Darvish, Rizzo keep the good times going for Cubs
These days he goes by "Tony Two Chains," and he's approaching this Cubs season like it's "high school summer baseball."
As usual, first baseman Anthony Rizzo leads the Cubs in having fun, seemingly the only possible stat baseball analysts haven't found a way to quantify.
"It's the joy of the game that we're playing for right now, and I think it's really showing that we're just playing basically high school summer baseball right now," Rizzo said. "That's how we feel like we're playing. Just going out and playing baseball and not worrying about if someone's hitting .500. If someone's hitting, you know, under .200. It's just let's win, let's pick each other up and figure it out."
The Cubs figured out a 4-2 victory against the visiting Brewers on Thursday night at Wrigley Field, making their major-league-best record 13-3. It's their best start to a season since 1907.
It helped that starting pitcher Yu Darvish held the Brewers hitless until Justin Smoak hit a solo home run with one out in the seventh. Darvish (3-1) left the game after the seventh, having allowed just that 1 hit and striking out 11.
"He had really good command of his off-speed stuff tonight," manager David Ross said. "The breaking ball was working, the slider, the cutter in on those lefties was going in deep. Finish with some splitties or fastballs late. Really kept them off balance. You really didn't see a whole lot of good swings until that homer from Smoak."
Rizzo has taken to wearing two gold chains in games recently, a byproduct he said of a recent intrasquad game for which he wore the chains because he "just got the feeling to throw some chains on." The chains stuck, as did the nickname.
Rizzo broke out the chains for Thursday's series opener against Milwaukee.
"The gold chains are getting charged up right now. He'll be making an appearance tonight for sure," he said during a pregame Zoom session with the media.
The chains are all a part of Rizzo's method of leading with laughs. It's a point of emphasis for him this season.
"I'm not going to shy away from this, this could be our last year together and I think we all know that," he said. "Especially with the state of the game and who knows what's going to happen. This could be our last run with all our core guys.
"This could be my last year. Who knows? So I'm enjoying every second of it."
His teammates have said they are following the veteran's lead. They're clearly having fun in the dugout, cheering each other on and clapping for each other.
"He's a big teddy bear, man," Ross said. "He's one of the best competitors I've been around. He's got that loving, infectious personality. Like I said, he wants everybody to have a good time.
"He's really embraced this environment and the team concept, which I've always seen. I think he's been that guy since I've known him. But I think this year you're seeing it a little more with no fans, so much focus on the dugout. We can hear everything."
It was a frustrating game Thursday individually for Rizzo, who went 0 for 3 with a walk. He struck out with the bases loaded to end the sixth.
"If you have a good game or a bad game, today's the biggest day," Rizzo said. "Let's win today. That's the attitude I've been taking and also having as much fun as I can."