David Ross Talks 2016 Cubs Magic, Team USA Pressure & Launching New Podcast

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All right, so I started the volume over four years ago and you know, we went heavy

because when it first happened, it was around COVID and we got sports gambling was legalized.

So that kind of funded it. And we did a lot of NFL and football because that's the sport

Americans bet. And it was a natural way to open our company. And over the course of years,

and I had said this before, is that I thought I grew up my first job at a college was I got very

lucky doing one inning of play by play for the Las Vegas stars. So I'm a baseball guy at heart.

I used to like baseball America was my Bible at a college. But then I got opportunities in TV

and other things. And I became very much a pro football guy and a football guy. Of course,

I've always loved college football. And then a couple years ago, I thought Rob Manfred made a

couple of really necessary changes. And I think baseball's had a three-year renaissance where

and I never try to overthink it in my business. Just what, what does it feel for you? I have watched

more baseball in the last three years. I feel like when I came out of college, the game is faster,

the big markets are fun, the cubs, the fillies, the dodgers, the Yankees. There's also Milwaukee,

Seattle, smaller markets. And there's more personality. Baseball had a weird kind of a weird run for a while

where thank God for the cubs that had personality because the way to play the game stuff kind of

wears fans out. Like people just want personality. So about a year and a half ago, I went to this

team at the volume and I said, we got to have a baseball podcast. And I wanted to have personality.

I don't want to, you know, I want smart guys who can just talk to game bullshit, have fun,

buddies laugh. And it was pitched to me. Somebody said, you know, it's going to be in like a year,

a 10 year anniversary of the cubs world series. And I'm like, what are you thinking?

And they just threw the names out. They said, Ross and Rizzo, I went, there's no way we're going to

get that as our first baseball podcast. I said, no way. And so of the many names that were,

people were thrown actors at me that like baseball and players. And then David Ross, the former,

you know, 15 year career cubs manager for three years, he was just the bullpen coach for team USA.

And a one of the most beloved cubs ever. So he and Anthony Rizzo, our first baseball podcast,

it's going to be called the lovable reunion that debuts in a week. And they're going to look back,

not only are they going to talk baseball, they're going to look back at the 10 year reunion of

probably the most memorable world series. I'm trying to think of my lifetime. I grew up with a 75,

76 Cincinnati Reds. You know, we are family pirates world series. The Yankees now, Otani. I don't

think anything surpasses the cubs. And David Ross is joining us. Anthony Rizzo's doing the

baseball and Netflix stuff. So he was going to join us. He's not today. So first of all, David,

we've never met. Obviously, I know you multiple Red Sox world series cubs world series.

So let's start with this because I didn't want us to talk before we did this. I wanted us to

kind of meet each other as we're doing this. I want the audience to be along for it. When,

when did you and Anthony Rizzo, when did the idea come up? Because it was pitched to me a while

ago. When did this come up for you guys this 10 year anniversary thing? Yeah. Well,

first of all, we're pumped to be on this, right? Like we're so excited. This has been a journey

that's taken on a life of its own already with the guys. But we started tall. We had the same

agents playing. And so we started talking about this after I was done a little bit and what was

baseball going to be like for us or life after us after baseball. And you know, him just retiring

two years ago. We started talking about this probably around that time of, we've got such a great

relationship and we work well together and we're just good friends. And so us having a little bit

of like we should do some of the podcast world has taken off obviously. Right. And with our history

and how we met and just how we like to be around each other. And we're very different in our

thoughts about baseball. So it's been really fun to kind of banter a little bit with some of our

old teammates and talk about some of these stories we had. But this has been in the works with us

for a little bit. And then when you guys, you know, we kind of met with your group and how excited

Logan and the team were it just it just was such a thing. They were so excited and there's so

many good guys there. It was it was it was like a note. We got that call with you guys and it

was like that's the group. That's the group we've got to be with there. They're one how professional

you guys are on top of your stuff. But my goodness, the excitement or in the room when we had those

conversations where we're at the top. They were there was nobody more excited and kind of on board

with whatever we wanted to do and our vision. And so we're super pumped. This thing we've we've

kept coming under wraps for a long time. We're so pumped to break this thing out next week.

Yeah, I told I went to dinner with Tom Ricketts about six weeks ago. And I said, listen,

you got to keep this under wraps. But we're doing a baseball podcast. And I said and I told him

about he goes, oh, shit, you guys got it. He's like, that's like a can't miss prospect. He goes

that. So I want to go I want to go back to this to the World Series team. So you had this 108

year drought and listen, baseball superstitious. And you can say nobody's talking about it.

