On this week’s show, I was joined by David Ross to talk Cubs baseball, Wrigleyville, and the World Baseball Classic.
Anthony Rizzo will join us next – Rizzo and Ross, the lovable reunion. They’ll look back on the 10-year anniversary of the magical 2016 Cubs World Series win.
Cubs Outlook, Bregman Impact, and Opening Day Buzz
This Cubs team upgraded their staff, added Alex Bregman, and they’re favored to win their division – and should be. Milwaukee, just up the road, is becoming quite a rivalry. They’ve done a really good job there, constantly rotating guys in and out, and it’s going to be a good battle.
I’m excited about that staff, especially with Cade Horton for a full season – hopefully he can stay healthy. They’ve got some dudes up there in Chicago. And being around Bregman – this guy is up first thing in the morning looking at scouting reports, texting coaches, talking about tunneling, breaking pitches – he’s a baseball rat. That’s going to make everybody in that clubhouse better. They’re going to have a really good season. I’m pretty confident in that.
Why Wrigleyville Is One of a Kind
One thing I noticed my first summer in Chicago – I always tell people, if Wrigleyville were in Berlin, it would be a bucket-list destination for Americans. People who haven’t been don’t understand it. I’ve been six or seven times, going back to my ESPN days, and even recently for a Michigan-Northwestern football game. It’s as great as anything we have in America. It’s sort of like our Wimbledon. There’s nothing else like it.
It’s like an SEC football game in Baton Rouge: lightning in the air, 88 degrees, everyone sweating, you can smell bourbon in the stadium. There’s nothing like an LSU night game, and there’s nothing like Wrigleyville. They call it the biggest beer garden in Illinois on game days. It’s wild.
Kyle Tucker, Cubs Fans, and Superstar Expectations
Kyle Tucker, now with the Dodgers, was a Cub last season. One criticism from Cubs fans was that he didn’t seem to “love it.” But people show it in different ways. Major League Baseball is a long grind – spring training through the playoffs, nearly 200 games.
But Cubs fans are different. You go to a Dodgers game, it’s a lot of older fans. Wrigley is young – it’s a party every home game. Do you think it’s possible Kyle Tucker just wasn’t a great fit with the Cubs personality-wise, or is it just one of those things where he didn’t have a great year and people are going to pick on him? I mean, with the Dodgers, he may be their sixth-best player. He’s a really good player, but it felt like he kind of got beat up by the media and fans here.
David Ross on Kyle Tucker’s Cubs Tenure
I think everybody’s personality is a little bit different. I mean, he got off to such a great start, had a little bit of injuries in the second half that hindered his numbers, but he carried those guys.
I talk to Rizzo all the time – I was a backup. The reason why I got so much love, the “Grandpa Rossy” nickname, and leadership tag for that group was because I was responsible for catching Lester. It didn’t matter. I didn’t have to bring it every day. I brought my energy to other guys, making sure I was lifting them up. When you’re the middle-of-the-order bat, you’ve got to make sure you’re taken care of and you’re carrying the group. If your horses suck, the team’s going to suck. If the Mike Trouts and the Aaron Judges aren’t very good, the team’s not going to be very good.
Going back to Kyle Tucker and not knowing him very well, I do think he’s such a good fit for the Dodgers because like you said, they have stars, they have guys who are going to talk to the media. When you’re a guy that would rather be left alone and do your own thing, it’s easier to be the fourth or fifth guy. Kris Bryant went through a little bit of that early on – Rizzo would answer questions, Lester would answer questions, and KB just wanted to go play baseball. Some guys are just wired like that, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
But I think Chicago is so close to the players and so passionate about their teams that they want to see personality. They want somebody to either be pissed or show emotion. I got a lot of love for yelling at umpires all the time, and now Counsell doesn’t – it’s just different styles. I wish I wouldn’t have gotten thrown out of so many games.
Everybody’s a little bit different. I’m an emotional guy, I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I think it’s going to be great for this podcast. But I do think Kyle Tucker probably gets a little bit of that because people just want a little bit more from their superstars. When you get paid a lot of money, fans want a lot out of you.
David Ross on the World Baseball Classic Atmosphere
It did feel like every game was a playoff game. Even leading up to it, like our game against Great Britain, we’re supposed to pound them, 10-run rule them. It was a playoff atmosphere immediately in the middle of spring training, where normally there are guardrails. Mark DeRosa was dealing with teams and pitch counts, but these guys didn’t care – they wanted to throw, they wanted to go past limits.
And I know from the last WBC that Venezuela was the loudest game they had ever been apart of, and I can second that. Mexico in Houston was another one. The Dominican Republic game was incredibly loud, and it featured one of the best lineups ever assembled.
It was so loud in the bullpen I had to sit next to the phone because I couldn’t hear it ring if I was watching the game. I had to watch on the screen down there.
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