Sammy Sosa and Greg Maddux were teammates in 1992, Sosa’s first year with the Cubs and Maddux’s last. Friday, they’ll face each other in Game 3 of the division series at Wrigley Field.
“I have a lot of respect for Greg,” Sosa said after Thursday’s workout. “He’s going to come with his best pitches. I’m going to go out there with my plan, and we’ll see what happens.”
This season, Sosa is 1-for-6 with two RBIs and a strikeout against the four-time Cy Young Award winner. For his career, Sosa is 13-for-56 (.232) with three home runs, nine RBIs, six walks and 12 strikeouts against Maddux.
“I remember [when we were teammates] that he was the type of pitcher who was never going to give up,” Sosa said. “He’s a gamer. We know that.
“It doesn’t matter what the situation is. He’s always going to go out there and try to get you out no matter what.”
The last time the Cubs were in the playoffs, Maddux was the winning pitcher in the final game of the Braves’ 3-0 sweep, a 6-2 Atlanta victory in 1998. Sosa went 0-for-3 with a strikeout on that cold Oct. 3 night at Wrigley Field.
“This is a different team,” said Sosa, who is 3-for-5 with four walks and an RBI in the first two games of this series. “Our pitching is much better, but offensively you still have to make adjustments at the major-league level.
“Hopefully, we just go out there and take advantage of the whole situation that we’re in. . . . It’s going to be exciting.”