But it's one of the only times in my life, the country, even outside of Chicago,

the country was rooting for Chicago. So that's even as popular as MJ was. They didn't like him in

Detroit. They didn't like him in LA. There were a lot of non MJ guys. You know, a lot the Celtics

didn't like him. Everybody wanted the Cubs to win beyond Chicago. There's never been a championship

in any sport in my life. I mean, there's Olympic stuff, obviously. So I always felt like,

oh, God, that's the most pressure ever. The country. It was almost a Olympic feeling.

At what point in that season? Did you guys, and let's just talk specifically you and Anthony

Yeah. Did you guys start talking about shit? We're in a sweep of a couple series. You know,

you got the both men right? You're sitting there. You know, you're hitting for power.

Well managed. When did you start thinking? God, this could be it. Well, we goes back to 2015.

And that's what's kind of cool about this podcast of the journey. And we had, you know,

got Joe Madden, signed John Lester. I came aboard in 15. You know, the Chicago had been through

a lot of losing at some young guys. JK area of the trade Pedro Strobe with Baltimore

the year before. And you start to look at the season in 15. And we came together. We asked a

lot of guys in this podcast. They all got the same answer. When did you think we were good?

And there was a turning point in a in a series in San Francisco. We played San Francisco at home

late the year. I think it was in August, 2015, 2015, 2015. And we went on our run. They were the

defending champs. We're good bomb gardener, Posey. They had all the dudes. And we started in

everybody kind of points to that time of back into the season. All the young guys kind of coming

up Schwarber, Addison Russell. Havi was kind of getting Havi Bayas starting to get his feet wet.

KB Chris Bryant, obviously, like, I mean, these guys were coming along and young. We had some

veteran guys. And we just took off obviously making the playoffs and going deep and getting

beaten by the match in the championship years in 15. And then when we went into spring training

the next year, we knew we were good. They added. We brought Dexter Fowler back. It's amazing.

Added guys like Ben Zobris, Jason Hayward, John Lackie. I mean, we added some pieces in 16.

Theo went out and did his part. And we got to spring training. I remember Miguel Montero tweeting

out like we are good. The hashtag we are good. And that was like the whole we started off so darn

good. And then we lose Schwarber early on in 16. So you're like, wait a minute. How are we going to

how are we going to navigate that? But we were we had the pitching staff our guy said healthy. I

think we're one of the best defensive teams that year. Number one, I mean, we were we were really

good. But it started in 15. A lot of people, we really hit that momentum. And I thought it was so

important. The way Joe handled the group and for our young guys to get a taste going deep in

the playoffs. Whenever you get that, you get so hungry in the off season that you knew going in.

The target was on our back. But Joe did a great job of messaging and the expectations and how

that's a good thing. And just embrace the target was it was our slogan going into 16. And

and we took all it was it was it was amazing. It was amazing. But I think it started in 15.

And I told the audience at lovable reunion on all the social media. Subscribe on YouTube.

This is going to be a year-long journey. The pods are great. You've already done. You've already

done all sorts of interviews. I want to go to Joe Madden because Joe is a very I remember when

he was with the angels. Joe was a very outside the box thinker. And you know baseball is about

lore and history and tradition. And so, you know, Joe is different. Joe saw the world differently.

The defensive shift, everything. So you had this quirky manager, successful, super smart,

kind of an out of the box contrarian thinker with this with this. You had some veterans. This

was a veteran team smart team guys who had been around the big. I mean, you started with the Dodgers.

They were a fire call very catcher heavy at the time. And you you were one of them. And they

just they had so many catchers. You're also, by the way, part of a great trivia question.

Not only was your first home run a grand slam. It was off mark grace, if I recall.

Well, I don't know. You did your homework. Yeah. Yeah. I was I still get interviews with Mark

every once while talking about that. That was a that was a special one right in my bad speed.

I tell him all the time about three miles an hour. And he tells me almost hit it in that

Friday's front row out there in Arizona. It was that's a good story that a lot of people don't know about.

So take me to Joe Madden. When you interviewed him, that's the one I really want to hear.

Because he's a funny, funny guy. He is so well, when you get to play for him, you know how he can

talk anything from, you know, wine and and, you know, off the field stuff all the way to the

end depths of baseball. He's just been around baseball so long and he's such a eclectic man. He's

got so many different personalities with within just carrying on conversation with everybody. But

Joe's a special one, man. When we interviewed him, we we got to ask the questions that everybody

wanted to ask about just building culture and how you came over and being with the rays and

no expectations and coming to a big market and what what what his plan was. And then obviously

coming up with new bringing in new guys and being able to transition them with the veterans we had.

