Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / How Anthony Rizzo became Mr. Cub 2.0

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How Anthony Rizzo became Mr. Cub 2.0 · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: He performed in between the lines, just NonStop, like when
0:05
Speaker 1: the lights went on.
0:06
Speaker 2: He just loved the competition.
0:14
Speaker 3: Welcome into North Side Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast.
0:18
Speaker 3: I'm Sahad Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney, where your
0:22
Speaker 3: Cubs beat writers from the Athletic Patrick, After that exciting
0:27
Speaker 3: no hitter from Wednesday night, we have to bring bring
0:31
Speaker 3: the bring it all down to talk about injury news
0:35
Speaker 3: and the Cubs kind of blowing a series against the
0:38
Speaker 3: Pirates losing their ace to the I l with elbow.
0:44
Speaker 3: It's elbow inflammation, right, is that what they're calling it, Patrick?
0:48
Speaker 2: They called it tendonitis.
0:51
Speaker 1: Steel had described it as information in terms of what
0:57
Speaker 1: the medical staff or you know, doctor had communicated to him.
1:01
Speaker 1: So yeah, at least there's Thursday's off day here to
1:05
Speaker 1: like let that no hitter just breathe for a little bit.
1:09
Speaker 1: This season has had such an extreme back and forth nature,
1:13
Speaker 1: you know, like if the Cubs had played twenty four
1:16
Speaker 1: hours later, had a feeling there'd be like another gut
1:19
Speaker 1: punch coming just the way this has has gone. But yeah,
1:24
Speaker 1: I mean Steele would have been kind of like the
1:28
Speaker 1: story yesterday, but should a kind of moved him off
1:32
Speaker 1: the front page, and Steele still has symptoms. He did
1:38
Speaker 1: not play catch on Wednesday. That was sort of the plan.
1:42
Speaker 1: The idea was like, you know, maybe he'll throw and
1:45
Speaker 1: you know, see where they're at. He was still feeling it,
1:51
Speaker 1: so they didn't even bother with playing catch here. So
1:56
Speaker 1: as Counsel said, these next ten days will be important.
2:01
Speaker 1: If steals healthy, he will pitch. That is what council
2:06
Speaker 1: express to us. I guess things could always change, but
2:12
Speaker 1: I do think it's important for him to get back
2:16
Speaker 1: on the mound.
2:16
Speaker 2: This year and finish the season.
2:22
Speaker 1: But obviously, when you're looking at a fifteen day I
2:25
Speaker 1: Elson that's backdated towards the beginning of September, like that's
2:28
Speaker 1: a significant chunk of the remaining schedule that's just wiped
2:32
Speaker 1: out for him, and we don't really know what sort
2:36
Speaker 1: of the state of the team that he'll be returning
2:39
Speaker 1: to whenever that is right.
2:41
Speaker 3: And you know, like that there, this doesn't sound serious
2:46
Speaker 3: as far as his long term health. The thing is,
2:51
Speaker 3: when when they talk about you know, they're they're hoping
2:53
Speaker 3: it's a minimum stint. They hope they hoped a lot
2:55
Speaker 3: of these guys were minimum stints that that I.
2:58
Speaker 1: Think gloss over, like, you know, them saying, hey, this
3:02
Speaker 1: is good news.
3:03
Speaker 2: It's like, don't like, no, it's not.
3:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, the worst possible news, but it's not good news.
3:09
Speaker 1: And that I think just whenever we tweet, I feel
3:12
Speaker 1: like injury updates on social media, there's usually some immediate
3:20
Speaker 1: blowback to that because you can definitely sense the frans frustration.
3:24
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's some with a new organization as well.
3:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Hayden Wiznski still isn't back. That was
3:30
Speaker 3: supposed to be a short stint. Jordan Wicks had two
3:32
Speaker 3: il stints. Ben Brown is shut down for the season.
3:37
Speaker 3: It seems like, you know these things, like all these
3:40
Speaker 3: guys are supposed to be back much quicker than they were.
3:43
Speaker 3: There's probably a few other injuries that I'm missing, but
3:47
Speaker 3: this has happened with Steel before. He's it. He last
3:52
Speaker 3: year he was shut down for and he missed the minimum.
