2016 Cubs roundtable: World Series stars take fresh look back at just how good team really was
Dexter Fowler can’t believe how long it has been since the “Welcome to the team!” texts poured in before the 2016 season.
They came from Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Ubaldo Jimenez and others — all members of the Orioles — after some erroneous reporting in the media. A couple of days later, the free-agent outfielder re-signed with the Cubs and then hid in a car for 15 minutes at the team’s spring training complex before strolling onto the field and surprising his stunned pals.
“One of the happiest moments of my life, the love I felt,” the former leadoff hitter says now.
A curse-busting World Series championship awaited all of them, the memories made along the way of the sort that last forever.
Game 7 starter Kyle Hendricks still laughs at himself for following Jon Lester and John Lackey around like a lost puppy and treasures the way Jake Arrieta looked out for him. Game 6 winner Arrieta still misses dinners on the road that never felt quite the same on any other team. Series MVP Ben Zobrist still can’t forget — or stop howling about — the sight of first baseman Anthony Rizzo’s bare behind as he stood with his arms in the air like Rocky Balboa and fired up the clubhouse before Games 5, 6 and 7 against the Guardians.
Nothing beats those old stories, if — almost exactly 10 years since the Cubs stormed the mound in Cleveland — we can call them “old.”
But how do the Cubs reflect on what happened on the field? We discussed that with Arrieta, Fowler, Hendricks, Zobrist, staff ace Lester and the reliever who got the last out in Game 7, Mike Montgomery. Here’s some of what they said, lightly edited for clarity:
Were the 2016 Cubs the best team you ever played for?
Fowler: “Yes, 100%. Just on paper, really, really good. Also in the locker room, everybody was always together. Those are brothers and always will be brothers for life.”
Zobrist: “It’s hard to say the best; it depends who the opposition is. If we were facing a real power pitching team, I think the 2015 Royals would’ve been the best; we were tough to strike out. But if you put that Cubs offense against the Royals, it’s going to be a fight because the Cubs hit some bombs. Neck and neck, just different in regard to how we won games.”
Lester: “I think talent-wise, the 2007 Red Sox were probably the best team I’ve ever seen on the field. Depth in the lineup, in the rotation, in the bullpen, a lockdown closer; it was pretty impressive. And then I would probably put the 2013 Red Sox and the 2016 Cubs as a little bit of a tie. I think ’16 had more talent than ’13, but as far as just fun and the best groups I’ve been around, I would put them as a tie. In ’13 we had a bunch of rejects on one-year deals, end of careers, supposedly in a rebuild, but got a bunch of lunatics together and said, ‘Hey, that sounds good’ and then went and won.”
Hendricks: “Yes, for sure — in so many different ways. Best team I’ve ever played for, best guys I’ve ever played with, best coaching, best players, best everything.”
Where do those Cubs belong in the pecking order of World Series champions?
Arrieta: “In terms of where we stack up talent-wise, probably not at the top, but it’s not always about that. It’s about coming through in the most pivotal of moments. Also, I think what made us so good was the personalities and the character behind that team. Relationships and lifelong friendships are what made us so special. If we don’t have those bonds, we don’t perform the same way on the field, I guarantee that.”
Hendricks: “In a single-season setting, we were a great team. It’s hard to put that in the scope of baseball, though. Our focus was so solely around the city of Chicago, the 108 years. We wanted to be the greatest team for Chicago in the context of history.”
Lester: “This is a very politically correct answer, but I feel like anybody who ever won a championship ought to be tied for first. The way we figured out how to pull the rope at the same time, that was rare.”
Zobrist: “I would put that team up against any team in history as far as the clutch ability to come back from the brink in the midst of the most pressure any team has faced.”
Fowler: “We were stacked — no holes. Our pitching staff, our lineup, Cy Youngs and All-Stars up and down, it was crazy. We had seven All-Stars that year, and five of us were starters. You play us seven games against any of these Dodgers teams, we’re winning at least four of those.”
Montgomery: “I would say it was one of the top three to five championship runs by a team in baseball ever solely due to the ‘curse.’ But also there were all the personalities. Someone like me as an unsung hero? The David Ross situation in Game 7? I don’t think it’s about who was better, though. You’ll never know, and it’s a dead-end argument.”
Who was the best — or most important — player on that Cubs team?
Fowler: “Most important and best is totally different to me. On paper, Kris Bryant was the best player. But most important? It’s a toss-up. We had some pitchers, man.”
Arrieta: “That’s very hard to answer. Jason Heyward’s leadership and selflessness, there’s an MVP in that. Anthony Rizzo’s and David Ross’ vocal leadership were priceless. The way Jon Lester led by example was, too. Same with Dexter with his smile and charisma and energy. I can’t pick one.”
Zobrist: “Rizzo and Bryant, from a position-player standpoint, were irreplaceable. KB was the MVP of the league; how he played defense and ran the bases gave the other team so much to think about. Together, that tandem, they made pitchers have to work so hard that by the time they got to me, if I was batting cleanup, they were too tired to focus on me. We needed those two to come through, and they did. Those two were the backbone of our lineup.”
Are you surprised those Cubs never made it back to a World Series?
Lester: “It’s a little surprising, but baseball’s hard. In 2017, we still had a great team and we competed, but we may have run out of some steam. I think the guys that were in it understand how hard it is to do it again. Look at the teams spending more money than everybody else. You have to go out and spend that kind of money year in and year out to get the pieces you need. But I am surprised we didn’t at least get back into another one.”
Hendricks: “I think the expectation was you get there and go back to the playoffs and ‘This is how it happens.’ You don’t realize how hard it is at the time. It always leaves you wanting more, wanting that feeling again. Our group remained so special, but, yeah, it was disappointing.”
Montgomery: “Deep down, I thought we had the team for three to five years where we should’ve won multiple World Series. There was always a feeling of, ‘What if?’ It just makes me appreciate that ’16 team even more.”
Fowler: “I think if we all stayed together — all of us — we would’ve won multiple.”
Zobrist: “I knew 2017 was going to be an uphill climb; everybody was exhausted at the beginning. I was more disappointed in 2018 and 2019. I really thought we had a chance both years. I was surprised we didn’t get there. I thought we should have done better.”
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