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John Lackey
Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.
David Ross
It's the enhanced games.
Anthony Rizzo
Some call it grotesque, others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all.
David Ross
Embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year, within probably 10 days, I'd put on £10. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.
Anthony Rizzo
Listen to Superhuman on the iHeartRadio app,
John Lackey
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Jake Arrieta
My mother in law spent years sabotaging
Anthony Rizzo
our relationship until karma made her pay for it.
David Ross
All right, Sofia, tell me about how we started this story.
John Lackey
She moved in for two weeks, lasted
Jake Arrieta
five days, left a mess and then
David Ross
pressed her ear against their bedroom door and burst in screaming.
John Lackey
When kicked out to a hotel, she
Anthony Rizzo
called her son in law's workplace pretending
David Ross
his partner had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance. She faked a medical emergency.
Anthony Rizzo
And spoiler, that was just the beginning.
David Ross
To find out how it ends, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on on
Anthony Rizzo
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever
David Ross
you get your podcasts.
Anthony Rizzo
This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us.
David Ross
From iHeart podcasts, Saigon.
Jake Arrieta
You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam?
Anthony Rizzo
One city, a divided country and the
David Ross
war that tore America apart?
John Lackey
This is for Vietnam.
David Ross
They're pouring petrol all over here. Freedom for Vietnam. There's a fire coming to this country
Anthony Rizzo
and it's going to burn out everything.
David Ross
Listen to Saigon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Anthony Rizzo
If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already
David Ross
know that's a lot to break down.
John Lackey
Portia accusing Kelly of sleeping with a married man. They holding K Michelle back from fighting. Drew Pinky has financial issues.
Anthony Rizzo
On the podcast Reality with the King
David Ross
I, Carlos King recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows including the
Anthony Rizzo
Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances
David Ross
and the tea everybody's talking about.
Anthony Rizzo
To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the king on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Anthony Rizzo, David Ross, Jake Irida, John Lackey. Welcome back to another episode of the Level reunion podcast where we're celebrating our 10 year anniversary of the iconic 2016 World Series J Championship. We're with two staples of our team, John Lackey and Jake Arietta. Welcome to the program the Horses.
John Lackey
Good to be here with you guys.
Anthony Rizzo
This is bro you're we're celebrating 10 years you just celebrated a 20 year a few years ago, bro.
Jake Arrieta
Don't make me so old. Yeah, yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
The originator of the ABC collection of rings.
Jake Arrieta
I look a lot better in that team deal because I'm the young guy in that team deal. This one, I'm going to be the, you know, the gray hair old guy in the back.
David Ross
But that's what I say about you. You all, you got the, you started the Alphabet of rings. Anaheim, Boston and chicag. The ABCs. Like, it's freaking impressive when you look back, we were on the same flight our rookie year. You had won the World Series pitch in game seven and I was coming from the Dodgers. We went to a union meeting up in Pebble Beach.
Jake Arrieta
Pebble Beach?
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. Black was playing with dudes that were born playing. Before I was born. He was playing with guys playing in
John Lackey
the 80s for sure.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, we had a couple dudes. Yeah, I had some great group of vets, man. Took care of me.
Anthony Rizzo
It was cool. You're young to me. You're forever young for me.
Jake Arrieta
Thank you. My guy.
David Ross
That's actually something that I think, like some of the, the themes for these things are like, how people influence you. Right. And like you came up in an old school group. You know, Percival, you had all these guys in Anaheim. Like, what have you taken from your time winning three championships and, and three different real teams as the games evolve? Like, what did you learn early age from, from your veteran play teammates?
Jake Arrieta
The locker room matters, man. Like, chemistry in the locker room is a big deal. Like you got to have, you know, the right kind of veterans in there. You got to have a good mix, man. Like, you got to have the young, young, hungry guys and you got to have the old guys have kind of been around and, and know what to do and know how to kind of harness the young guys a little bit. And I think. And all three teams that I've been on, I mean, you were on two of them with me. We had, we had that mix. It was fun.
David Ross
Thanks for the rings. Thanks for the rings.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. You never lost in the final dance.
Jake Arrieta
I mean, I told you on the
Anthony Rizzo
plane when we were going, I have a second place ring.
John Lackey
This sucks.
Jake Arrieta
If you're gonna get in there, you might as well win.
Anthony Rizzo
That's what I was saying.
John Lackey
You know what's most impressive too, is the longevity, like how long he played for. And that's kind of something that's probably not gonna happen as much in this game anymore. 16 years, right?
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
John Lackey
I mean, and as a pitcher too, or position player, that's that's incredibly.
Jake Arrieta
It will be harder. I mean guys are. Let's be honest, the guys are getting bigger, faster and stronger. Man, these dudes are going a million miles an hour.
Anthony Rizzo
Like the demand. I feel like the demand now is more than ever.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
As a baseball player and in general, just the stress, all the extra media, social media, all that added pressures I think is going to.
David Ross
Well, you and you guys.
Jake Arrieta
I didn't have to worry about camera phones when I first came up.
David Ross
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Now you're dating yourself.
David Ross
Well, you guys like seven innings was like what you like I'm just going out there, I'm trying to throw a no hitter. But like seven innings is like okay. I feel like I did my job. Now it's like five, you know, 100 pitches.
Anthony Rizzo
Let's just get to it. I'm at 90. I don't want to go back considered
Jake Arrieta
a success unless I win at least seven.
John Lackey
Well, don't you think that some of that is because of how. How good the guys in the bullpen are? Not that they weren't before the game is.
Anthony Rizzo
You get.
John Lackey
You got strong seven guys down there that can throw mid upper 90s, 100% deeper probably. Yeah.
David Ross
And they've got two secondaries now. Remember there's like one guy maybe sinker slider down there, the, the, the velocity. But to your point, it's like no, there's like legit stuff down there. 100 a lot of the times and
John Lackey
two secondaries and obviously we wanted to go out there and, and keep the ball in our hand until the game was over every time. And I, I think the guys now they also want to do that. But do you think some of it is. I want to keep this guy healthy and preserve some of his stuff for later in the season.
Anthony Rizzo
I think the Dodgers blueprint right now is what everyone should be striving or just be healthy in October with the with extra two wild card teams it's not as hard to get into the playoffs and wild car around or buy
Jake Arrieta
you just roll they full on give guys like vacations. Yeah, it's great the year just so they're ready at the end.
David Ross
Yeah. Keep them fresh.
Anthony Rizzo
Jake, you we were talking about longevity with you lack which is you've been just so consistent throughout your entire career. You kind of had a different path with getting drafted to Baltimore. I remember you getting traded in 13 and it was like this guy is a dude but he just hasn't really figured it out yet at this level. And arguably the best trade in Cubs history. You and Strophe for the value of you too. It's not about me. It's not about me.
David Ross
It comes out every episode. It can get on Riz, that's nice.
Anthony Rizzo
But, bro, you came over. You and Stropi, you. You make two starts in Iowa and then you get back to the big leagues. And then I remember John Baker always saying, dude, Ariet is nasty. This dude's gonna win a scion. You don't understand how good he is once he figures it out. And you've obviously figured it out.