3:55
Speaker 3: It was four arm tightness last year. This year is
4:00
Speaker 3: obviously a little different. We'll see, you know. I don't
4:05
Speaker 3: want to assume that the like he's done for the
4:08
Speaker 3: season when they tell us he's not. But I think
4:12
Speaker 3: council kind of nailed it as far as like these
4:14
Speaker 3: next ten days are important. Yeah, Like he needs to
4:16
Speaker 3: throw without pain in the next couple of days to
4:19
Speaker 3: feel good that it's going to be a minimum stay. Uh.
4:22
Speaker 3: And if it's not a minimum stay, then you're talking
4:24
Speaker 3: about the season possibly being lost, which you know may
4:28
Speaker 3: not like you. I think you summed it up right there.
4:31
Speaker 3: We'll see where they are. Why if and when he
4:34
Speaker 3: comes back, Like, is it even relevant or is it
4:38
Speaker 3: just like getting a couple starts in to kind of
4:40
Speaker 3: wrap the season up, or is it like, hey, you're fine,
4:43
Speaker 3: but we don't need to push this right now. Let's
4:48
Speaker 3: shut down the season type situation for you.
4:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the clock is sort of working against
4:55
Speaker 2: them here.
4:56
Speaker 1: You mentioned hid was an Eski council said that was
4:59
Speaker 1: Nesky about to begin a rehab stint with Triple A Iowa.
5:04
Speaker 1: There is not enough time for him to stretch out
5:06
Speaker 1: as a starter, so they're just gonna try and get him.
5:10
Speaker 1: I've been running here and available to be an outgetter,
5:14
Speaker 1: as the manager would say.
5:17
Speaker 2: They do have five starters.
5:21
Speaker 1: Obviously Showeda has been brilliant, Wix is back, Hendrix has
5:26
Speaker 1: been obviously up and down, this year asad, and obviously
5:32
Speaker 1: Tyne has been so consistent this year. But you know,
5:37
Speaker 1: if Hendrick, I mean, if Steele had finished this season healthy,
5:42
Speaker 1: I think we would have very much been you wondering
5:46
Speaker 1: about a long term extension for Justin Steele, even though
5:49
Speaker 1: he is under club control for multiple seasons.
5:55
Speaker 2: I think he's been that good.
5:57
Speaker 1: He's left handed, his age complicates things a little bit,
6:04
Speaker 1: and just how much time he has to get.
6:07
Speaker 2: Before free agency.
6:08
Speaker 1: You know, there is not really a sense of urgency
6:12
Speaker 1: from the Cup side, but I do think he's someone
6:16
Speaker 1: you'd like to reward. He's someone who's been extremely consistent
6:21
Speaker 1: both in his demeanor and his performance. And like you said,
6:27
Speaker 1: this isn't you know when you hear elbow or he
6:31
Speaker 1: had like a forearm thing. I think it was last year.
6:34
Speaker 1: You hear those terms and a picture, who's that good,
6:38
Speaker 1: you immediately start wondering about those worst case scenarios. We
6:41
Speaker 1: don't think that is this, but still, you know, it
6:46
Speaker 1: is an arm injury for a pitcher who's performed at
6:52
Speaker 1: such a high level. And you know, I think that's
6:55
Speaker 1: what we've learned about pitching, right It's always a knock
6:59
Speaker 1: on woods situation.
7:01
Speaker 2: You can never have enough of it.
7:04
Speaker 1: And this is kind of how the game works, right of,
7:08
Speaker 1: like just when you think like things are in order,
7:09
Speaker 1: I mean when you were leaving DC off that great
7:13
Speaker 1: road trip, Like this is not exactly the series against
7:15
Speaker 1: the Pirates, I think anyone in vision, but like you
7:20
Speaker 1: never know what's going to happen when you show up
7:22
Speaker 1: to the ballpark each.
7:23
Speaker 3: Day, right and when you talk about a steel a
7:27
Speaker 3: possible steel extension if he's healthy, I think it makes
7:31
Speaker 3: sense for both sides. You know, like he's he's three
7:35
Speaker 3: seasons after this one, he's under control for three more seasons.
