Congratulations, David Ross. You are now tasked with following in the footsteps of the manager who led the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908.

No pressure.

The Cubs officially announced the hire of Ross on Thursday after David Kaplan of ESPN 1000 reported Wednesday the Cubs had informed other candidates they were out of the running and that Ross was the choice.

Ross was given a three-year contract with a club option for 2023, per the team.

Ross takes over after president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and former manager Joe Maddon announced they were parting ways following the 2019 season.

The Cubs chose Ross over bench coach Mark Loretta, first base coach Will Venable and more for the position.

Following Maddon, who is a three-time Manager of the Year, will be no easy task. The Cubs were coming off six years without a playoff appearance and five straight losing seasons when they hired Maddon, and he wasted no time establishing a winning culture.

Chicago went to the National League Championship Series in his first year in 2015, won the World Series in 2016, reached the NLCS in 2017 and made the playoffs in 2018. That an 84-78 record in 2019 was seen as a disappointing effort is a testament to his track record on the North Side.

The Cubs went from the Lovable Losers to annual contenders under Maddon, and it will be up to Ross to keep that momentum rolling in front of a fanbase that has grown accustomed to winning.

There is still plenty of talent in place with Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo, Kyle Hendricks, Kyle Schwarber, Jon Lester and Yu Darvish, among others, on the roster.

This is not the typical rebuilding job managers face when they join a new team. It is not unrealistic to expect the Cubs to be in the middle of the National League Central race throughout the 2020 campaign.

Ross will look to make that happen with a familiar group.

He was a catcher for the Cubs in 2015 and 2016 for the final two years of a 15-year career. He was seen as the veteran leader on the championship team that featured many of the same core pieces that are still on the roster.

"I've always looked at Rossy as a coach when he played here," Bryant said when his name was brought up in early managerial discussions, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN. "Yeah, it was goofy, it was fun, it was energetic, but when he needed to tell you something, he let you hear it. From the very get-go, I felt like this guy will be a manager someday for sure."

Rizzo went as far as to call Ross his biggest mentor in the game outside of Maddon:

While Ross doesn't have any managerial experience, the respect he generates in the Cubs locker room is clear. Many of the key players know what kind of teammate he was and fought through the pressure of snapping a 108-year championship drought by his side.

Now they will fight for another title under his leadership.