And he spoke very eloquently about, you know, his plan and and then going into some of the world

series questions we asked him. It was so amazing letting him walk you through some of his decision

making because he gets so much so many credit so much criticism from talking about, you know,

overuse in Chapman or taking Kyle Hendricks out. And what's the plan? What what what what he was

thinking and where he kind of got a ride. And he talked all about that very openly. It was

such a good interview just from somebody that got to manage the cubs and had a lot of managerial

questions of like going into somewhere new and how to establish what you believe in. And he just

he spoke so well about kind of his plan for that. You know, it's interesting. I've said this. I

just moved to Chicago. And I've been in LA for nine years and my wife, you're surviving the cold.

I got to be I tell all my friends who give me crap. And I'm like, they're like, how are you

going to withstand the cold? I'm like, buy a effing jacket. It's not that hard. Just get a jacket,

guys. So nobody in LA has one apparently. And I loved LA. LA is very special. I'm sure it was one of

your favorite road trips. I mean, the weather is ideal in the summer. No humidity. But Chicago's

interesting because one of my observations about Chicago, it's got some of the best looking people

in the world that are normal. Because in the Midwest, like if you're in the east, David,

and you want to make money in your aspirational Boston, New York, Philly, DC, if you're in the west,

you can make money in San Francisco, LA. There's a lot of options. In the Midwest, you know,

Chicago's it. If you're a driven guy, you're a driven young woman and you want to make it,

you want to make it big and you want to stand in the Midwest, you go to Chicago. I remember running

on Lake Shore about five years ago and I was considered considering Chicago. And I told my wife,

I'm like, I didn't see an unattractive person for my six mile run. I'm like, this, this city is

young and fun. So when you're winning in Chicago, 1516, Chicago can be distracting. It's a drinking city,

it's food city, the river, it's fun, the lake. This is like Miami North. There is a, it does not

close down at 930. It is a live city. That's a good analogy. Miami North, the area. It is.

It is. It's crazy. We're there times. Nobody can play in Chicago and be a cub with the greatest

cub team ever and not have a good time. Did you squeeze in some good time? Oh, man, it's the best.

I mean, I've got so many stories of going out with Riz and some of the stuff we talk about in

the end and the pod. It's, it's first of all, everybody. It doesn't matter if you're the last

guy on the roster. You would think when I walk into a restaurant, I'm Michael Jordan out of the

back of catcher. You know, I played once a week. It's, these people love their sports so much.

And they're so invested. They know everything about you. We were walking. I used to walk to the

park in 15. I live really close. And people, when we started, we were going to make the playoffs.

We got in the postseason. And I would walk to the yard in the postseason, beautiful day,

October's. And people stopped me. Start cheering you on, on the, on the, your walk. I'd

grab me a coffee and head head to the field. And people are stopping me taking pictures. Just

everybody knew who I was as a backup catcher. I walked into one of my favorite stories. I walked

in Chicago, cut down there on the lake. Great steakhouse. Oh, great steakhouse. I got, I got a

stand-in of, I was with my family. I'm carrying my little daughter. She was one at the time. And

I'm getting a standing ovation in a, in a steakhouse. And I didn't even know how to react. Like,

these people are so passionate. We definitely had our times out. We went out on the road. We, we,

you know, I say all the time, you're not going to win a World Series or championship with a bunch

of choir boys. We definitely, we definitely had our mix. And we've got plenty of stories of beer

drinking and, and going out. And I thought that great thing about Joe going back to him a little

bit was he took so much of the media off of us that we never felt like this whole, you know, 108

curse. We had such a bubble inside because we were so close as a group. And you see why and the

championship teams I've been on. That's how it is. But we never had that outside noise coming in.

People were so great and so, so pumped that Chicago was in the playoffs and

Wrigley field and the postseason has to be top two, three. And like, when that place was rocking,

they were so hungry for a winner. So you definitely felt like a rock star walking around that place.

Chicago treated us well. And we definitely had some late nights of, of, of a party in and

trying to game up for a couple of those 120 day games. Oh, yeah, Wrigley.

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Let's go to the final game. Three outs is what the Chicago Cubs need. I want you as closely as you

can remember. I don't even know if it's goosebumps anxiety. Three outs to go. What is that dugout like?

This tense. I mean, we brought in CJ Edwards to start the end. First of all, like Chappy had gotten us

through, you know, he went back out after giving up the home run and gives us a clean inning.

Obviously, the rain delay we come out. We scored two. Nobody, you know, everybody talks about

Benzovers hit and then Miguel Montero got another base hit to add a run, which we actually needed.