7:38
Speaker 3: He's just not going to hit free agency at a
7:40
Speaker 3: point in time where he can say like he's making bank,
7:43
Speaker 3: right like, and you can't assume what the next three
7:45
Speaker 3: seasons told for him. Buying out the rest of his
7:49
Speaker 3: ar beers and kind of figuring out a way packing
7:53
Speaker 3: on a year or two could make sense for both
7:57
Speaker 3: sides in this situation that that I guess you would
8:02
Speaker 3: put that on hold to see, like how the next
8:04
Speaker 3: couple of weeks go. As far as if he can
8:07
Speaker 3: get back that that's probably the biggest thing, right as
8:10
Speaker 3: far as him returning, like it would make sense for
8:12
Speaker 3: him to say like, hey, look here's here's two outings
8:15
Speaker 3: of you know, six plus innings or whatever. I'm good
8:19
Speaker 3: to go. I'm you know, let's let's talk extension in
8:22
Speaker 3: the in the winter type thing. Uh, Patrick the you
8:27
Speaker 3: know they also put Jorge Lopez on the I l H.
8:32
Speaker 3: I think that's that's significant obviously for how well he's pitched.
8:37
Speaker 3: The fact that they barely needed him during that road
8:41
Speaker 3: trip also says something to me and that like, maybe
8:45
Speaker 3: they have some actual depth in this bullpen. Uh you know,
8:49
Speaker 3: it's the bullpen wasn't needed as much. The offense kind
8:52
Speaker 3: of carried the load and you kind of need that
8:54
Speaker 3: over over his stretches of the season. I think we
8:58
Speaker 3: touched on it in the no podcast. But Nate Pearson
9:02
Speaker 3: stepping up is big. I think the other guy that
9:06
Speaker 3: needs to step up and and has looked good since
9:09
Speaker 3: he's been called back up is Keegan Thompson. We've seen
9:12
Speaker 3: Keegan Thompson pitch really well before it two years ago,
9:18
Speaker 3: I believe it was. Now he's been solid this year
9:22
Speaker 3: and you know, when he's healthy, if he can pitch regularly,
9:27
Speaker 3: he's he's a good reliever. Those are the two guys
9:30
Speaker 3: I think you look at and say, with Porter Hodge,
9:33
Speaker 3: with Drew Smiley, with who's the who's the other high
9:38
Speaker 3: leverage guy that I'm now blanking on Tyson Miller, who
9:41
Speaker 3: has looked shaky and and is going through it right
9:44
Speaker 3: now as far as his reliability, you know, and and
9:49
Speaker 3: that's that's what relievers are. So you know, you can't
9:51
Speaker 3: expect perfection from these guys, but I think those are
9:55
Speaker 3: the those are the names you need to kind of
9:57
Speaker 3: look at to kind of stabilize this bullpen go going forward.
10:01
Speaker 3: It's funny there's two arms in the Yankees bullpen, Scott
10:04
Speaker 3: f Ross and Mark Leider.
10:06
Speaker 1: Yeah.
10:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, that Cubs fans are obviously familiar with. For us
10:11
Speaker 3: just came back. He hasn't pitched well. Lighter is not
10:14
Speaker 3: pitched well as a Yankee. So it's like this Yankees
10:18
Speaker 3: series will be interesting. But it's not like they're some
10:22
Speaker 3: powerhouse right now. That's just like going out there dominating
10:26
Speaker 3: the competition. I believe they're under five hundred in their
10:30
Speaker 3: last like eighty something games. Their offense is dominant because
10:35
Speaker 3: they have arguably the two best offensive players not named
10:39
Speaker 3: Shoheo Tani in baseball on their team. When you have
10:45
Speaker 3: those two types of superstars, it's hard to like go
10:47
Speaker 3: in an offensive slump for an extended period of time.
10:51
Speaker 3: But they're not this. I know they're the Yankees, and
10:55
Speaker 3: I know they're they're gonna make the playoffs, and and
10:58
Speaker 3: they're better record and better team right now than the Cubs.
11:01
Speaker 3: I just don't know if if you should assume anything
11:05
Speaker 3: when it comes to like the Cubs can't win this series.
11:09
Speaker 3: They're just not like the pit I will say this,
11:12
Speaker 3: it seems like everybody's getting healthy as they come face
11:14
Speaker 3: the Cubs because they're getting two starters back that will
11:17
Speaker 3: pitch against the Cubs. We'll see how good those starters pitch,
11:20
Speaker 3: and Luis heel And and Clark Schmidt. But they got Heel,
11:25
Speaker 3: Schmidt and and Cole going against them, so it won't
11:30
Speaker 3: be easy. But I think this is a winnable series
11:32
Speaker 3: and they kind of have to win, if not sweep.