John Lackey
Yeah, well. And we've all seen guys that have incredible stuff and some of them just can't quite harness it and figure it out. I was in a position where I was trying to be somebody that I wasn't, you know, and I was. I was working really hard on making some adjustments and I just didn't feel like myself. And so the first thing that I, I said to Theo and to Boss when I got traded is I'm going to come over here and be myself and just let it all hang out. Like, I know I know how to be an elite starter. And I think I tweeted something like when I got traded or I might have got sent down from Baltimore and I'm getting a lot of shit from. From fans. And as a young guy, you. You pay attention to that stuff.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, of course.
David Ross
For sure.
John Lackey
It's hard not to.
Anthony Rizzo
For sure.
John Lackey
So I kind of tweeted back at somebody and said, one day I'll be an elite starter in the big leagues. You know, I just had that self belief, man. Well, I just. I just knew what I was capable of, you know, and it was just a matter of time before I, you know, was able to have some success and just build off of that, you know, and going to Chicago and having a support system and guys that were in my corner was. Was what really made the difference for me.
David Ross
I remember facing this is like before I got Chicago, but in 14, you almost threw a no hitter in Boston. I played that game. You threw me a front hit cutter at like 93. And I'm like, what was that? Sit down. And I knew when Lester was getting courted over here and just talking like, okay, well, they've got two horses because I just faced this guy and Johnny, I knew what he was capable of. And you were still in St. Louis, but you're talking about like, okay, you've got two number ones at the top of a pitching staff. Like, that's, that's gold for a catch.
Jake Arrieta
The whole story.
John Lackey
Well, and it was, you Know, obviously, Lester had done his thing for a number of years. He was already that guy. And it was my job to kind of get to that level, you know, so we could continue to move forward and. And, you know, stop getting beat by St. Louis.
Jake Arrieta
Well, it's like.
Anthony Rizzo
It's like we're talking about this with kb. Like, me and kb. I love him, but, like, I wanted to be better than him. And it's like that inner competition of brotherhood that, like, bro, when you guys were rolling in 16, like, every one of you was better than the next.
John Lackey
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
When everyone was rolling and it was like, you. You did your job, and then you were like, I want to do better than that. And then Lester's like, I want to do better. And you got Carl and Hamill. It's like. Well, and it's all love the thing that.
David Ross
The thing. When I look back on, like, you guys po. Our staff posted. Like, you guys posted every fifth day. Like, we didn't have any banged up. Real injuries to that staff. Like, everybody stayed pretty healthy that year. If I remember right.
John Lackey
Like, if you.
David Ross
Yeah.
John Lackey
If you look at it, we'd have to check the amount of starts, but I don't know if. I don't think you missed a start.
Jake Arrieta
Not that you.
John Lackey
I didn't miss a start, Hendricks.
David Ross
The only start we can blame on is Theo when he brought in the. The.
Jake Arrieta
The Madison. He might have ended my career on that one.
Anthony Rizzo
I had.
Jake Arrieta
I had to warm up twice on the freaking bullpen. Yeah.
David Ross
During that. Yeah, I remember that because he. I remember we actually were talking to Madden about that and. And lesson. Everybody was mad. Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Everybody was fine.
John Lackey
Yeah. Outside of a cup, maybe a couple spot starts, we were out there.
David Ross
Yeah. Every.
John Lackey
Every fifth day, all five of us.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. Remember that? He did bring him up to.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. I want your perspective in 15, because I tell the story. The Cardinals were the cream of the crop. They're the gold standard of baseball division, blah, blah, blah. The Cardinals. And they would come over when we stunk. You probably remember this with old Wrigley. They'd come over to the weight room and all their guys. Hey, Riz, what's up, man? They talk to us like, buddy, buddy.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
And then the first half of 15, you guys were beating us, but we were like. We were pesky to you, but we didn't know how to win yet. And in the back half, we started winning. You guys still won the division. Yeah, we were 97. Pirates were 98. What. What was that like on. Because we. I feel like on our Side we knew we were winning. Like, we knew we. I felt like we had your guys number, not necessarily you, but what was that on the other side? Or did you not even pay attention?
Jake Arrieta
I mean, you know, you kind of lock into your own thing, you know, trying to do your thing, but 100% saw. Saw you guys on an upward trajectory, you know, I mean, like, y' all were getting better and you know, obviously, you know, this, this guy turned into an elite dude. And I knew, you know, the big left hander just that's my guy. No, I mean, I know I've known him for a long time and I knew what he was going to do. He and this guy. You had a couple of president, you had a couple of men in the room, guys that came over and turned. Turned some of you young kids into pros and you guys started winning. And that was one of the reasons I wanted to come joined when I. When I had the opportunity.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, because. Well, I mean, 15, we'll go back to basically really starting 14. For me, Boston was that. Yeah, that was like.
Jake Arrieta
I remember one. Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Snakes turning into.
Jake Arrieta
It was nasty.
John Lackey
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
And we were young. We stunk in 13, like. But we're building and you're part of that. You're especially big a part of a
Jake Arrieta
Fenway that's a big boy.
Anthony Rizzo
We just start a group like, and then in 15 we build and you're doing your thing. Especially that second half. I think it's the best second half of baseball history. Right?
David Ross
Literally, bro.
Anthony Rizzo
We roll.
John Lackey
For now. For now.
David Ross
For now.
Anthony Rizzo
We roll.
David Ross
I was a part of in Atlanta. Chris Medlin had had a run like that.
Anthony Rizzo
Oh yeah.
David Ross
And I remember think I was like this dude. Like it was win day. I mean, for all our staff. But it was like you guys at the top were like, oh yeah, we're winning today.
John Lackey
Yeah. He went on a pretty nice run.
David Ross
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
David Ross
I wanna, I wanna ask a quick just to follow up with the relationship with Lester. Like, you got to give the bet the bat. He gets his first hit. Oh, man. Right. He goes first hit off. You pitching mad as hell. You're so bad.
Jake Arrieta
Oh, man.
David Ross
What was the bet we had?
Jake Arrieta
We had, you know, drinks, we're gonna hang out. We were. I was going to his house after the game, no matter what, you know, I mean, so yeah, and we had. I forgot the exact bed. But yeah, we. We had some action on it. But I went over to his house and drank a nice bottle of whiskey at his house and got it, got it back.
David Ross
Good first knock off. You I think that made his.
Jake Arrieta
Then I looked. I looked over there and he was trying so hard not to look at me because I was. I was just about going to yell at him and he was like looking down like this. He was like. He's like, I'm not looking at him. I'm not like. Cuz he was trying not to laugh.
David Ross
Yeah, it was.
Jake Arrieta
It was pretty hilarious.
Anthony Rizzo
That was a good one.
Jake Arrieta
We.
Anthony Rizzo
When we get in the playoffs of 15, I want to read this verbatim. Whatever helps keep your hopes alive. Just know it doesn't matter.
John Lackey
Isn't that great?
David Ross
Yeah, the best.
Anthony Rizzo
We're playing Pittsburgh and Snake tweets just the day before the game, the wild card game, saying basically to all the Pirates fans, that's baldy. Fuck you, it's over.
John Lackey
I was just in that. In that place.
Anthony Rizzo
Damn right.
John Lackey
Everything was locked in, dialed, you know, the. The week leading up to my start, like everything was perfect, you know, And I was just trying to see because, you know, at some point, like you, that it's not going to last forever.
Anthony Rizzo
Right, of course.
