2016 Chicago Cubs Where Are They Now? Part 2: The Core
Willson Contreras
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The Cubs were swamped with catching depth in 2016. Miguel Montero held the starting spot while backup David Ross would catch Jon Lester and the occasional spot start. The problem was neither lit it up behind the dish. Montero was hitting .200 between the start of the year to June 17th. Ross was just a bit better at .237. Something needed to change, and that something was Willson Contreras. The catcher was hitting .353 in his time with the Iowa Cubs, so he was called up to the major leagues. Two days later on June 19th, Contreras came up to the plate for his first major league at bat against The Pirates.
He was the first player to hit a home run on the first pitch he ever saw since Eddie Rosario did the feat the previous summer. From there, it was all up hill. The rest of the way he hit .282 with 12 home runs and 35 RBIs, impressive given the log jam at the catching position. So much so, he was placed on the NLDS roster He would find himself against Will Smith, with the game on the line in the top of the ninth inning of Game Four down by two.
He tied the game with a two-run single, and the cubs would later go on to win 6-5.
His contributions would continue into the NLCS where he faced Clayton Kershaw in Game Six, just a win away from their first World Series Appearance since 1945.
Contreras batted .286 that NLCS that unfortunately did not transfer to the World Series as he only hit .105 with an RBI though did start four of the seven games.
Willson Contreras continued to be the Cubs' backstop for years before changing out to the rival St Louis Cardinals in December of 2022.
For his Career, he has hit .255 with 127 home runs and 401 RBIs, and has four more years left on his contract with St. Louis.
Javier Baez
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Coming into 2016, Javier Baez was looking to be an impactful utility man for the Cubs, wanting to prove that he was better than the dismal .201 batting average he accumulated in the 80 games he played with them over the past two years. For the first month of the season, he was batting .290 with a pair of home runs and five RBIs. However, trust in him wained as it dipped down to .241 by June 6th, when he struck out twice in five hitless at-bats. Yet in two games, he rose back up to .270, a mark that would fluctuate until June 30th where it would never again fall below .268. In fact, he rose to a career-high at .293 on July 23rd. Playing in all but 18 games, the super utility Baez hit at the time best .273 with 14 home runs and 53 RBIs, though it was nothing in comparison to how his Postseason would go.
In game one of the NLDS versus the San Francisco Giants, the game remained scoreless into the eighth, with Johnny Cueto shutting down the potent Cubs line up, with the wind blowing in, Javier Baez came up to the plate.
A ball that should’ve left the park, barely scrapped over the ivy outfield basket in left field, giving the Cubs a run that would stand, giving the Cubs a 1-0 advantage in the series. He would not have another RBI until game four when his team had just clawed to a tie, came to the plate against the fifth Giant reliever of the inning Hunter Strickland.
His RBI would send the Cubs back to the NLCS for the first time since 2003. Yet, the fame didn’t stop there.
In game one of the NLCS versus the Los Angeles Dodgers, having found himself on third with already an RBI on his own, Baez tricked everyone including himself on this play.
The un-straight steal of home gave the Cubs a two-run cushion though it would not stand, as the Dodgers would tie it going into the eighth when arguably one of the greatest hits in the history of the Cubs occurred from the bat of Miguel Montrero.
The game would become 8-3 going into the ninth where Andrew Toles got a run back, making it 8-4 but Hector Rondon closed it out, giving the Cubs the game one win.
Baez drew quiet over the next three games, having two hits and an RBI mixed in. It wasn’t until game five that he got an additional three hits and three RBIs. While being hitless in the Cubs clincher, he was awarded co-mvp with Jon Lester for the NLCS.
Sadly, the streak could not continue into the World Series, as he didn’t have another RBI until Game 7 against the Indians where he took Corey Kluber deep to give the Cubs at the time a 4-1 lead. They eventually won the series, giving Baez his only ring to date. He would never reach that pinnacle again as he would hit .103 over his next 13 postseason games, hitting two home runs and three RBIs.