So CJ Edwards come in. We get a quick out or two and then a runs given up and Roger Davis gets

on first two outs and you're thinking, okay, Roger is going to steal. Yeah, I think he was top

in the league that year in stolen basis. So you're kind of playing through like manager or least I was

manager in your brain of like, okay, we've how we got to navigate this. And they bring in Mike

Montgomery. Another one where you're like, we had Pedro Stroke down there. Hex Rundone. We had,

I mean, Arietta was down there lacking. We had all kind of bullets in the bullpen and Joe pulled on,

you know, turned these young guys, which has a veteran guy and even as a manager, you don't

lean on the young guys in the biggest moment. So you're super nervous about that. And then knowing

the scouting port I did and and and Mickey, we're going to flip a bunch of breaking balls in.

And you're just nervous, you know, you're hoping Roger doesn't steal. You don't want to buy

in scoring position. And then that swinging butt to KB, obviously, he slips. He talks about that

in the in the pod and Rizzo catches that ball. And then it just all the anxiety, all the,

you know, the tension that you hold, just the relief that you have of, you know, we did it because

it was such a back and forth game and how we came back down three one. And there's so many stories

within that that everybody's stinking and sitting there on the bench watching this all play out.

And I've already played my role. I don't have any control over it. So you're just rooting for

everybody super hard and that ball is hit. And you're just you're just praying that it's hit to

somebody and KB nice and easy throws it to Riz and and off we go to celebrate. But yeah, you're

definitely you're definitely nervous when things start going. You've got young guys when the young

guys on the mound too, you never know how that's going to how they're going to handle those

biggest moments of their career. And they did it. We did it.

I'm talking to David Ross and he and Anthony Rizzo are going to host the lovable reunion.

And they're going to interview. It's a 10 year anniversary of the 2016 World Series win,

which as David pointed to kind of really started in 2015 with that San Francisco giant series.

Um, you know, one of the things I noticed my first summer in Chicago, I always tell people

if if Rigglyville was in Berlin, it would be like a bucket list for Americans to visit. It's

one of those things like people don't understand who have never been to Rigglyville. And I've been to

a price six or seven times, even when I worked at ESPN and and now I went I went for a football game

of this fall with Michigan Northwestern. It's probably as great as anything we have. It's sort

of our Wimbledon. There's nothing else really like it in America. It's like an SEC football game

in Baton Rouge. You know, there's lightning. It's 88. Everybody's sweating. You can smell bourbon in

the stage and I've gone to a, yeah, I mean, it's like there's nothing like an LSU night game.

There's nothing like Rigglyville. They call it the biggest beer garden in Illinois. I think

don't game. It's wild. The, um, I noticed this last year Kyle Tucker's now a Dodger.

He was a cub. And one of the criticisms of Kyle, who's a really good ball player,

was, I heard Cub fans say, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't love it. He's just talented. Now,

you know, people show it in different ways. Baseball is a long schloid. I mean, it's all,

it's, you start in spring training, you go to the playoffs, you're 200 games in.

But it is interesting because the Cub fan is not, you know, you're going to a Dodger game.

It's a lot of old fans. Riggley's young. Riggley's a party. And I mean, every home game.

Do you think fans, do you think it's possible Kyle Tucker just wasn't a great fit with the Cubs

personality-wise or, or is it just one of those? Hey, man, he didn't have a great year.

People are going to pick on him because I, I mean, with the Dodgers, he may be the sixth best

player. He's a really good player. But it felt like he kind of got beat up by the median fans here.

Yeah, for sure. I think everybody's personality is a little bit different. I wish as a player,

I could have stayed more Kyle Tucker as far as like, he's going to play every day. I thought he

was the reason to turn around this year of them getting to the posties. I mean, he got off to

such a great start. Apparently, some injuries on the second half that kind of hindered his

numbers. But I mean, he carried those guys. And to have that staple in the middle of your order,

kind of like they're going to have with Braggman this year and moving forward, it's such a you have

to bring it every day. I talked to Riz all the time. I was a backup guy. The reason why I got so

much love and the grandpa Rossi and the leadership kind of, kind of tagged for that group was,

I was, I was just responsible for catching Lester. It didn't matter. I didn't have to bring it

every day. I brought my energy to other guys, making sure I was lifting them up. When you're the,

when you're the middle of the order bat, you've got to make sure you're taking care of and you're

carrying the group. If your horse is suck, the team's going to suck. You know, if, if the Mike

trouts and the guys in the middle of that order air judge, if they're not very good, the team's

not going to be very good. So they have a performance that they've got to carry every single day. And

the guys that they can stay a little bit more unemotional, I think it's a really, really positive.

