By Jordan Long
The Cleveland Guardians stand at 66-60, 5 games behind the Minnesota Twins for 1st place in the American League Central Division. They are also 11 games back of Seattle for the 3rd and final Wild Card spot. Terry Francona, Manager of the Guardians, hinted this could be his last year managing at the MLB level.
Francona has been an MLB manager for a total of 23 years. He started in 1997 for the Philadelphia Phillies lasting until 2000. He didn’t have much success with a managerial record of 285-363. Francona was let go following a 65-97 finish in 2000. He was out of baseball for two years. Francona spent 2002 as the bench coach for the Texas Rangers and 2003 in the same position for the Oakland Athletics.
The Boston Red Sox decided to hire him on December 4, 2003. They fired Grady Little who only lasted two years with Boston, managing them to a record of 188-136. Boston went to the postseason once under Little, in 2003. Boston went all the way to the American League Championship Series that year. They were beaten by the New York Yankees in game 7 when Aaron Boone hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to send the Yankees to the World Series. Boston decided it was best to let Little go.
Francona wanted to show Boston his time in Philadelphia was a fluke. He proved it, managing them for 8 years. In his first year, Boston overcame a 3-0 series deficit to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, becoming the only team in MLB history to do so. They won the World Series and ended the “Curse of the Bambino.” Boston would also win the World Series in 2007. Besides those seasons, Boston also earned a playoff spot 3 other times with Francona. Boston fired him after the 2011 season even though he had an outstanding record of 90-72. He left Boston with 2 World Series titles and an impressive record of 744-552 anticipating he would turn this franchise into a winner. Francona managed Cleveland into a winning organization. Cleveland earned a playoff spot 6 times and even went to the World Series in 2016 under Francona. Unfortunately, they blew a 3-1 series lead to the Chicago Cubs.
This season could be his last and Francona should retire once the season is over. He is 64 years old. Going into tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, his managerial record stands at 1,934-1,652. 905 of those wins came with Cleveland which is the most in franchise history. His teams went to the postseason 11 times and advanced to the World Series 3 times while winning twice. There is nothing left for him to do as a manager in the game. Once he retires, his next stop should be the Baseball Hall of Fame. Francona deserves that highest honor.
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