Baez would remain with the Cubs until the trade deadline in 2021, being traded to the New York Mets, and after the season signing with the Detroit Tigers. In his prime, he had a three-year stretch where he .282 with 86 home runs and 271 RBIs. In fact, he came in second for MVP in 2018 behind Christian Yelich. It is hopeful that Baez turns his career around after such a promising young start, but for now, at least he can say he helped the Cubs win the World Series.
Anthony Rizzo
Gene J. Puskar–AP
By 2016, Anthony Rizzo had been with the Chicago Cubs since 2012 after a brief stop in San Diego to be the starting First baseman for three disastrous seasons for the North Side team. He had seen teammates come and go like Ryan Dempster, Marlon Byrd, Kerry Wood, and Geovany Soto, all in his first season. Others like Alfonso Soriano, Matt Garza, and Jeff Samardzija went on to other teams, all men who were touted to be the guys that would break the curse of the Billy Goat, yet they all came and went.
Yet it was up to Rizzo to be the leader of the infield for the new guys that would come in like Javier Baez, Addison Russell, and a newcomer named Kris Bryant. He also saw the likes of Jake Arrieta, Jason Hayward, and Miguel Montero come into fill in the gaps
Up to 2014, he had been a career hitter of .238 in nearly 300 games played, though having great home run and RBI numbers. It all changed in 2014 when he hit .286 with 32 home runs and 78 RBIs. He followed that up with a wild card birth for the Cubs in 2015, hitting .278 with 31 home runs and 101 RBIs. However, in 2016 was when the whole ball club, specifically went on a tear. Anthony had a career year in every category, 32 home runs, 109 RBIs, a .292 batting average, and an OPS of .928. On the flip side, he was a defensive wizard in the infield like on this play against the Milwaukee Brewers.
It all culminated in an NL Central Division Championship, their first since 2008. However, they would need to break curses in order to break their own. First was the San Francisco Giants Even Years advantage as they had won the World Series every even year that decade. Ironically in the fight to win the NLDS, Anthony Rizzo did not have a hit until the fourth inning of game four of the series. Luckily, they didn’t need his bat for that series, but they would need his help to take down the Mighty Dodgers in the NLCS, the place where they were swept the previous season by the New York Mets.
It took until game four of the NLCS for Rizzo to finally get it going.
Two nights later, on the cusp of winning the Pennant, Rizzo joined in on the hit parade.
The reason he began to hit again was from another teammate’s bat, Matt Szczur’s to be exact. While the two looked the same, Szczur’s was a bit lighter for Rizzo’s liking, so he could get to the ball quicker. As a result, he finally was able to join his teammates in the hitting success, and thanks to his help, one curse was finally broken.
Their season was far from over, however. Rizzo for his part in the World Series batted .360, with nine hits including a home run in Game Six.
When it was all said and done, Rizzo secured the Chicago Cubs’ first Championship since their back-to-back wins in 1907 and 1908, and who was the man to get the final ball, the man stuck in years of rebuilds to bring happiness to millions of Cubs fans. It was during the parade ceremony that Rizzo decided to give the ball to Tom Ricketts, owner of the Cubs.
He ended up fourth for the MVP that season, behind his teammate Kris Bryant who won the title. For the next three seasons, Rizzo batted a nice .282 with 84 home runs and 304 RBIs. Sadly as the core aged, so did he, and his production dipped. In 2021 he was traded to his current team, the New York Yankees. In an ironic twist of fate, between 2020 and now, he is hitting again only .238, just like the start of his career. Now he looks on to win a championship with the Yankees, but thanks to him, he’ll never have to buy another beer in Chi-town again.
