant month than what you just experienced in April?

Joe Maddon: I think I have, but it’s been in the middle of the season. It’s very unusual to start out like that. Last time I was in a start this good I think I was in Salinas (Single A) like in 1978 or 1977; I think we had a start where we were like 45-10. A big part of the run differential right now is about our pitching. People think run differential they think the offense is just going nuts, but with a more pedestrian pitching staff you wouldn’t have that run differential.

Are you cognizant of seeing something we’ve never seen before every time Jake Arrieta takes the mound?

JM: I don’t think about it until afterwards when Peter [Chase, the Cubs’ director of media relations] gives me the latest stat or milestone. That’s when it slaps me in the face, otherwise I don’t think about it. Working with Jake he’s such a normal, approachable guy you don’t think about those things. When you do watch him pitch from the side it does strike you a little bit like ‘man.’ A part of it is how bad the other team’s takes are, not their swings. How badly they look when they take a pitch. That’s when he’s really on.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon would invite Cardinals Hall of Famer pitcher Bob …

continue reading in source espn.go.com