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- CLUTCH Summary: Chicago Cubs superstar Anthony Rizzo made himself a household name in the 2016 World Series.
- The first baseman was one of many talented players who helped the Cubs shed the lovable loser gimmick.
- Lost in history is the huge moments he's had outside the 2016 World Series.
Over the course of the last eight years, Chicago Cubs first baseman has established himself as a fan favorite in the Windy City. As one of the best first basemen in the league, Rizzo's prowess with the glove in addition to his ability to hit for average and power at the plate have made him a staple of the Cubs franchise.
Rizzo first came to the Cubs via trade in January of 2012, making his debut for the big-league club later that season. By 2014, Rizzo was a member of the National League All-Star team, and in 2015 he had emerged as an MVP candidate.
The 30-year-old is the lone holdover from the beginning of the Cubs rebuild in 2012, and he has truly been through all of the peaks and valleys that the franchise has experienced during this decade. But what are some of his biggest moments to date?
Here are the five biggest moments of Anthony Rizzo's career:
5. The leadoff on-base streak
The Cubs were actually a sub-.500 club in the first half of the 2017 season, struggling to get quality starts from their rotation and lacking an answer at the top of the lineup card due to the struggles of Kyle Schwarber.
Eventually, Cubs manager Joe Maddon decided to go bold: he would make Anthony Rizzo his leadoff man. Rizzo is hardly the traditional leadoff guy, most notably because he lacks the traditional speed and athleticism of a leadoff hitter. However, the move paid dividends almost immediately.
Rizzo reached base safely in his first at-bat in his first seven games, hitting homers in three of those at-bats and instantly galvanizing the Cubs, who posted a 5-2 mark in those contests.
In fact, Rizzo homered in his first ever at-bat in the leadoff position against the New York Mets on June 13, 2017. Then, he did the same thing the very next night. Rizzo actually would have been the first player in 21 years to homer in his first at-bat in three consecutive games, but he had a homer overturned against the Pittsburgh Pirates:
Still, Rizzo's epic run at the top of the card was so inspiring that Maddon has since experimented with it in each of the last two seasons.
4. “Respect me!”
Despite the aforementioned slow start in 2017, the Cubs would rebound in spectacular fashion. Chicago went 49-25 and scored the most runs in baseball after the All-Star break, winning the NL Central for the second consecutive season.
In the playoffs, the Cubs squared off against the Washington Nationals. The first two games of the series were both very tightly contested, with the Cubs winning Game 1 behind a late-game rally and the Nationals returning the favor in Game 2.
As the series shifted back to Chicago for Game 3, the Nationals gained confidence with their ace–Max Scherzer–taking the mound for a pivotal contest that had would swing the momentum of the series. Indeed, Scherzer would deliver.
“Mad Max” threw 6 1/3 no-hit innings for Washington, striking out seven and overwhelming Cubs hitters. However, Chicago mounted a rally in the seventh inning to tie the game, aided in part by a questionable decision from then-Nats skipper to remove Scherzer after a double by Ben Zobrist.
Then, in the bottom of the eighth, Tommy La Stella drew a leadoff walk, and was replaced on the bases by Leonys Martin. After a sacrifice bunt and a Kris Bryant strikeout, Rizzo strolled to the plate with the go-ahead run in scoring position and a base open against Washington left-hander Oliver Perez.
Washington elected to pitch to Rizzo, which proved to be a big mistake:
That shot of Rizzo screaming “RESPECT ME!” pretty much sums it up.
The Cubs would go on to win the series in five games and advance to their third consecutive NLCS.
3. Climbing the tarp… and the side wall?
Rizzo has long been regarded as one of the best defensive first basemen in baseball. He has won a pair of Gold Gloves (2016 and 2018), and is tied with Brandon Belt for the most Defensive Runs Saved at the position since 2014.
He has excellent reach and a surprising level of agility for someone as burlesque as he truly is, and Rizzo can stretch with the best at first. But there are two plays that really define him as a defender.
In a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 12, 2015, Rizzo climbed the tarp to catch a pop fly off the bat of Ryan Braun, falling into the crowd in the process:
Just over a year later, against the very same team, Rizzo did it again:
Lightning does strike twice, after all.
2. NLCS homer off Kershaw
Game 6 of the 2016 NLCS is unquestionably the greatest moment in the history of Wrigley Field. On Oct. 22, in front of a sold-out crowd in Chicago, the Cubs defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers and their ace–Clayton Kershaw–to advance to their first World Series since 1945.
The Cubs got to Kershaw early and were bolstered by a tremendous pitching performance from MLB ERA leader Kyle Hendricks, but it was Rizzo who delivered the killing blow.
Rizzo had struggled early in the series, but he busted out in Los Angeles. With the Cubs on the brink of a World Series berth, he was not letting up. Chicago already led 4-0 in the fifth inning when Rizzo said “au revoir” to Kershaw and the Dodgers:
He had experienced some tough years of losing early in his tenure with the Cubs, but Rizzo delivered one of the enduring moments in that game.
1. Winning the 2016 World Series
So what could possibly top hitting a homer off of (arguably) the best pitcher of the generation and helping your team advance to the World Series? Well, winning the title, of course.
Rizzo slashed .360/.484/.600 in one of the greatest Fall Classics of all time, and may have been the MVP for the series were it not for Ben Zobrist's heroics in Game 7.
That game was full of memorable moments for Rizzo, from telling David Ross he could not control his emotions to the “Oh My God” shot of Rizzo standing at third with his hands on his head after Zobrist hit the go-ahead double. But the last moment of the series is the one that speaks volumes.
After a long and arduous journey, Rizzo and the Cubs had finally made it to the top of the mountain. And of course, we know who caught the final out:
You'll notice that Rizzo stuffed the ball in his pocket, which he kept until Chicago's championship parade, where he promptly gave it to team owner Tom Ricketts.
Winning the World Series is a dream for any player. For Rizzo–the centerpiece of Chicago's rebuild–it meant that much more.
