My Goodbye to the 2016 Cubs

I wrote this before the trades even happened. They seem inevitable. Unavoidable and crushing. I'm no baseball genius like my fellow Pinewood boys Larry and Lucas by any means at all. But it seems as if moves were made along the way that maybe could’ve prevented this situation if they never happened. It wasn't working anymore and something had to give. We will never ever forget what we were doing on November 2nd, 2016.

Baseball was never my favorite sport by any means. Football always had the edge over any other sport even when the Bears sucked. But I always enjoyed watching Cubs baseball. As a kid watching the games on WGN with the back door open and that summer breeze flowing. You couldn’t beat a Saturday like that. Derek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Big Z, and even Carlos Marmol. Nine out of ten times Marmol gave you a heart attack but the Cubs we’re fun. They never won it all but it made me enjoy Cubs baseball even more. The thing is they won’t ever even come close to touching that 2016 team in terms of how much they’ll mean to me.

Rizzo started it all. He was a passionate, fun player who left it all on the line the first time he stepped on the field. A leader from day one who has been through the absolute best and worst of the Cubs. Kris Bryant gave us so much hope from the start. The hype around him in Chicago was unmatched. He was the one who was going to take us to the promise land and he did. He was a star in this city. The Bryzzo commercials, the Red Bull hype videos, and more. He thrived in the spotlight. Baez was always electric even to this day. What he did to Amir Garrett the other night made me put his awful strikeout percentage in the back of my head and just enjoy him while I got him. They made a 16 year old cry his eyes out on the couch while he watched them rush the mound. I never thought it was going to happen either. My dad suffered for 50 years, we were going on 108 years already it seemed bound to never happen. I mean really think about how many people born post 1908 who told themselves it will eventually happen and it never did for them. Why should I have thought the same?

Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of other people to thank for that World Series. Ben Zobrist, Jason Heyward, Kyle Schwarber, Kyle Hendricks, and the list goes on. There was just something about Rizzo, KB, and Javy. They were the core of this team. Pieces were gonna fall from that 2016 eventually. Lester and Zobrist we

re eventually going to be on their way out. Schwarber may have been a shock to some but it seemed over the years it was bound to happen. I just don’t think anyone saw KB, Javy, and Rizzo playing elsewhere. They seemed to be the ones to be Cubs for life, especially Rizzo. This is it though, there’s always going to be that nostalgia factor for these guys. So to Rizzo, KB, and Javy I thank you for what you did for the city of Chicago. Countless Cubs legends who came before you couldn’t do what you guys did. I’ll forever be grateful for the memories.