John Lackey
But in that moment, that. That stretch, what made you tweak that? Just ultimate confidence, you know, and did have the ultimate.
Anthony Rizzo
Ultimate confidence in the best way possible.
Jake Arrieta
I watched.
John Lackey
Right. Well.
Jake Arrieta
And nasty too.
John Lackey
And it helped my teammates.
David Ross
I'm about to say that helped my teammates. I agree.
John Lackey
No, and it wasn't coming. It was coming from a place of. Of ultimate preparation too, you know, I would not have done that if I didn't believe it, you know? And so you did it, bro. The funny thing is, we're on the flight out there, kind of walking up and down the plain aisle with a glass of wine and just telling everybody, hey, get me one.
Anthony Rizzo
That's what Dexter gave me.
John Lackey
Just give me one and the game's over. You know, that's. That's how I felt.
Anthony Rizzo
I know.
John Lackey
And when Schwarber hit that homer, that was it.
Anthony Rizzo
That was the game.
John Lackey
That was it, bro.
Anthony Rizzo
What about when Tony Watson hit you?
John Lackey
I think, you know, I haven't heard this from any guys on their side. I think they were trying to get me out of the game.
Anthony Rizzo
Of course.
John Lackey
Yeah, I think they were trying to.
David Ross
No doubt.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, bro.
John Lackey
They were trying to cause some sort of situation and I. I knew it too. I was fired up.
David Ross
Yeah, but you were calm about it.
John Lackey
I was pretty relatively calm. And he hit me in the belt, so it was like, probably the best
Anthony Rizzo
spot to get very professional.
John Lackey
Very professional.
David Ross
I think that, like, looking back, and obviously I'm not. We're Not Cubs historians here, but, like, as far as, like, turning a franchise around and what the expectations were and how big that moment was, like, that's the biggest game in Cubs history.
Jake Arrieta
To me, with his confidence gave you guys confidence. You guys kind of needed that to push.
David Ross
Yeah.
Jake Arrieta
Because y' all were on the edge of, like, are we there yet or not? Yeah. And. And that confidence might have pushed you guys over the edge.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, well, we. I mean, we get. We. Joe Madden, Lester Trafford, Dexter. You're blossoming. We have KB, all the young guys under 25, 26 years old. You know, we're all going. And the. Our division was a gauntlet that year, a beast. So you set the tone there. And then we roll into St. Louis, and we're like, we're going to these guys up, and then we run to this guy who goes, what, seven and a third? I think maybe one run on us in the game. One shove it up our ass.
Jake Arrieta
Me and Lester, I think. Right?
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. And I remember that, like, after that game, we had an off day, and we all went to dinner at ruth Chris in St. Louis, and we were like. I was, like, nervous. I'd never been to the playoffs. I had one game. I'm like, damn. Like, what do we do? And, like, you guys were so calm. Like, no, it's all right. We're fine. We're fine. Yeah, we win the next three, and it's like, we just beat the Pirates, who were really good at the time, and then the gold standard, and it was like, we're winning the World Series this year. Yeah. Like, I was heartbroken when we got swept in 15, but that belief in that game was like, yeah, that's our dude.
David Ross
Right? Like, the dude that carries you.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
David Ross
Season you were having, especially the second half, like, you have that confidence in there when the horse. When you have the horse on the. Everybody's just more confident. That's why starting pitching so important, because you guys just set the tone.
Anthony Rizzo
Imagine an Olympics where doping is not
John Lackey
only legal, but encouraged.
David Ross
It's the enhanced games.
John Lackey
Some call it grotesque.
Anthony Rizzo
Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it
David Ross
all, embedded in the games and with the athletes. For a full year, within probably 10 days, I'd put on £10. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.
Anthony Rizzo
Listen to Superhuman on the iHeartRadio app,
John Lackey
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Anthony Rizzo
Do you remember when Diana Ross double tapped Lil Kim's boobs at the VMAs?
John Lackey
Or when Kanye said that George Bush
Anthony Rizzo
didn't like black people.
John Lackey
I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Lil Kim?
Anthony Rizzo
Well, you can find out on the
Jake Arrieta
Look Back at It podcast.
Anthony Rizzo
I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down and try to make
Jake Arrieta
sense of how we survived it, including
David Ross
a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill
John Lackey
waxing all about crack in the 80s.
Jake Arrieta
To be clear, 84 was big to
David Ross
me, not just cause of crack. I've dabbed talking about crack all day, but yeah, yeah, but just so y' all know, I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table
John Lackey
right now, so thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes, I don't think there's a more
David Ross
important year for black people. Really?
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. For me, it's one of the most
David Ross
important years for black people in American history. Listen to Look Back at it on
John Lackey
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
David Ross
My mother in law spent years sabotaging our relationship until karma made her pay for it. Wait a minute, Dakota, how bad did it get? Well, it got bad enough that her son in law had to eventually arrest her himself. Oh, she moved in for two weeks, lasted for five. She left nail clippings in the bathtub, candy stuck to the furniture, and then she pressed her ear against the bedroom door and burst in screaming. She did not burst in while they were she kicked her out and paid for her hotel and they thought it's finally over. Days later, she called her son in law at work claiming that his partner had been in some kind of freak accident and had been rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. He called every hospital in the city and his partner was making coffee the entire time.
Anthony Rizzo
She faked a medical emergency just to
David Ross
test whether or not he loved her son. Yeah, and she sat in the hospital parking lot waiting for him to see if he would show up. When that didn't work, she walked into the son in law's police station and filed a kidnapping report against him.
John Lackey
She filed a kidnapping report against him
David Ross
him in his own police station. And spoilers, Karma's gonna show up in the best way possible. So if you want to hear how this story ends, search OK, Storytime on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to Podcasts.
Anthony Rizzo
If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta.
John Lackey
You already know there's a lot to break down. Portia accusing Kelly of sleeping with a married man. They holding K. Michelle back from fighting. Drew Pinky has financial issues.
Anthony Rizzo
I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's gonna be interesting. On the podcast Reality with the King,
David Ross
I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the tea everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television,
Anthony Rizzo
I'm not just watching it.
John Lackey
I understand the game.
Anthony Rizzo
As somebody who creates shows, I'll even
John Lackey
say this at the end of the
David Ross
day when people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more.
Anthony Rizzo
Listen to Reality with the king on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
David Ross
And speaking of setting tones, just go back like your standard. Have you ever thrown a first pitch of the game, breaking ball or anything but a heater?
Jake Arrieta
Hell, no. No.
David Ross
I remember talking. I remember Boz or Joe coming to you, talking about, hey, Arizona, they jumped you for a first pitch homer, and. And they're trying to talk to you. Hey, man, you throw that fastball, they know it's coming, and you're like, I don't give a. Yeah, that's like.
Anthony Rizzo
But that's who you know you're playing behind. Like, you're playing behind your guy.
David Ross
Here we come.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
David Ross
Yeah. I'm not, I'm not going to show you that I'm scared of you. First pitch. And that's the mentality.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
David Ross
The way you pitch, bro, is like, it sets a tone.
Jake Arrieta
Well, I know for a fact, like, I, I gave up two first pitch homers in my career.
Anthony Rizzo
That's it.
Jake Arrieta
And yeah, I know, because I, I did keep the end. I can't tell you how many times they got out on the first pitch.