11:35
Speaker 3: I don't know what the plan is for Hendrix, if
11:37
Speaker 3: he's going to start against the Dodgers. That'll be interesting
11:41
Speaker 3: to see. H do they do they go showdown regular
11:45
Speaker 3: rest Like there's they have options, right, but I don't
11:48
Speaker 3: know what what council's thinking at this point in time,
11:51
Speaker 3: and how much he thinks in the sense of like,
11:54
Speaker 3: can't start Hendricks against the Dodgers, can't You know what's
11:57
Speaker 3: his thought process there. I'm curious how he thinks and
12:00
Speaker 3: how how he's mapping out like a road to contention
12:05
Speaker 3: if there is one.
12:07
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13:09
Speaker 1: The Cubs have wix Aside and tie On lined up
13:12
Speaker 1: for the Yankees, and.
13:17
Speaker 2: As you were talking Abide, it just kind of hit me, like.
13:21
Speaker 1: We have the Cubs really like clicked on all cylinders
13:25
Speaker 1: at all this year, even at the same time, you know,
13:28
Speaker 1: April it was kind of sloppy. The defense wasn't there.
13:35
Speaker 1: They have shown flashes, but it goes back to something.
13:39
Speaker 1: There's probably something THEO I think said one time in frustration.
13:43
Speaker 1: You know, like when a game nine to eight, you know,
13:46
Speaker 1: like something like you know, like you can a it
13:48
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be like this perfect orderly, you know,
13:52
Speaker 1: like five to win every game, like they're going to
13:56
Speaker 1: need the offense to step up.
14:00
Speaker 2: And we alluded to it after the no hitter.
14:03
Speaker 1: It's like two guys almost hit for the cycle and
14:06
Speaker 1: we barely mention it. And those guys are at the
14:09
Speaker 1: bottom towards the bottom of the lineup. Pretty impressive. When
14:15
Speaker 1: your starter gives you seven scoreless, you should.
14:18
Speaker 3: Win the game.
14:19
Speaker 1: I mean, they didn't entie on and start against rights,
14:24
Speaker 1: and that was Lopez. I think that was Lopez, right,
14:27
Speaker 1: given up three go ahead homer. So it's like things
14:31
Speaker 1: haven't lined up for the Cubs.
14:32
Speaker 2: But that's.
14:34
Speaker 1: To me a big part I think of baseball in
14:37
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, right, I mean, there haven't been like
14:40
Speaker 1: that many teams.
14:41
Speaker 2: Just kind of.
14:44
Speaker 1: Boat racing it, you know, to use a term that
14:46
Speaker 1: was in Tyler Kepner's great story on the athletic of
14:49
Speaker 1: like the clubhouse lingo and how to use it in
14:53
Speaker 1: your everyday life, Like like the Yankees great start, some
14:57
Speaker 1: like great probable Hall of Fame talent just like really
15:02
Speaker 1: carrying them, and the Cubs don't have that, are not
15:06
Speaker 1: in that strata. They don't have a player within that stratosphere.
15:10
Speaker 1: But the Cubs clearly have had enough kind of resourcefulness
15:16
Speaker 1: to just like keep hanging in there.
15:19
Speaker 2: And that's always, you know, important, And I.
15:24
Speaker 1: Think we'll have a really interesting reminder of what the
15:27
Speaker 1: Cubs were this weekend when our guy Anthony Rizzo returns
15:32
Speaker 1: to Rigley Field.
15:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's not the return of f Ross and Lighter.
15:37
Speaker 3: It's the return of Anthony Wizzo.
15:40
Speaker 6: You may actually go findros and absolutely the entire pack
15:45
Speaker 6: will be around Rizzo and you'll be asking Frosts by
15:48
Speaker 6: his side arm and just you don't talk to later
15:51
Speaker 6: as much as he sort of like gives you dissertations
15:54
Speaker 6: on the state.
15:55
Speaker 3: Of all right, exactly, Yes, those two situations will absolutely
16:01
Speaker 3: occur over the weekend. But Rizzo is the main attraction.