Going back to Kyle Tucker and not knowing him very well, I do think it's such a good fit for

the Dodgers because like you said, they have stars. They have guys are going to talk to the media.

When you, when you're a guy that would rather just kind of be left alone to do your thing,

it's easier to be the fourth and fifth guy. When you're the KB went through a little bit of that

early on. Chris Bryant with, you know, like Riz would answer questions, Leicester would answer

some questions to the media. KB was more, you know, he wanted to just go out and play baseball a

lot of the time. Some guys are just wired like that. And I don't think that's a bad thing. But I

think, I think Chicago is so close to the players and so passionate about their sports and their

teams that they want to see a personality. They want somebody to either be pissed or, you know,

I've got a lot of love for yelling at umpires all the time and now council doesn't. It's like,

who, you know, they pick it boys and I wish I wouldn't have got thrown out at so many games.

So everybody's a little bit different how they handle them. I'm an emotional guy. I wear my heart

on my sleeve and I think it's going to be great for this podcast. But I do think Kyle Tucker probably

gets a little bit of that because people just want a little bit more from their superstars.

When you get paid a lot of money, fans want a lot out of you. Yeah. When you were the bullpen coat

for team USA and I had said this on the air and because I work at Fox and Fox broadcast it,

people said, Oh, you're being a shell. But I said before it started, I said, the most undervalued

property in sports in my opinion from the last 10 years has been the world baseball class. Now,

it's not annual. And it's not as big as the Olympics or the World Cup. But I said,

when I was at the other place, ESPN, I'm like, I couldn't believe the passion. And I also,

you know, we, we good players, great players want to play. And so I mean, Bryce Harper and and

judge and Otani. And were you, maybe you weren't surprised. Um, I wasn't surprised because I've seen

in the world baseball classic, the passion from everybody. And anytime anybody beats USA and

anything, it's a big deal, right? Yeah. Could be Olympics, World Cup. It's, it's, it doesn't

matter what it is. So Venezuela's reaction. That's that country's gone through a lot over the last

decade. Like I get it. But I was a little surprised. Um, how much the loss stings. And just the

intensity of the players, um, I mean, it's the middle of spring fricking training and you're asking

them to go play in an international event. If somebody that was there every day, were,

were you surprised how pissed Bryce Harper could be? How emotional Aaron could be? Uh, wet.

I mean, it felt like playoff games. Yeah. I mean, it did feel like every one of them felt like

playoff games and even leading up to it, you know, the expectations were even when you're

facing great Britain, you know, like we're supposed to pound them. We're supposed to, we're supposed

to tend run rule them. It's, it was definitely a playoff atmosphere. Immediately in the middle

spring training where nobody's really, you know, every, there's so many, um, guardrails and things,

marked erosion was dealing with, with, with teams. And these guys wanted to throw all the,

they didn't care. They, they wanted to, they wanted to piss. They want to go pass their,

their numbers as far as pitching and their pitch counts. And, um, it was, and I had, I know,

Mark Well and Brian McCann, a lot of this staff, they told me last time, uh, four years ago,

Venezuela was the loudest game they had been, had ever been a part of. And I can second that

Mexico in Houston. Excuse me. Was one of our loudest games for sure inside that dome in Houston.

And then the, the DR game, Dominican Republic, that was so loud, one of the best lineups I think

ever created. Oh my god. I see the Venezuela game was, was epic. That one of the best things,

I couldn't even hear, I had to sit next to the bullpen phone in the bullpen because I could not

hear it ring if I sat and watched the game. I had to watch it on the screen down there. Pat McAfee

told me after the game, I've gotten kind of close with him. And he said, he said to me, that may be

the best sporting event I've ever been to live. And that, I mean, like, just like you, that guy lives

and brings sports. Yeah. When you're in these environments of college football, professional football,

professional baseball, and you go to the world baseball classic and he said, when Bryce Harper

hit that home run, the, how loud that place gotten, it was, it was amazing. When he said that to me,

I was like, okay, I've been in a ton of world series games played in front of a lot of people.

It was that epic and that loud and that many people cared about it. Two countries going at it,

like you said, Venezuela, dealing with a lot and what that country's been through. Those guys

were crying after that game. Guys, I know Wilson Contreras, Daniel Polencia, like a lot of these

guys that you played against and know really well. They're their passion for that. And our guys,

my goodness, man, our guys, Paul Schemes paced the locker room probably for 20, 30 minutes after

that game, just as pissed as I've seen a guy in a long, long time. Guys cared a lot. I've never seen

a group of men come together so fast and get so close in such a short amount of time. In my time

in baseball as that team USA team was, we were doing dinners. We were having team meals,

the speakers come in. It was really, really one of the best baseball experiences of my life.

