9,000,000 Reasons

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Sep 23, 2005 5:46PM

Following his 8-inning, 0-run performance yesterday for his 13th win, Cubs pitchers Greg Maddux cleared up any confusion about whether he would retire at season's end.

"I never said I was leaving,'' Maddux said. "I was under the impression I signed a three-year contract. I expect to be back. I'll go home and decide that I'm coming back. I want to come back next year. I don't see why not. It's still fun.'" Well, actually it was a two year deal with a third year option that kicked in upon pitching his having pitched 400 innings over the past two seasons. So he's got the guaranteed deal for next year at $9 million for '06. Yeah, Chicagoist probably wouldn't walk away from that either. Even if it wasn't all that much fun anymore. But what couldn't be fun about a job where you work only every 5th day and get free admission to Wrigley Field?

Now that we've got the retirement talk settled, we can turn our attention to Maddux's 15-win season streak. With the win yesterday, Maddux raised his record to 13-13. With 2 more scheduled starts he can reach the 15-win plateau if he can win each of those starts. Doing so would extend the streak to 18 seasons. 18 SEASON! With at least 15 wins! There are some kids going off to college this fall who've never lived a year in which Maddux didn't win 15 games. Can he do it again this year? Will Dusty put him in relief if there's a win opportunity for him? Chicagoist would like to see him get to 15 again.