Kris Bryant
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The last but certainly not least part of the puzzle for the young core of Cubs Nation. Kris Bryant was a highly touted prospect from the 2013 MLB Player Draft. He dominated the minor leagues to the point he was a non-roster invitee, and yet despite hitting .425 with nine home runs, the Cubs demoted him back to Triple-A. It was a result of the Cubs wanting to maintain control of Bryant for an extra year due to how service time worked. In fact, the case was taken before an arbitrator in early 2020 to determine if Bryant would become a free agent, however, it went the Cubs way, and Bryant remained on the team for the 2021 season.
However, once called up, he never looked back. He had 26 home runs, 99 RBIs, and a .275 batting average. However, he did strike out a league-best 199 times, the most for any rookie. That did not deter the baseball writers from making him Rookie Of The Year. The following year he outdid himself again. He hit 39 home runs, 102 RBIs, and .292 average, with a league-best 121 runs although a case should have been made for Nolan Arenado but that is a topic for another day.
On June 26th, 2016, he accomplished something not done since 1913, recording three home runs and two doubles in a game, matched since by Matt Carpenter and Adolis Garcia.
In the 2016 postseason, he was one of the Cubs more consistent hitters with an average reaching .417 and never dropping below .264. In game three of the NLDS, he hit a game-tying home run of closer Sergio Romo
The following night, Bryant was the leadoff batter in the ninth that began their comeback to win the game and series. He grabbed three RBIs in the NLCS as the Cubs marched to the World Series to face the Cleveland Indians, their first since 1997, also attempting to break their own curse of not winning a World Series since 1948.
Kris Bryant gave them no issues through the first four games of series, until game five, when the Cubs’ season was on the line, he faced Trevor Bauer in the bottom of the fourth inning.
His home run helped propel the Cubs to a 3-2 win, forcing the series back to Cleveland where once again, the Cubs season rested on Bryant’s shoulders, and he didn’t disappoint.
It gave Jake Arrieta and the Cubs the boost they needed to get themselves to game seven, and boy what a game seven it was.
In the fourth inning, Kris started a rally with a single and later scored on an Addison Russell sacrifice fly. In the fifth, he grabbed a walk and came around to score on a line-drive single from Anthony Rizzo as Bryant was running on the play.
In the Tenth after Kyle Schwarber got himself a single (More on him next time), Bryant came up to bat and nearly hit a home run to deep right-center that was caught on the track, but deep enough for pinch runner Albert Almora Jr to tag up and reach second, and after Anthony Rizzo walked, the biggest hit in Cubs history occurred.
After an insurance run from Miguel Montero, the stage was set in the bottom of the tenth. After two quick outs, Carl Edwards Jr walked Brandon Guyer to bring up Rajai Davis, the man who tied the game in the eighth with a home run. Davis promptly hit an RBI single that brought home Guyer. Mike Montgomery was brought in to face Michael Martinez and as they say…
Bedlam. Pure ecstasy, the pain and suffering for over 100 years had finally ended. Fittingly, in a play that seemed destined to fail, a slow chopper, the infield wet, Bryant begins to slip on the play, yet through the five seconds of hushed breath, Bryant smiles as he stumbles to the ground, firing a strike to Rizzo to end the curse, and allow the celebration to begin.
What should have been a dynasty sadly ended that night, as the Cubs never again made it to the World Series with these four players, only going as far as the NLCS the following year.
For Bryant, he had a five year decent stretch hitting .275 with 102 home runs and 286 RBIs, but never came close to replicating his 2016 season. By 2021, his time was up, so he was traded to the San Francisco Giants, who were on their own path to the postseason. After the NLDS loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, he signed a 109 Million Dollar contract with the Colorado Rockies to be closer to his home in Las Vegas. Sadly he has been unable to escape the injury bug, allowing him only to play 103 games with 12 home runs and 35 RBIs. Hopefully, he will be able to get out of the Colorado funk and play to the player that was touted as the best in the League.
All in all this core of teammates was among the most entertaining bunch to watch in the late 2010s. Their kid-like demeanor made the lovable losers into champions. Take it away Harry.