The, um, you know, I've been defending people keep talking about the Dodgers dominance

and that we need a salary cap. And I keep saying folks, if the Dodgers lost game seven and I thought

they were, I thought Toronto outplayed them for most of the series. What a game that was. What a

game. Best best baseball game to me. I mean, there's been a lot of great ones. I'm so old now that,

I can remember the, the Carlton Fisk home run at Fenway against the Reds and Pat Darts. I mean,

that, that was when I was, you know, young growing up. It was one of the best baseball games ever.

I compare to our games. So I thought the two best game sevens of my lifetime and, um, you know,

short memory and obviously biased towards ours. But like, when I watched that game seven in Toronto,

that, I was like, okay, there's another one that we can put in the book next to ours because that

was, that was an amazing game back and forth. Um, yeah, what young Modo did, like, just unheard of.

I just insane. And Aaron F and Boone again in the ALCS. That, that goes up there as well.

Um, yeah. Um, but I have defend. Of Wakefield. Yeah, that's right. That goes out there.

That's right. That's right. So, but I've said, okay, listen, I don't believe if the Dodgers would

have lost that, the Kyle Tucker signing wouldn't mean anything. People would laugh at him. The Met

spent so much money, but nobody's threatened by the Met's, right? They're threatened by the Dodgers

because they've won back to back World Series, but Toronto outplayed him. I said, what I think

baseball needs is a floor. If you could spend Milwaukee spent 143 million, they were excellent.

Mariners spent, you know, 160 million, Cleveland spent 130 million. If you spend about 130 to 135,

you can have a really good baseball team. If you have a smart front office, if you got the right

pieces, if you spend 180, you can win the World Series. You can't do the A's, the Marlins, the

White Stocks. You can't do that. So my take is don't force high income teams Houston, Atlanta,

Dodgers Yankees to play by St. Louis's economy. Like I want great. If you can stack a roster,

stack a roster, Milwaukee's proven, you can be a small market. But and when I've talked to players,

there doesn't seem to be a lot of Dodger animosity. Bryce Harper's like, I love what they're doing.

So, so it's somebody that managed the Cubs, won it when the Red Sox, you were with the Red Sox when

they had some big time money. Cubs went out and spent. Cubs are the third biggest revenue team

in the sport behind New York Yankees and the Dodgers. They're, they're, I think they make, I won't say

the number, but I talked to Tom Ricketts about it. They do very well. Yeah. How do you now because

you've been in several chairs? How do you view what the Dodgers are doing? Does it worry you a

little bit? They're pulling away. No, I think I fall in the same boat as you. I, you know, when I,

when you're, when I was a rookie coming up the Dodgers, you had to go to, they made the rookies go

to all the union meetings and MLBPA meetings and learn a lot about that. And I think the scare,

I think everybody would be okay with a floor without a ceiling, right, without a cap. And I think,

I'm in the same boat as you as I think that's, that's needed. I love the teams. You know,

these are smart businessmen. They're not going to, if they can afford it, they're going to spend

it, right? They're not going to go in debt over just trying to win a championship one year or two

years. The Dodgers have created a money machine there with Otani with how they've expanded across

the globe in Japan and all the different graphical geographical players that they put on that roster

and the big market players. But if you look back, I mean, Freddie Freeman's a steal for 160.

You know, if you look back in some of these, some of these, and in the way Otani structured his

contract, uh, it probably helped them get tucker. I mean, they're hell. Edmund, Edmund was a

defensive guy with a cardinals. Tommy Edmund was available to the league max Muncie that let go by

the eights. I would, they're smart and they've got money. And that's the, and that's the secret,

right? You got to have, and they built it the right way when they, they went and got a lot of

veteran play Adrian Gonzalez and these guys back in the day when they've got the new ownership and

built up the foreign system. Now they've kind of integrated a piece or two a year of some young

guys, the Pahez of the world. Um, you know, Will Smith, like, I just got to be around him. What a

winner he is. Three ball championships. I think he's, you know, in his young 30s or I think he is

