MESA, Ariz. - Forget "Respect 90" or "Do simple better."
"Embrace the target" is the axiom for the 2016 Chicago Cubs.
Joe Maddon doesn't want the Cubs to ignore or deny all the talk of this team entering the 2016 season as the World Series favorites.
He wants the opposite, actually.
"I'm really a big believer of running towards the fire as opposed to away from it," Maddon said Friday as Cubs pitchers and catchers officially reported. "I really want our guys to get comfortable with the concept of everybody speaking so glowingly of us and embracing the target.
"The target's gotten bigger. We have to embrace the target and while you're doing that, understand what that means. That's what I'm going to do tomorrow with the guys and when the whole group gets in - apply a definition with that that they can wrap their minds around."
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Maddon talks all the time about how baseball legends — whether it be former coaches or players — helped mold his coaching strategy, but "Embrace the Target" didn't come from anybody in real life.
Instead the inspiration came from Jack Ryan - the fictional character created by author Tom Clancy.
In "Clear and Present Danger," Ryan (played by Harrison Ford) convinces the president to "embrace the target" instead of running away from a possible scandal.
Maddon doesn't want the Cubs to pretend like their goal is not to win the World Series or top last year's result, when they were swept out of the National League Championship Series by the New York Mets.
After all, this is the same guy that took over an 89-loss Cubs team and talked realistically about playoffs at The Cubby Bear during his introductory press conference in November 2014.
"I don't want us to become outcome-biased or outcome-based," Maddon said. "Yes, talk about playoffs. Yes, talk about winning the division. Yes, talk about playing the last game of the season and winning it. But you don't want to just get caught up in that thought.
"And 'Embrace the Target' - what does that mean? You talk about expectations and the word 'pressure' that are attached to it, which I believe are really positive words. So you take those concepts and those thoughts and what does that lead to?
"To me, that leads to really focusing on the day, focusing on the process of the day. And the process needs to be our anchor.
"... There's nothing to be upset about. People are saying really nice things about us. That's good. But at the end of the day, we have to take care of our own business and that is about utilizing the processes and the anchor on a daily basis."
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Maddon spends a major part of his day focused on getting his players right mentally, easing all that internal — and external — pressure.
That's where you see all those gimmicks, like zoo animals at Wrigley Field, a magician in the clubhouse, a super hero-themed road trip.
What does "The Mad Scientist" have in store to keep the Cubs loose in 2016?
"That's the real pressure," Maddon joked. "The other stuff is fabricated, but that's real pressure right there."