{"id":359645,"date":"2025-10-03T16:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T16:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/359645\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T16:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T16:52:13","slug":"former-cubs-manager-david-ross-eager-for-next-opportunity-reportedly-interested-in-braves-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/359645\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Cubs manager David Ross eager for next opportunity, reportedly interested in Braves job"},"content":{"rendered":"

In their first postseason appearance since the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign, the Chicago Cubs have booked a ticket to the NLDS<\/a>, thanks to a dramatic Game 3 victory over the San Diego Padres in Thursday’s winner-take-all, wild-card matchup.<\/p>\n

The last time the Cubs were in the playoffs, they were managed by David Ross, a celebrated member of their 2016 World Series team: the backup catcher famously carried off the field after the franchise ended its 108-year world championship drought.<\/p>\n

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He went from calling games from behind the plate to calling the shots in the clubhouse from 2020-23, but his four-season run as manager came to an abrupt end following the 2023 season. Ross was unexpectedly fired<\/a>, and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer went a different direction, hiring the coveted Craig Counsell<\/a>, who has since guided the Cubs back to October baseball.<\/p>\n

Ross told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal this week<\/a> that he’s itching for another managerial opportunity in the majors.<\/p>\n

“Badly,” he said in a phone interview with The Athletic Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s an itch that hasn\u2019t gone away.”<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Associated Press Thursday<\/a>, Ross \u2014 a 48-year-old Bainbridge, Georgia, native who was a part-time starter for the Atlanta Braves from 2009-12 \u2014 said landing the vacant Braves job<\/a> “would be amazing,” although Ross reportedly didn’t speak extensively about that specific position, as he’s not sure if he’ll be on the Braves’ list of candidates.<\/p>\n

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He is sure, however, about his desire to get another crack at running the show in a major-league dugout.<\/p>\n

Ross went 262-284 in his four seasons managing the Cubs. He led Chicago to an NL Central title during the pandemic-affected season, but the Cubs quickly bowed out of the playoffs with a speedy wild-card defeat to the Miami Marlins.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the 2023 season, the Cubs committed $300 million to free agents, eying a return to title contention. While Chicago flirted with that kind of success, a September collapse left the club on the outside looking in of the NL wild-card picture.<\/p>\n

Ross told The Athletic that he wasn’t contacted for any of the managerial openings last offseason. This time around, there are already more jobs available. The Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals are all looking for new leadership \u2014 and the Colorado Rockies and Houston Astros could join that list soon.<\/p>\n

\"CLEVELAND,<\/p>\n

CLEVELAND, OH – NOVEMBER 2: David Ross #3 of the Chicago Cubs celebrates on the field with his teammates after defeating the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series at Progressive Field on Wednesday, November 2, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Rob Tringali\/MLB via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

(Rob Tringali via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

There are things Ross would do differently if he got another chance, he told The Athletic.<\/p>\n

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“I still had a players\u2019 mentality,\u201d said Ross, who didn’t have coaching or managing experience prior to his role with the Cubs. “I don\u2019t want to yell and scream at umpires all the time. I probably did that way more than I ever expected. I loved umpires when I was catching.”<\/p>\n

Ross added, via The Athletic: “You\u2019re trying to fight for players. You\u2019ve got to take some of that emotion out of managing and continue to talk through it with the guys. Fight for your players, but there were some emotions sometimes that got the best of me from a managing standpoint, if I\u2019m being honest.”<\/p>\n

Ross also discussed in his interview with The Athletic a greater appreciation for the importance of improved communication with the front office, especially during a rebuild, like the one he was overseeing with the Cubs.<\/p>\n

While Ross said he has turned down bench coach opportunities each of the past two offseasons, he’s ready to wear a uniform again \u2014 as a manager.<\/p>\n

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He’s thankful for his time in Chicago, as a player and as a manager, but he’s also champing at the bit for his next swing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just have a little bit of emptiness from some unfinished business,” he said, via The Athletic. “I loved going to work every day and grinding with those guys.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In their first postseason appearance since the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign, the Chicago Cubs have booked a ticket to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[46,47,5,24,135,7328,52,887,54,884,4748,56,8887,58,60,4,18,66,69,12784,71],"class_list":{"0":"post-359645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-atlanta-braves","9":"tag-baltimore-orioles","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-chicago-cubs","12":"tag-cleveland","13":"tag-cleveland-indians","14":"tag-colorado-rockies","15":"tag-david-ross","16":"tag-houston-astros","17":"tag-jed-hoyer","18":"tag-ken-rosenthal","19":"tag-los-angeles-angels","20":"tag-manager","21":"tag-miami-marlins","22":"tag-minnesota-twins","23":"tag-mlb","24":"tag-san-diego-padres","25":"tag-san-francisco-giants","26":"tag-texas-rangers","27":"tag-the-athletic","28":"tag-washington-nationals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115311277367809576","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}