16:05
Speaker 3: And you know Rizzo, I mean he was the face
16:09
Speaker 3: of the Cubs through a rebuild and then a championship era,
16:15
Speaker 3: the peak of Cubs baseball. You know, everyone's that's still alive.
16:22
Speaker 3: You know that he was there and he was the
16:24
Speaker 3: face of it, whether it was the you know, like,
16:28
Speaker 3: there are two moments that stand out to me. It's well,
16:33
Speaker 3: there's I guess there's more than that. There's there's the
16:36
Speaker 3: was it the end of eighteen or nineteen when he
16:40
Speaker 3: hurt his ankle really badly? Do you remember that?
16:43
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, it was kind of that nineteen end of
16:48
Speaker 2: the era.
16:49
Speaker 3: Okay, so it was. It was right before they were
16:52
Speaker 3: playing good baseball. He got hurt and then it like
16:56
Speaker 3: they were still that that he's still played like it
16:59
Speaker 3: looked like, oh he done like he's he's missing the
17:02
Speaker 3: rest of this season type injury, and he played through
17:06
Speaker 3: it kind of like had some big hits while while
17:10
Speaker 3: doing while playing through that. The bloop single against the
17:14
Speaker 3: Nats is always a fun one for me to respect me.
17:19
Speaker 3: That was I love that one. I know this was
17:22
Speaker 3: like in a brutal season in the end, but the
17:27
Speaker 3: first back to capacity twenty twenty one, that home running
17:32
Speaker 3: hit against the Cardinals, it was just so loud and
17:36
Speaker 3: it was so like it was so nice to be
17:39
Speaker 3: a part of during a difficult time. And ever, you know,
17:41
Speaker 3: beyond baseball, everyone was just like, oh, we can do
17:45
Speaker 3: this again, you know, we can go to baseball games
17:47
Speaker 3: and things like that, and to hear the crowd go
17:51
Speaker 3: crazy like they if I'm remembering correctly, it was a
17:55
Speaker 3: really long at bat that he had. The crowd is
17:58
Speaker 3: going crazy. And then he against the Cardinals and the
18:02
Speaker 3: Cubs were still in it at that point. This was
18:04
Speaker 3: before if you remember that season, they threw a combined
18:08
Speaker 3: no hitter against the Dodgers then lost I think eleven
18:10
Speaker 3: or twelve, correct, Yeah, so so that you know, they
18:15
Speaker 3: were still in it at that point, and it was
18:17
Speaker 3: really fun and exciting, and it was probably the peak
18:20
Speaker 3: of that season, better than the combined no hitter in
18:23
Speaker 3: my in my opinion, that moment was like I just
18:26
Speaker 3: remember being there and feeling the energy, and it felt
18:30
Speaker 3: like the playoffs and Rizzo as great as you know,
18:34
Speaker 3: the World Series and the three NLCS runs were. It
18:38
Speaker 3: just like that. That's what stands out to me about Rizzo,
18:41
Speaker 3: and then all the goofiness in post games that we've
18:43
Speaker 3: had over the years, and and just like you know,
18:46
Speaker 3: the debate is he a leader is he not? You know,
18:48
Speaker 3: I always thought, you know, whatever that means, he was.
18:52
Speaker 3: He was fun to cover.
18:54
Speaker 2: Oh for sure.
18:55
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of what I think of to
18:58
Speaker 1: just that he had on his face standing at his locker,
19:05
Speaker 1: just how he liked the kind of dish it out,
19:08
Speaker 1: the back and forth.
19:13
Speaker 2: Also just how young he was when he first got here.