Anthony Rizzo
Right.
Jake Arrieta
You know, so probably, I guarantee mathematically I won that battle.
Anthony Rizzo
One.
John Lackey
Yeah. The leadoff guy, Kansas City. It was at home in. It was in Wrigley, the little, little Latin guy. Leadoff, was it.
David Ross
Oh,
John Lackey
my first pair. Yeah. But still, like, I'm not. I'm not throwing a breaking ball.
Anthony Rizzo
First patch. Yeah. Wow.
John Lackey
I'm gonna throw you a heavy sinker. And if you want to take a chance of getting out, go for it. But hey, before we get too far away from the Pirates game, my favorite part of the game, other than being carried by you on your shoulder at the end of the game, getting punched
Anthony Rizzo
in the ribs, I got hit by
John Lackey
Watson, I get to first base, Hider leans over to me, goes steal second. Oh, what? All right. I love that I stole second base. I forgot about having a stolen base in the playoffs is probably.
Jake Arrieta
Hell yeah.
John Lackey
One of my favorite things, you have
Anthony Rizzo
a CG shutout, a stolen by pitch,
David Ross
a CG when they weren't letting people go.
Anthony Rizzo
CGs and a homer.
John Lackey
Right. Well, and there was a.
Jake Arrieta
But it wasn't even in doubt. He was it.
David Ross
He was no doubt.
John Lackey
We had one situation. I think there was bases load in the fifth.
Anthony Rizzo
Made the error. There was an error, Made the error.
John Lackey
And then next play, ground ball, double play.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, that was huge.
David Ross
He said he. He told the story of like, that's as nervous, as loud as he's ever been after they booted that ball. Bases loaded, one out, and you got that double play.
Anthony Rizzo
Well, it's the first time that was louder than when Raja hit the homework for me because my first time ever in that first. They're blacked out there. All the fans, they're screaming at us like miserable Pittsburgh people just screaming and went there, went silent.
John Lackey
Did you see they had posters of Britney? No, I love that posters of her.
Jake Arrieta
That's pretty.
John Lackey
And also from the tweet, they had the big signs that said we do matter.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. You haunt that.
John Lackey
Well in those situations, you know, you. You guys can probably, you know, speak to this too. Nothing. The noise, the fans didn't matter.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
At a certain point, it was me and the guy at the plate and the guy I'm throwing to. That's it.
Anthony Rizzo
We.
John Lackey
The noise, kind of the noise helped me.
Jake Arrieta
When you're someone like that, you helped. You probably didn't hear, bro.
David Ross
You had.
John Lackey
You can feel the vibration from the crowd.
Jake Arrieta
But.
John Lackey
Yeah, but it's. It's not a negative. But it was never a negative thing.
Anthony Rizzo
You were always so locked into, like, with what you were doing that it was like even talking to you. I feel like I always talk to the pitchers for the most part, not so much. You lack. But
David Ross
he's a scary one to play behind. He was scared.
Anthony Rizzo
He was so locked in with like, yeah, I just threw a bad pitch. Let's whatever, I'm on to the next. And I was like, so laser focused. Probably was one of the most laser focused.
John Lackey
Well, I think it's because I had such a hard time with that early
Anthony Rizzo
in my career, you know, So I
John Lackey
was so concerned about the hit or the hit by pitch or the walk. I'm like, oh, can't do that again. It's like, no, I Mean things happen. Let's. Let's tow the rubber, and this is the only one that matters.
Jake Arrieta
That's cool. You flipped it.
John Lackey
Yeah, well, and we were talking about it before, you know, he didn't. He didn't need a lot of the mental game stuff. He kept it super simple. Like, my job is to execute this pitch. If I don't, I'm gonna execute the next one for me. And I think it had to do with kind of the progression of my. The early years of my career. I needed some of that. I needed. I needed kind of a strategy to. To deal with that.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
And for first. First and foremost, it was preparation was number one, you know, And I think what was most impressive watching you and watching Lester is like, how prepared you guys were with everything. You had a checklist pretty much without actually having it on paper. I got to do abc, X, Y, Z, throw my bullpen, take care of my shoulder, do my routine, and then I know when I tow the rubber on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. This is the fun part.
David Ross
What was your five day? I want to hear both you guys five day routine without. Without the alcohol, drinking.
Anthony Rizzo
Oh, no, I want to hear all of it.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, like day. Like day after would always be like a long, long cardio session. And legs, like, lift legs. And then second. Second day would be I usually throw my bullpen upper body and then like some interval work kind of deal and a lot of shoulder. Like, you know, get your shoulder tight, you know, all those, you know, little weights, all that maintenance stuff. And then third day was kind of kind of like a full body, like, kind of kind of like just a little light day. Light on everything, you know, just kind of move it around and run a little bit. And then fourth day was mostly just sprints and like, I would do hot, cold plunge. Especially like my last few years when I got a little older, I felt like the hot, cold plunge made my body feel better the next day kind of stuff.
David Ross
So your bullpen, second day. Second second day.
Anthony Rizzo
How much alcohol would you consume after the game and into.
Jake Arrieta
Well, I mean, let's be. I mean, you guys know I had a bar next to my locker.
Anthony Rizzo
Well, we're gonna get to the beer.
David Ross
I get to the beer.
Jake Arrieta
But yeah, I mean, like, let's be honest. I'm either gonna celebrate the W or I'm gonna drown my sorrows after the game.
Anthony Rizzo
Win, win.
Jake Arrieta
One of the two.
Anthony Rizzo
Win, win.
Jake Arrieta
A cold beer's going down.
Anthony Rizzo
Well, that bro playing behind you and getting to be your teammate was like, so awesome because you see the laser focus, like, you see the intensity, and then you also see the switch turn off into, like, the nicest human being in the world, where it was. Like, in baseball, it's really hard to do that, and there's not a lot of guys that can do that.
John Lackey
Tell them why.
Jake Arrieta
I.
John Lackey
Tell them your mindset.
Jake Arrieta
Honestly, God, I wasn't good enough to be. Be happy on the mountain. Like. Like, my. My freaking. I was. I was decently talented, but I. I didn't throw 98 with all the crazy, you know, stuff. I had to be a little angry and had to be a little f You. You know what I mean?
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. Yeah.
John Lackey
You can always tell you. I got. I got to go to a dark place.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. I have to.
John Lackey
On game day.
Jake Arrieta
I love that.
John Lackey
But then after the game, right, He's.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, I tried. I tried to leave it in. Where are we going to dinner?
David Ross
Yeah, where we going? Let's go. I'm buying.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, I'll buy steaks. Let's get it.
John Lackey
We.
Anthony Rizzo
We. After we get swept, you signing over with us was another, like, momentum for us.
David Ross
What.
Anthony Rizzo
Who recruited you? Was it. Oh, Lester? Was it Rossi?
Jake Arrieta
I didn't.
Anthony Rizzo
Theo did.
Jake Arrieta
I didn't really tell. Well, dude, Lester called me. Seriously, every day for a couple weeks, like. Like. Or, like, text, like, hey, where we at? Like, and obviously, Theo, we had a. We had a relationship from signing with Boston, and I had obviously had some other teams that were pretty interested and ended up taking less money to come join you guys because I had boys there, and I saw the. The trajectory you guys were on, that it was a chance to win, and winning beats money all day.
