“Forget about losing 101 games in 2012. I choose to dwell on the 61 games we won that year,” former Cubs manager Dale Sveum said in an interview with Taylor McGregor of the Marquee Sports Network, as he reflected on his first year as skipper.
Since his dismissal in 2013, Sveum has made few comments about his two-year tenure in Chicago, a time when the team was at rock bottom before building toward its 2016 World Series championship.
“I don’t want to hear about how the 2012 club lost in triple digits,” Sveum said. “The Houston Astros lost 107 games that year, and nobody’s ever said a damn word about it.”
Further pushing back, Sveum told McGregor, “Peel the onion and remember the great players on that ball club. Koyie Hill, Brett Jackson, Josh Vitters. Who could forget that Bryan LaHair was on the All-Star team?”
Asked what was the highlight of the season, Sveum said it was the win over the Astros on the last day of the season. The only time in MLB history when two 100-loss teams played each other, the Cubs scored in the bottom of the ninth for the victory on a walk-off single by LaHair.
“No doubt, my signature win as a manager,” Sveum said. “It keyed the ball club’s success for the following season when we improved by losing just 96 games.”
