SAN FRANCISCO – The Chicago Cubs are not in the World Series and have not been since 1945, but on Friday afternoon, they were the talk of the World Series after news broke of Joe Maddon’s departure from Tampa Bay.

Maddon is not the manager of the Cubs yet, but in the same way that Hillary Clinton is not a 2016 presidential candidate yet. A river of gossip about Maddon going to the Cubs flowed among folks on the field here, and in the offices of other teams, which is why Maddon as the leader of the North Siders is regarded as a fait accompli – and why rival officials fully expect the issue of tampering to come up before this plays out.

Maddon is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the sport, and assuming that he lands with the Cubs, he will be one more elite piece to the growing monster that other teams see forming.