Anthony Rizzo
Well, because you came in and, like, instantly, like, were, like, part of. I remember at 16, like, we were talking about winning the World Series right away, and you were part of that 100%. That's not easy. I mean, we just. You just. We just beat you guys so that I know there's hatred. I hated you, basically. I also stunned. I have one hit off lack, and I stunk off it. So, like, the fact that you were able to come in and just start breeding that championship mindset, as well was huge for our young group.
Jake Arrieta
That's one thing we did in Boston, too. We talked. We talked about it from day one, and we kind of kind of followed that. That. That playbook a little bit. Like, we'll start talking about the parade right now.
David Ross
It's been. It's been a theme in these conversations. Like, guys that, like, KB and Dex, that hadn't been a lot of winnings like, we, we talked about what it was going to look like and, like, foreshadowed and when you've got, you know, guys, the talent we had and, and the experience that we had in the room mixed in with good talent, young guys. I mean, obviously, like, looking back, like, there's a so much talent that room from a young perspective and the, the championships that, that were in that room. I think we had such a good mix. But you, you're such a, you're such a good example of piece of the puzzle, a great teammate. And then when I go to work, I go to work, boys, like, it ain't. We ain't around now. Like, it's, it's, you know, and I, I, you know, I get, I was angry on the days I played because of, like, I don't want to. Not on my day. You know, I mean, not on my day. I get.
Jake Arrieta
You have some of that in you too.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. Yeah.
David Ross
Well, it's like I get to, I get, you know, I, I joke. Lester stinks. I don't get to my fourth at bat. You know, I like to play the whole nine innings. But like, yeah, it's like there is a. That sense of, that sense of, like, you know, I just don't want to be the guy that lets the boys down. My day. Yeah, I want to win on that day.
Anthony Rizzo
What were you thinking? Because from a position player we had, we had, you know, Shoreber, Addie, Javi, kb. We had all these dudes. Dex J. We signed J to that offseason.
David Ross
Zobrist.
Anthony Rizzo
You were there when we stunk. You were there when the pitching staff wasn't very good. Now we have you, Lester. Carl is shoving and turning into a young superstar.
Jake Arrieta
Fun to watch.
Anthony Rizzo
You get lack. We have Hamill. Like, what are you thinking from the pitching side? And the leader of that, well, you
John Lackey
know, you look at the front office, does their job, and now, hey, they gave us all the pieces necessary to get it done, you know, and we, we've talked about it a lot. It's like we had the perfect storm of, of young talent, veteran leadership, you know, guys like myself and, and Hendrix and some role players. Everybody performed every. I, I, I just can't.
David Ross
Great coaching staff.
John Lackey
I mean, everybody training staff, coaching staff, the support system, the people behind the scenes that don't get recognition.
Jake Arrieta
Comic relief.
John Lackey
Yeah. I mean, he's kind of the glue, right?
David Ross
Yeah.
John Lackey
He's talking, you know, and as a starting pitcher, we have one out of five days to show our team why we're here. And what we're capable of. And there was so much more on the line for us, because then if I. We shit the bed, we got to sit here for four days and.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
You know, and you're out there every day. Right. And if you. You go for four, you're doing it again tomorrow.
Anthony Rizzo
Right.
John Lackey
If I give up six and three innings, it's like, fuck, I let us down.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
You know, we gotta have four or five guys out of the bullpen come in. It changes the complexion of the game completely. And if that's a loss, like, I wear that, I only get to pitch 30, 32 games a year. You're out there at 155 or however many.
Anthony Rizzo
So 161 that year, but it's not, okay, fine.
John Lackey
But, like, that's. That's. That's why. That's why guys like us went to a certain place. Because I'm not going to allow any bit of. On being unprepared determine whether we win or lose.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
Like, if I get. If. If we lose the game that I pitch, it's because I just wasn't. Or the guys on the other side were just a little bit better. And sometimes that happened. Right. I never wanted to give the opponent too much credit, but I heard this a long time ago. It's like, you have to recognize that the guys on the other side get paid a lot of money to play, too.
Anthony Rizzo
Right.
John Lackey
That doesn't mean, hey, if I lost, like, so what? No, it's just. That guy's making 20 million. He's really good, too, right?
Anthony Rizzo
Oh, yeah.
David Ross
I learned that. A great manager moment that just pops in, as you say that. It's like, I. I got a day game in Atlanta. I was playing for the Braves, and I faced Roy Holiday, and I'm up there grinding. And McCann plays Brian McCann's, you know, all Stars. Sick time, Silver slugger. So I've got the day game. Roy Holiday. I'm over four or four punches. I'm dragging my bat back like I'm the worst player on the planet. And Bobby Cox goes, man, that guy's really good today, Rossi. And it was like one of those, like, changing the mindset, like, how your manager can, like, make you see stuff a little bit different. But you're right when. When, like, we're all out there competing. And the thing I like about our 15 and 16 team, we didn't beat ourselves. Somebody may outpitch us every once in a while or they may get the big hit we didn't get. But I didn't never felt like we left there. And Boston was like that a lot. Like, we never left there thinking, man, we gave that one away. Nine times out of ten, that team just happened to get. It was their day.
Anthony Rizzo
I think that's a credit to Joe. Honestly, in Joe's mindset, for us young guys, like, do simple better. That was his first thing he said, like, just make the routine play. He didn't care if we messed up. If it was mental defensively, he would. He would get mad. But then he let everyone be himself. Yeah. So you have your manager kind of doing that and trickling down to these young position players that, like, you're already established. I'm pretty much established. You just won the Cy Young. You're well in your career. But these young guys, all these young guys, like, Joe, let me be me for that group. Javi be Javi. KB Blossom playing the utility, having Zober. So it was like, we did simple better, and that made us better.
David Ross
And you noticed the evolution of Joe. You had him in Anaheim when you.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, that's crazy.
David Ross
Like, and see how his journey went and the things he's learned and evolved, like, it's. It's. You look back on some things, man, it's like, it was a. It was a. It was a special time, dude.
Jake Arrieta
Seen some baseball.
David Ross
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
John Lackey
You know, we also did really well, too, and Joe kind of established this. But the older veteran players, we made the young guys as comfortable as possible.
Anthony Rizzo
Absolutely.
John Lackey
From day one, you know, the old school veteran, kind of like, you got to earn your stripes. Like, don't.
Jake Arrieta
You can't.
John Lackey
Shouldn't be in the training room, all the. All that crap. No. Like, I need KB and Schwarber and Wilson and Javi. I need them to be comfortable and as prepared as possible, because that helps us, it helps me, it helps you, it helps our team win baseball games.
Anthony Rizzo
I feel like it takes one bad egg, too, to ruin that. And like, bro, you got called up in 02. Same with you. You guys. I know for a fact you guys were getting absolutely annihilated as probably rookies and.
John Lackey
Or.
Anthony Rizzo
Or at some point where you.
David Ross
I definitely had a veteran I hated.
John Lackey
Right.
David Ross
Want to kill that?
John Lackey
Well, it's not to say there weren't. There were great ones, too.
Jake Arrieta
Totally.
David Ross
No doubt.