19:17
Speaker 1: I mean, to really see him kind of grow up
19:20
Speaker 1: in this city. He was here so long and was
19:26
Speaker 1: at that point of his life where he he like
19:28
Speaker 1: genuinely had like a network of friends in Chicago, Like
19:33
Speaker 1: he had this whole life set up here and that
19:35
Speaker 1: was why it was so hard to leave in the
19:37
Speaker 1: middle of the twenty twenty one season. But just you know,
19:41
Speaker 1: whether it was his crew here, his family visiting him,
19:46
Speaker 1: you know all the time. Maybe not all the time,
19:49
Speaker 1: but certainly was from a really tight knit Italian American
19:53
Speaker 1: family from South Florida prior to that the New York
19:57
Speaker 1: metropolitan area, and they loved coming out here. I'll always
20:01
Speaker 1: remember when Rizzo got traded of just hearing amongst the
20:07
Speaker 1: Wrigley staff of like Anthony's parents thanking them just for
20:13
Speaker 1: kind of taking care of him over the years, that
20:15
Speaker 1: kind of group that would be near the nineteen fourteen
20:18
Speaker 1: club or whatever. And you know, the leader thing is
20:23
Speaker 1: kind of interesting. He led in his own way, and
20:27
Speaker 1: I thought I always thought that was more interesting than this, Like,
20:30
Speaker 1: you know, is he some sort of like speech maker
20:35
Speaker 1: or like guy who'd run through whatever cliche you'd want
20:42
Speaker 1: to think of for like a leader. He was his
20:44
Speaker 1: own guy, and so like he to use a Joe
20:48
Speaker 1: Madden term, he definitely vibrated on Madden's frequency. Like Rizzo
20:52
Speaker 1: was not the first guy to get to the ballpark.
20:54
Speaker 1: He was not the last one to leave, but like
20:57
Speaker 1: he knew exactly what he needed to do to get ready.
21:01
Speaker 1: Sometimes he'd like work out in the morning with Tim Buss,
21:04
Speaker 1: the old strength coach, Like he just found this routine
21:08
Speaker 1: and comfort zone here, and like he performed in between
21:15
Speaker 1: the lines just NonStop, like when the lights went on.
21:19
Speaker 2: He just loved the competition.
21:22
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't know if you always find
21:25
Speaker 1: that with every single player, but he was just like
21:30
Speaker 1: ferociously intense, you know, as soon as the game started,
21:33
Speaker 1: and then could really be sort of goofy, you know,
21:37
Speaker 1: kind of like that manchild, like an overgrown kid at times,
21:41
Speaker 1: just with the enthusiasm he had. And I guess the
21:44
Speaker 1: final piece too, part of why he had this healthy
21:47
Speaker 1: outlook was because of the hell scare he had as a.
21:50
Speaker 2: Red Sox prospect.
21:51
Speaker 1: You know, beating cancer certainly widened his perspective and I
21:57
Speaker 1: think you know, his ultimate leg See, we'll have to
22:01
Speaker 1: within Chicago. We'll have to mention what you did at
22:04
Speaker 1: Laurie's Children's Hospital. I mean, there are kids now who
22:07
Speaker 1: are you know, growing up whatever grand they're in now,
22:12
Speaker 1: but they're you know, kids and families who met Anthony
22:16
Speaker 1: Rizzo on off days or you know, off season trips
22:20
Speaker 1: where he'd pop in there, you know.
22:21
Speaker 2: Somebody like knew the hospital workers there.
22:25
Speaker 1: He poured a ton of money into that, and you
22:29
Speaker 1: know that his charity was definitely not an eyewash type thing.
22:33
Speaker 3: Iwa wash absolutely Rizzo.
22:35
Speaker 1: That would definitely be a term that Rizzo liked to use, like,
22:38
Speaker 1: not eyewash at all. Someone who was very uh invested
22:43
Speaker 1: and engaged and just present. And so that's why we
22:47
Speaker 1: saw Hobby come back recently, and that Hobby was not
22:51
Speaker 1: playing well, He's not on particularly good or glamorous team.
22:55
Speaker 1: It was a week night game at Wrigley I think
22:58
Speaker 1: Friday one twenty, Rizzo in a Yankees uniform of the
23:02
Speaker 1: New York and Chicago media kind of swarming him his
23:06
Speaker 1: first time back since I'm assuming since twenty one.
23:11
Speaker 2: I'd imagine he's.
23:13
Speaker 1: Been back to Chicago, you know, since then. But to
23:16
Speaker 1: actually walk into the stadium as an opposing player and
23:20
Speaker 1: play against the Cubs, I think that's something that will
23:25
Speaker 1: immediately go viral.
23:26
Speaker 2: That's something that Rizzo and Cubs players love.
23:28
Speaker 1: Right that Friday one twenty window, no one else is
23:32
Speaker 1: playing and that game is going to be on in
23:35
Speaker 1: other clubhouses as players around the league get ready on Friday.
23:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can almost like envision a moment for Rizzo
23:43
Speaker 3: like he's going to do something right, like of course,
23:46
Speaker 3: of course right. That's like it feels inevitable. You know.