30 and they, they, they, they built it the right way and then they go out and spin with their,

with their excess. I don't think guys worry about the Dodgers because it is baseball and you would

look at the team USA and think, and I know it wasn't a series and I know it's a long season. But

like anybody can win in baseball and you've got to have smart front office. You've got to spend

your dollars. Well, no matter how much money you have because you mentioned the Mets and not making

the playoffs and them spending the most money and also like being able to develop a farm system

and use the young guys to supplement and there's going to be injuries and depth. Um, I don't think,

I think, I think the Dodgers are good for baseball. I think, you know, the, the big markets,

there's, but you said it earlier, there's not been a better run of a three year, five year,

five year. Oh my god. It baseball is fun. Like you were tuning in everywhere and all these

different platforms are grabbing these. I can't wait for Netflix tomorrow night and watching

Riz debut his first, uh, his first broadcast and how that's going to go. Like there is a lot of

excitement around baseball and obviously there's things where we can clean up to help grow the game.

But I just, I, we've got to keep the game going because it's in such a good place and there's

so many young fans. I love the new rules. The, the clock is amazing, especially being in the booth

broadcasting free us PN back in the day and how that can drag and now we've got a nice pace to

the game and, and um, baseball is in a really, really good place and, um, you know, I hope, I hope,

I hope the MLPPA and the league figure figure something out to continue to, to get some of these

teams that aren't spending that are just okay with the revenue sharing. I hope they can

help bring that, bring those guys up and, and have more competitive. It's a shame.

Paul Skane should be on a good team, you know, like that pitch staff Pittsburgh has is really,

really good. Um, and I think they put some other pieces around to, to help compete this year,

but last year was, was not, you know, I didn't feel like they moved the needle very, very well.

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10 years later, what does the CUB championship mean to you?

Man, well, I mean, me personally, those guys and how they, how they lifted me up,

in that, I mean, I get carried off the field game seven, like, who's that happens to, you know,

like, I'm so thankful. I got to do so many things off the field after that. I've working

for ESPN, getting back to manage. They put me on this platform to be on your talking to you,

and to start this thing with Riz, and just baseball is a part of my life, and a lot of that has to

do with my two championships, but especially at the end, the way those guys, you know, I tell people

all the time, I wasn't telling the media on this leader or on this guy or that guy, just my teammates

were saying nice things about me, and the thing about doing this pod and reminiscing about these

stories is it just, I mean, there's, there's laughter, there's tears, there's everybody's getting

emotional at certain times, just talking about what a special group we had, and me personally,

my career, backup catcher, most of my career career 220 hitter, got to go and do so many great

things and represent that group on so many different platforms and talk baseball, and my life

has taken off since that championship, and a lot of that has to do with the people there,

the front office, the staff, and obviously the players in that city. It's meant so much to me,

and I'm just so happy to be able to get on here and share these moments with behind-the-scene

moments with all these fans. I'm so thankful and grateful for so much, but yeah, it's a big one.

That's the only thing anybody knows before walking through the airport is my world series with

Chicago and dance with the stars. That's the only two things I can get.

What of all the, and I want people, it's called the Lovable reunion. How many guys have you

interviewed so far? Twelve. Okay, who was the most emotional?

Kyle Schworber, this last one we just did, we did him, he's such a dude. He is so good.

Yeah, but he, you know, people just say such nice things to me and Riz as they're talking about it,

and talking about our leadership, but also talking about just how it changed their life, and Michael

Mike Montgomery got a little choked up talking about, you know, what it's done to him just to get

that last out, and I think Schworber just talking about this last one, talking about, you know,

how his career's gone, and how thankful he is for being on that championship team, and his

journey coming back from that injury, and the examples that, that room set for him, that he's

carried in everywhere he's went, and now he's, like you said, he's a dude, he's a leader in

Philadelphia, and every time I talk to any teammate of his or people that have been around him or

teams he's been on, they can't say enough about his impact in the locker room, which we know is

so important outside of his skill set. Well, it's baseball so unique because again, you know,

football, you don't spend that much time together. The new CBA, there's only so many practice days,

you know, baseball, man, it takes one bad guy. I mean, you that shit can go sideways fast in that

clubhouse. Like, you know, I mean, and let's be honest, good teams go on losing streaks. I mean,

it just, I mean, it is heart was you go back to that was there was there a moment because you

guys were stacked, but you also had some veteran arms. Was there ever a moment in 2016 with series

a moment, a stretch that you're like, man, we're, we got a good good story. Lester tells about

Rizzo, we were struggling right before the All-Star break. We're in Pittsburgh, and Riz was,

I think Riz was raking at the time, and the pitching just was giving it up a little bit, and

Riz made a comment in the media about, you know, we just, we got it, we got to get some about,

we got to get the pitching going, or we just got to pitch a little better or something like that,

and Travis Wood was waiting with the article in John Lester's walk. And Lester was not happy,

let's say the least, but that's a really funny good story of Riz thinking John was going to

beat the shit out of him. And he met even the weight room and started, started MF and him about,

don't worry about the pitching, you just worry about the offense, stuff like that. So there's definitely,

you go through moments, man, where you feel like, you know, it's baseball, everybody, you know,

I say all the time, everybody's gonna go through that, you know, don't let the highs get too high,

lows get too low, and try to keep on that even, even path, but right before the All-Star break,

we, we were scoffing a little bit trying to get to that finish line and get our break.