Anthony Rizzo
Lack was the old. You were probably the oldest on the team. Right. And you were the nicest. Honestly, like, you. You were able to talk to guys, so. I was. Professionally.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. Yeah. His look.
David Ross
His is way more gray, more miles on that body.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
But the Professionalism that you demanded was in a way of like, I almost feel like encouragement. Like, yeah, you got pissed off at guys and at times, like, it's stressful playing, but it's because you're demanding the best out of us.
David Ross
My thing I love the most. And this is like, if I can sum up John Lackey in one sentence of the example you said is like, I didn't come here for the haircut. Right. Like, that's an iconic moment in 16. That's like, what are your expectations? You know? And you got a verbatim. It's like, I came here for jewelry. You know, what is it? What it is?
Anthony Rizzo
I don't know. I don't think I wrote it.
David Ross
I didn't come here for the haircut. I came here for jewelry.
Anthony Rizzo
Right.
David Ross
Like, you know, I mean, and, and, and. But like the simple. You said earlier, like, his simple formula of like, I'm gonna go out here, I'm gonna give my all and I'm gonna try to, you know, I'm gonna. All these guys, here I come.
John Lackey
And everybody in the room knew that.
David Ross
Yeah.
Jake Arrieta
You know, it was kind of a smart ass response really. To a reporter.
John Lackey
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
The reporter asked you what were your expectations?
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, I mean. Yeah, well, the hell you think? We go, we're trying to win the whole damn thing.
David Ross
Yeah. Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
But like, hearing that though, from your, your Bulls.
David Ross
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
As a young guy is like, dude, another shot of confidence that is leading to this.
John Lackey
That's a great point because instead of just trying to stay in the big leagues, like, no, we're trying to. I'm trying to be an All Star. I'm trying to be a World Series champion.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
And that kind of elevates your confidence a little bit, you know, and setting
David Ross
those goals, you don't like, relax when you get to the postseason, like, oh, we made it in. Or we made it to the DS or whatever. Like, no, no, no. We. We saw last year, like what it in 15What it took to get to the championship series and got swept. It's like, no, no, we, we're going, we won't go to the dance. And like, that's just a product of experience and being around. But you got that at such a young age. And like the veterans that carry that confidence and pass it around and speak it and is real. And I think it just, it. It bleeds into young guys and gives them, gives them more confidence and along with letting them feel comfortable.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. I like in 16, thinking about when we knew we were really good, which we knew from the get go. But I always go to your first start in Arizona, and you gave up six in, like, I think three innings. And we. The. On the offensive side, we're like, it doesn't matter. And we ended up boat racing them. You ended up going six innings, which is, like, unheard of nowadays.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, I think the. The who was our. Our PR guy. I think it's the most runs.
David Ross
Peter Chase.
John Lackey
Yeah.
Jake Arrieta
Most runs I ever gave up my career and still won.
Anthony Rizzo
Really?
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Schwarber went down that game, though.
David Ross
Yeah, that's right.
Anthony Rizzo
And like that right there was the start of our start to that season, really. It was our third or fourth game. But I look at that game from an offensive standpoint and just from a team standpoint. No one flinched. Yeah. And like, at all. It was your first start for us.
Jake Arrieta
Our lineup was deep.
David Ross
We were deep.
John Lackey
We're never out of it.
David Ross
My favorite got another lackey line, which is why we're doing them all. Because I feel like this guy. They just come is like, Rossi Never lost with 12 and airtight defense ever.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
David Ross
You love.
Jake Arrieta
I handle the rest.
David Ross
Yeah, I'll handle it all. You guys give me 12 runs and airtight defense. I've got you.
Anthony Rizzo
I promise. Think we were good as far as, like, really believing, like, that group.
John Lackey
I mean, for me, it was in the off season of after 15.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
Knowing the guys that we have coming in, the young players that are. That had been there and the ones that are right behind them. Right, right then.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
Still got, like, on paper, yes. But we had, you know, I won the cy young in 15. Like, I knew things were continuing to move forward in the right direction. I knew the young players that were coming, coming up through the system. It's like, this is. This is our chance.
Anthony Rizzo
You know, the camaraderie was like, I tell us all the time, Lester set the tone when in 15. I feel like he came in with a big contract and he was so generous for all of his boss cowboy boots, all the team dinners. And then you get there and it's like. I remember. I think it was in St. Louis or we were somewhere early and he went to pay for the bill. But you already pro move. Gave it to the hostess when we walked in.
Jake Arrieta
Go sneak.
John Lackey
You have to do that.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
And that's.
Anthony Rizzo
But that was the first time I had seen that done, and I was like, all right, lock. And then like, our team dinners were the team dinners, because it was like, we knew that it was going to be this.
Jake Arrieta
We had some good ones, didn't yeah,
John Lackey
like we didn't have to pay for many team dinners. I didn't pay.
David Ross
I'm still riding these guys coattails.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, well, like that's.
Jake Arrieta
I think me and Lester just went every other one for a while. Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Literally they would be. You guys would be fighting at times over who's paying for this. Probably eight to ten.
David Ross
But you, but you were brought up that way.
Jake Arrieta
That's what it was. Yeah, it was not a big deal.
John Lackey
Yeah.
David Ross
You've got three rings, I think about 16. And can you look back on the championship teams you've been on and like what stands out that's similar in each
Anthony Rizzo
one
Jake Arrieta
of like the locker rooms. The way we got along off the field. Like, like the team dinners. Like, like Boston, we had 22 man team dinners just like we had had in Chicago. Anaheim, like we had. We only had a couple rookies there. That was back when the game was a little different, you know, it was more veterans and a couple rookies. Right. But they, they took care of us. Like, man, I didn't, I didn't pay for a friggin lunch. My, my whole rookie year. It'd be like, kid, be downstairs in 15, you know, like just, just pros.
Anthony Rizzo
The hotel phone.
John Lackey
Yeah, yeah, it really was the hotel phone.
Jake Arrieta
Exactly.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
David Ross
But knocking on his door rather than texting.
Jake Arrieta
No, I'm old. Yeah.
John Lackey
Well, you know what really helps too, the camaraderie and chemistry is getting to know your teammates. Significant. Significant other or girlfriend 100 or kids.
David Ross
Right.
John Lackey
Like when we walk in the clubhouse, it's like, how's Emily? Or whatever, what's up with Christina and, and the kids? Like that. It's like, this guy cares.
David Ross
You're pulling for a guy on a personal level in the fight because you've hung out with him, you've got drunk with him, you've guys partied all night. Or we, you know, we went to a charity event that somebody was having and you just got to know. I, I think that's the, the little secret of like, no, I'm acting, this guy's a bat. Because I care about it. Yes. Yeah. And we care. Like we, everybody cared about each other on that team.
Anthony Rizzo
When you're doing that on a personal level, like you said, that's when you win my opinion. Because there's a lot of teammates that are just teammates that you know. And it's really hard throughout my, my career, all our careers. Like, how many guys do you really stay in touch with now that you're done playing? Probably small. Like I, I Cannot talk to you guys for five years. As soon as we see each other, it's picking back, right?
John Lackey
Yeah, right back.
Anthony Rizzo
Because of that bond that we. That we put together. Yeah. And our investment in each other and even.
John Lackey
Obviously, a lot of us were much closer than some others, which is normal.
Jake Arrieta
Natural.