23:51
Speaker 3: There's one other thing that I remember about Rizzo, and
23:55
Speaker 3: it has to do with something you wrote. I just
23:58
Speaker 3: remember a piece you wrote. I believe it was after
24:01
Speaker 3: the twenty thirteen season. I mean it was it was
24:05
Speaker 3: about after the twenty thirteen season, but I think you
24:08
Speaker 3: wrote it. It must have been after fourteen. That was
24:11
Speaker 3: really his breakout season, just like his best, one of
24:13
Speaker 3: his best offensive seasons, and just how he was challenged
24:18
Speaker 3: by why am I blanking on? By Mike Borzello right
24:23
Speaker 3: the twenty thirteen season kind of saying like how good
24:27
Speaker 3: do you want to be? And that kind of like
24:31
Speaker 3: pushed Brizzo to make the changes to his stance and
24:33
Speaker 3: his mechanics and everything to get him to from like
24:37
Speaker 3: a good offensive player to pretty great one for about
24:41
Speaker 3: six seven years right there, where he was one of
24:44
Speaker 3: the best offensive first basemen in all of baseball. I
24:47
Speaker 3: mean I shouldn't just say offensive all around. For his
24:50
Speaker 3: basement in all of baseball. I remember reading that piece
24:54
Speaker 3: and just being like, this is this is really insightful
24:57
Speaker 3: and interesting stuff, but I mean it was all so
25:01
Speaker 3: It's just that's I love stories about guys that are
25:05
Speaker 3: good but like I can be better, I can be great,
25:08
Speaker 3: and being willing to make those changes. And Rizzo was
25:11
Speaker 3: one of those guys who who took his game to
25:14
Speaker 3: another level and honestly broke through that kind of ceiling
25:18
Speaker 3: that scouts had for him. He was supposed to be,
25:22
Speaker 3: you know, like a good player, maybe make an All
25:25
Speaker 3: Star game someday, but he pushed himself to another level
25:29
Speaker 3: of success.
25:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, if I remember it correctly, I'd forgotten that story,
25:35
Speaker 1: but I think it was something along lines of towards
25:38
Speaker 1: the end of one of those bad Dale Swam seasons,
25:41
Speaker 1: maybe even after the last game, and they're flying home
25:43
Speaker 1: from wherever Saint Louis, Rizzo kind of approaches Mike Borsello,
25:48
Speaker 1: who's the Cubs kind of game planning czar for a
25:51
Speaker 1: long time, some of those widely respected. He had a
25:54
Speaker 1: long career with the Yankees, you one rings as a
25:59
Speaker 1: member of their staff and basically like Rizzo sort of
26:04
Speaker 1: you know, wasn't observing and kind of curious, and he basically,
26:09
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, went up to Borzella and the
26:11
Speaker 1: planes like all right, like how would you get me out?
26:15
Speaker 2: Like what do you got? Like what?
26:16
Speaker 1: Like help me see my game from that, you know,
26:20
Speaker 1: game planning perspective of how people get me out? And
26:26
Speaker 1: there was that edge to Rizzo to want to be great.
26:31
Speaker 2: I remember.
26:33
Speaker 1: And thin it was you over to Joey Vada once
26:35
Speaker 1: kind of around that time too, and talking to you
26:38
Speaker 1: for like twenty twenty five minutes. Yeah, uh, Rizzo, which
26:43
Speaker 1: is you know, obviously a great idea and a well
26:46
Speaker 1: executed story to get you know, people are really good
26:49
Speaker 1: at explaining the game to talk about their their peers.
26:52
Speaker 1: And that stuck with me and I think that, you know,
26:55
Speaker 1: you need things like that to happen, like you know,
26:59
Speaker 1: to to win a World Series, to break a century
27:03
Speaker 1: and counting curse, you know, you need he needs to
27:06
Speaker 1: get things right, because Rizzo was was kind of a
27:09
Speaker 1: question mark coming out of San Diego, and that was
27:13
Speaker 1: you know, one of Jed Hoyer's best trades. I mean,
27:17
Speaker 1: he gives up Adrian Gonzalez and Rizzo was not the
27:22
Speaker 1: headliner prospect.
27:23
Speaker 2: I'd say like he was a good, solid prospect.