Yeah, man, you play those afternoon games in St. Louis, and it's about 98 degrees, and you're

dragging and you do, and you're on an over 11 streak and it's baseball is so random. You can just,

I mean, you know, I remember listening to Derek Jeter once talking about somebody, he didn't have

a lot of slumps, but somebody asked him, you know, he was in a slump, and what do you think about?

And he goes, I don't hit it hard. He goes, he goes, I've hit the ball. I have tagged it six times

in the last two weeks. And they were in the show court. Yeah. Well, and that's the, like,

thank goodness for analytics and some of the stuff you can look at now, where, you know,

some of these guys are able to keep themselves a little bit sane, even though it doesn't work a

lot of times, but with the hard hit rate and, you know, you're expected this, you know, outcome,

and just keep it in a hard, but going back to what you were talking about and being around guys

every day, I tell people, like, we start around Valentine's Day and mid February, and we go for

seven and a half, and we didn't get home till November. I think we won the World Series November

second, you know, and, and that's a long journey that you're with these guys every single day.

And you have a handful of off days throughout that, and usually you spend time together. So,

the fact of, like, becoming family, and that's what these guys are for brothers for life,

I say all the time, because your family within that clubhouse, you see those guys every single day,

and you're working and pulling for them, and their success is your success, and that's not always

the case in every sport, you know, there's these individual sports, and guys, you don't see so much.

A baseball season is really, really long, and you're going to go through some ups and

that. Guys, you're going to go through stuff off the field, and I tell a story about, you know,

one time I got emotional during the podcast, John Lester, two times, flew me home on a private plane.

My wife at the time at emergency C-section was got to see the birth of my child.

My last one, and then my grandma passed away in the middle of the season, flew me home on a private

plane for her funeral. So, like, I mean, these are guys that not just only care about each other,

but when willing to give their harder money to take care of each other, and you know, there's

there's dinners, and there's just so many off the field. They used to rent boats and go out

on the lake on all the days, or after a day game. Like, there's nothing better than that going

out there, hanging with the boys, and kind of decompressing after a game at Riggly, and enjoying

that skyline in Chicago on that, that nice cold lake. Anthony Rizzo will join us next time.

Rizzo and Ross, the lovable reunion. We're going to look back. They will on the 10-year

anniversary of the 2016 Magical Cubs World Series win, and a Cubs team that upgraded on their staff,

Gregman, they're favored to win their division, and should be, you know, Milwaukee. Just up the

road is becoming quite a rivalry. I'll tell you that. It has. They've done a really good job

up there, and they keep rotating guys out and bringing new ones in, and it's going to be a good,

it's going to be a good one. I'm so excited. That's that Kate Horton for a full season. Hopefully,

you can stay healthy. They've got some dudes up there in Chicago, and being around Gregman,

I've known him. I've never gotten to be around him as much as I was in this WBC. This guy is up

first saying in the morning, looking at scouting reports, sending coaches texts, like, you know,

here's where we need to look, here's where we need a tunnel. You know, this guy throws a lot

of behind, I mean, this guy is a baseball rat, and it's going to be everybody in that clubhouse

better. So they're going to have a really good season. I'm pretty confident in that, and

it should be a fun, fun, see opening day, opening day is here upon us. How great is that?

David, this is great. We are so excited. Like I said before in the intro, when I heard this was

going to be our first baseball podcast, and they had met with you. I'm like, guys, I need

Mariana Rivera. I need a closer. I said, we got to close this podcast. I think the audience is

going to love it. I'm going to be at Riggly several times during the summer. I'll be listening

to the podcast, and I just appreciate you guys trusting us. Well, I appreciate you guys jumping

on board and trusting us. I know you guys have really created a name in the industry for yourself,

and obviously you've been around a really long time doing this, you know, all the things,

from ESPN to the pod and your show, like, it's just it's so great to be a part of this group.

They're a phenomenal group to work with, and they're fun. They're really fun and make it really

enjoyable for us. So I can't wait to get started.

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