John Lackey
We all have different backgrounds. We're not gonna be best friends and get along all the time, but that's one of my guys.
David Ross
Yeah.
John Lackey
I don't. I don't. It doesn't.
David Ross
For life.
John Lackey
Doesn't matter if we. We view things differently. We were from different continents or countries. Like, we're. We're in this together.
David Ross
Yep.
John Lackey
You know?
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. Let's get into your guys' no hitter. Cincy, right? Cincy bucket list.
David Ross
You gave me a bucket list, bro. That was.
Anthony Rizzo
Well, you guys are. You guys are wearing the matching. Matching watches.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. Check the watches. Let's go.
David Ross
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw that.
John Lackey
I saw that. He had it on, so I. I had to pull it out.
David Ross
IWC right here. Pretty pricey. Areatta, hook me up with this. First of all, the watch is amazing, but, like, to play for as long as I got to play mostly a backup and be in. I'd get to catch a no hitter. I was so nervous. We got. The game was like 15 nothing. 16, 16 nothing.
John Lackey
It was a beat down.
David Ross
It's a weird game since the sixth inning. I'm stressed about we got no hitters. I'm like, don't this up, Rossi.
Jake Arrieta
You know?
David Ross
And I distinctly remember, like, going to a lot of cutters and off speed stuff, and you shaking like, no, I'm pumping heaters. I'm pumping. He was like, the sixth and seventh inning, like, I'm bringing heaters. I'm bringing heaters, and guys are rolling them over and popping them up, and I'm just like. Like, I felt like. It's funny. I've always pictured a no hitter as this pride thing that I call this amazing game. And I felt like he held my hand like, no, no, I've already got one of these. Come with me, big boy. Because I had to watch a lot of people. Remember Lester, My. My wife had at the time, had a emergency C section. I flew home. I wasn't in LA for the one Miggy caught that you threw there. And I was watching it on my phone, and as my, you know.
Anthony Rizzo
Daughter.
David Ross
Daughter. Yeah. But she was like a pound and a half in this incubator. And I'm like, watching this and you're out there carving in LA and then getting to experience that was when it
John Lackey
was a much different game than. Than LA. Obviously we won 16 nothing. It didn't. I mean, it felt like a no hitter as it progressed into the past the 6th. But my stuff wasn't tremendous that night. LA, it was like video game, wherever I wanted. It didn't matter. In Cincinnati, it was like Sunday night baseball, big games, but. So it was April 21, you know, in Cincinnati, and it was just. The stuff was moving like crazy, but I couldn't command it that well. So I knew that I'm just gonna throw this sinker in the zone, try and try and elevate it a bit. And I think I had five punch
David Ross
outs that I remember moving.
John Lackey
Wasn't a lot of punch outs. It was just weak contact, miss hitting the ball, missing barrels, and. And it happened, dude. Crazy. Well. And, you know, it's. I was always told and how long this has been a thing. Forever, right? It's like you don't know. Hitter.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
John Lackey
You buy. You buy the catcher.
David Ross
Yeah. Yeah. It's engraved on the back with the date, the score, bro. It's like, so. So it's like, this is my. When I dress up, this is the one I wear. And I've got.
John Lackey
I'm glad you're wearing it, man.
David Ross
Lester. Oh, I brought it for this. Lester gave me a Rolex for his 200th win. And I guess I'd caught the most. Is like, I wear. Those are the two watches I wear. It's like this one when I dress up. And his is kind of my.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, you love free.
David Ross
I'm talking about free dinners. I get free jewelry, two rings.
John Lackey
It's way different style. Like, this is kind of our style, right?
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, yeah.
John Lackey
The one that I bought, Miggy, was a breitling with a bunch of diamonds and around. It was perfect.
David Ross
I gotta get a little Latino flair, too.
John Lackey
Yeah, yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
He's got a little style, too, but that was a.
David Ross
That was a. I remember hugging you and telling you thank you at all that. And you were like, that's a huge
Anthony Rizzo
deal as a catcher, bro.
David Ross
Bro.
Anthony Rizzo
I obviously as a pitcher, too, but.
John Lackey
Well, the, the, the, the preparation that the, the catchers go through is probably more. I don't want to say more than anybody else, but just watching the catching core and the catching coaches go through a video and break down scouting reports, it makes our job so much easier
Anthony Rizzo
that I, I have said this for years, and I did this my career. I studied catchers a lot of times more than pitchers. I knew what you guys were throwing, but, like, With Yachty. With you, it's different because you're a veteran, but with Yachty Molina catching, there's no young guy shaking him. Yachty's calling the game. So if you did shake, nobody shook. If you did shake, I had to in my, in the box real quick, start programming like, okay. Oh, this is rare, right? Waynewright never really shook Yachty. If it was too quick shakes. It was. I knew Yachty was calling the, the fake shake.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
So, like, studying catchers was a huge, huge part. Because, bro, if you guys don't have
Jake Arrieta
it that game, that's good.
Anthony Rizzo
Who's going to help maneuver you through that game? Him. What's the pitching coach in a con say? Hey, you're doing.
John Lackey
No, it's that guy.
Anthony Rizzo
It's the. Yeah.
David Ross
And that's my favorite. That was my favorite part of the game was the. We had a moment in Game 6, the World Series, where we clinched in Boston, where I threw a. It was a 2, 2 breaking ball that got by me, and I think we were only up a couple runs. The guy went to second and there's two outs. And I went to the mouse. Hey, my bad. And he's like, no big deal. Just gave it a minute, went back and called heater because I was like, he's not gonna trust me to block this ball. And he was like, nope. Threw down a breaking ball. He's like, yep. Threw another one in the dirt. I block it, punch the guy out, we get out of it. And I, I, I credit. I told him after that, I was like, bro, I'm so glad you shook to that. That gave me confidence in myself, and he had the confidence to trust me to do that. Like, that's the stuff that, that off the field stuff we're talking about and going to bars and to dinners and talking about.
John Lackey
And we also.
David Ross
My guy.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
I knew how much effort and time you put into the game.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, that's my favorite part.
John Lackey
Right. Like, if I give up a homer, you're not pissed at me. You're just pissed that it happened.
David Ross
Yeah. Right. I talk about the Lester relationship and what we had was like, bro, that was my brother. Like, when he sucked, I sucked. You know, we're in this together, you know, so you're. You love your brother, but you get mad at your brother and do those. You're. You're pushing your brother to be great because it makes me great. Like, I. His success is my success.
John Lackey
Yeah.
David Ross
You know, that's, that's how I took that.
Anthony Rizzo
That's quick. No, Hitter story. Alec Mills, years later threw a no hitter to Victor.
David Ross
I managed that. I remember.
John Lackey
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
And I'm giving Caratini, like, bro, Mills is on a rookie deal. Like, you're gonna get a Fossil watch. So like literally a week later, I ordered a F watch and I took like the printer label and I just put no hitter. And I labeled the back of the watch and I put it in Karatini's locker.
Jake Arrieta
That's great. That's a great.
Anthony Rizzo
I loved it.
John Lackey
It's kind of a tough spot to be in though. You know, honestly, looking back now, got to do it.
Anthony Rizzo
I should have bought the watches from so. But it's a pitcher catcher thing.
David Ross
But I think the Cubs gave us something after your no hitter first one, right? That NOLA watch.