27:25
Speaker 1: But I believe it was was Casey Kelly maybe was
27:27
Speaker 1: probably like the bigger name.
27:29
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, Casey picture prospect, and then.
27:33
Speaker 1: He really they put all this pressure on him in
27:36
Speaker 1: San Diego, which I still it's it's San.
27:39
Speaker 2: Diego, right there couldn't have been that much, you know,
27:42
Speaker 2: but there.
27:44
Speaker 1: Was a lot of expectations and he didn't handle it well.
27:47
Speaker 1: And I think the thread throughout baseball is what's interesting is,
27:51
Speaker 1: you know, Jed referenced rizzo struggles in San Diego when
27:55
Speaker 1: he uh talked to Pete crow Armstrong after his really
27:58
Speaker 1: rough major league debut.
28:00
Speaker 2: We've seen what PC.
28:01
Speaker 1: Done now, but you know, the Cubs training for Rizzo
28:04
Speaker 1: is just one of those like you know, all time
28:07
Speaker 1: franchise moves, you know, like twenty sixteen and everything around
28:13
Speaker 1: that doesn't happen without Rizzo. There are a lot of
28:17
Speaker 1: people that go into something like that, but he certainly
28:22
Speaker 1: was at the forefront. Was there kind of on the
28:25
Speaker 1: ground floor of the rebuild. And you know, there are
28:29
Speaker 1: definitely things we've learned this the more we cover the
28:32
Speaker 1: game of They're just things you can't measure and there
28:38
Speaker 1: was just something about Rizzo, this like charisma, this love
28:45
Speaker 1: for the spotlight. You know, you know, he he wanted
28:49
Speaker 1: to be the man. You know, I think there are
28:52
Speaker 1: different ways to go about that.
28:56
Speaker 2: You know, he wasn't like an envy he.
29:00
Speaker 1: Winner, He's not a future Hall of Famer, But like,
29:05
Speaker 1: how many people have had a better career than Anthony Rizzo,
29:08
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. I just like whenever this
29:10
Speaker 1: ends for him, And it's been a rough, rougher stretch
29:12
Speaker 1: this year. I mean, just talk about a guy who's like,
29:16
Speaker 1: you know, gotten everything he could out of this game
29:21
Speaker 1: and has left you know, just a ton of people
29:25
Speaker 1: happy for what he accomplished in Chicago.
29:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think this will be the the of all
29:33
Speaker 3: the returns who have gone through over the past three years,
29:36
Speaker 3: this will be the most interesting one to watch. I
29:39
Speaker 3: think that, you know, they've all been really nice receptions,
29:42
Speaker 3: but this is this is the one I'm most interested in.
29:47
Speaker 3: You know, Rizzou was the face of that that team.
29:50
Speaker 3: I believe you had a headline with the mister cub
29:53
Speaker 3: two point zero or something like that, right, so you
29:57
Speaker 3: know this this matters. This is a big deal. I'm sure,
30:00
Speaker 3: sure It's a big deal for Rizzo and his family,
30:02
Speaker 3: and it matters a lot to the fans. So I'm
30:05
Speaker 3: looking to looking forward to seeing the reception and seeing
30:07
Speaker 3: what he does in his return to Wrigley. Obviously, three
30:10
Speaker 3: really important games too for the Cubs. They need to win.
30:14
Speaker 3: There's not series losses can't happen. They a sweep maybe needed, right,
30:20
Speaker 3: It's gonna be really hard, but that that may be
30:23
Speaker 3: ultimately what they what they need to kind of get
30:26
Speaker 3: people at least to get people on the outside looking
30:29
Speaker 3: in to to like believe that they have that outside
30:32
Speaker 3: chance still, you know, hold on to that hope. So
30:35
Speaker 3: three big games this weekend, Patrick, I'll be there for
30:38
Speaker 3: all three. We will be covering this. You'll be out
30:41
Speaker 3: in the West Coast next week. We'll be back with
30:43
Speaker 3: more episodes next week. Thanks so much for listening everyone.
30:47
Speaker 3: Make sure to rate, review and subscribe to north Side Territory.
30:51
Speaker 3: Subscribe on the YouTube page, and subscribe to The Athletic,
30:54
Speaker 3: where we'll be covering you all season and into the winter.
30:58
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for listening everyone. Take care,