John Lackey
Well, they. They gave one to the entire team. They gave me a Cartier one year and then a. A Carl Bucher watch.
David Ross
I got.
Anthony Rizzo
I got a couple.
David Ross
One of my favorite. I got two things that are hanging in my house. Everything else is like in my garage in my kind of man room. But I've got my 100 home run jersey that they gave me and then they gave us. You've got the rubber from the. From the no hitter. I've got the plate frame and it's. It's like, what a cool thing to have. It's got all the spike marks from people got up on the wall. Yeah. Hell yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Anything. I gave the ball back. You gave it back.
Jake Arrieta
Should have kept it and sold it.
Anthony Rizzo
Let's go back to our locker room. Do you. I want to kind of paint the picture. Where were you at? You were. You were right next to them too.
John Lackey
So you walk. You walk through the tunnel, right? Like you're coming back from the game. Yeah, it's just directly on the other side.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
David Ross
Yeah. Lester Lackey areata. Is that right?
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. And in between them, in between them, though, is an empty locker with a beer fridge.
John Lackey
Yes.
Anthony Rizzo
It's a nice size fridge. Yeah, it's the bar. It's basically the team bar. Like, yeah, it was fun with all that. After the game, you guys, we have drinks or after your start, you see you guys having a beer and whatnot. But I feel like the significance of that to like show young guys that like you can lock in and do all this hard work, but it's also okay to just relax and enjoy life a little bit too.
Jake Arrieta
100. That was one of the things that I wanted to have fun too off the field, like. And I. One of my favorite things to do is take out young guys. You know, we hang out at the hotel bar, maybe shut it down a little bit, and I try to be the first one there. Like, I'd want to be sweating. And, yeah, when they walked in, just let them know, hey, we're gonna do it on both sides here. We have fun last night, but it's time to grind now.
John Lackey
Well, what's the quote? You got to earn your party.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. You do got to earn your party. I had an old vet.
David Ross
That's leadership, bro.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. If you're gonna stay up with hoop with the eyes, you got to get up and soar the Eagles.
David Ross
That's right.
Jake Arrieta
An old vet told me that.
David Ross
Well, and that's the stuff that you're talking about. This is what I. I think, like, this thing that I kind of talk about a lot is accountability. You're holding yourself accountable by saying, I'm going to be the first there because I was out. I was partying as hard as everybody else in that room. I'm going to be the first one there sweating. So when they walk in, they're like, I had that with dlo. Dlo would.
Anthony Rizzo
Would.
David Ross
Would run it hard. And you know what? 6:00am he's out there doing stadiums. I'm like, what the hell? In spring training, you know, like, that's the accountability that I feel like that's a good leadership example from. From veterans that goes unnoticed a lot of times.
John Lackey
Well, because if you. If you partake in some of the fun and you don't show up and do your work, you lose the trust.
David Ross
Yeah.
John Lackey
Yeah. You have your. Of your team.
Anthony Rizzo
Well, the thing is, when you do it together, you show up because you know you have to.
Jake Arrieta
Right, Right.
Anthony Rizzo
You saw me at. Saw me.
David Ross
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
You know, whatever I was doing.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Or we were up till four at the.
John Lackey
the.
Anthony Rizzo
In the hotel. And it's like. Like, like, these are my guys. You guys may not be playing, but I am. And I. I can't be doing that. And.
Jake Arrieta
Right.
Anthony Rizzo
Not gaining your respect by not showing.
John Lackey
I don't know if there's a team that I had more fun on, to be honest.
Anthony Rizzo
Well, bro, like, let's talk about our trips we did in season. Oh, man. These are the.
Jake Arrieta
The Pebble Beach.
Anthony Rizzo
Pebble Beach. Kenny Chesney.
John Lackey
Kenny Chesney.
Anthony Rizzo
Pebble beach to Kenny Chesney. That was like, we're on vacation while playing.
David Ross
We landed. We had an off day on Thursday in Oakland. We're going to play the A's, and we had a Wednesday day game. Flew. I'm gonna spend the off day on the west Coast. When we landed in Oakland, Lester had a private plane that flew us to Pebble Beach. We all had our own room at Pebble. Partial suite, partial view.
John Lackey
He loves it.
Anthony Rizzo
He loves busting his bar, play golf
David Ross
all day, get back on the PJ win. Friday Day Game Saturday 1 Saturday party bus to the john, the 49ers football stadium. Kenny Chesney backstage hanging out.
Anthony Rizzo
Kenny Chesney, Sammy Hagar. Sammy Hagar.
David Ross
Old Dominion was there. I remember, like, have a party, go back, beat the out of Oakland again and head on, head on back home. It was like one of the best trips I think we've ever been on. We got some good photos.
Jake Arrieta
Awesome.
David Ross
Like that. That's. That's one thing I'll say about Lester, like doing some of those things as a veteran with the perks and the contract and the whole things like he and Joe led us, but like having that fun.
Jake Arrieta
He's pro.
David Ross
Yeah, he's pro.
John Lackey
Well, those are opportunities. You can't go back and do it again, you know, like. And that Lester was you too. Like, we're going to take advantage of this opportunity.
Anthony Rizzo
Well, you were.
David Ross
We played Houston. You couldn't go because you had a pitch. But we went to tcu, watched the football game.
Jake Arrieta
Remember that?
John Lackey
With the PJ over guys on tv. That was awesome.
Anthony Rizzo
It was all. Well, it broke up the season of like, we grind. We got regrind, but it's like, all right, what kind of fun we gonna have too? Yeah, right. And it was like that fun made playing fun because the playing fun made the night more fun. Right? And it was like, you win, you can keep doing that. As soon as you start losing, you could still do it, but it's a lot harder to feel good about what you're doing because we're so focused on winning.
David Ross
Winning cures all for sure.
Jake Arrieta
It does. 100. Yeah.
David Ross
I'm sure we had a lot of up off the field fun in 16. Like, I remember vividly and it was my last year knowing I'm retiring, but playing with Dempster in Boston his last year and watching him experience fun. They going and doing things in cities, taking advantage of moments like you, you that would. You were an outdoor guy. Like, you would get up and go on walks in cities and do the. Every day, every day. Like, those things made my end of my career a lot more fun with winning. And also like going to New York and I took some of the media guys on a helicopter tour and like doing the rocky steps and Going to get Philly. Philly's cheesesteaks in the middle of the night in Philadelphia. You know, just little stuff like that. And I don't. I wish I would have done that more in my career. But the fact that I, I recognize that later and I, and, and you're a lot of pressure early on as a person. But yeah, trying to establish yourself.
John Lackey
I always told young guys this. It's like, how many times are you going to go to Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, you know, I'm, I'm not gonna. Just probably not going on vacation to Milwaukee anytime soon. No, but experience the city. Get. Get up. I mean, I'm not telling you to get four hours of sleep and get up and go walk around town and go play golf. But see what, See what?
Anthony Rizzo
See what it's all about.
David Ross
You would go down in Pittsburgh. You go to like, he would come back with these juices and I'm like, where'd you find that?
John Lackey
And I'm like, everywhere.
David Ross
He's like, bro, I'd go walking here and I found this spot like you just like, that was.
John Lackey
Well, because I'm not going, probably not going to Pittsburgh, you know.
David Ross
Yeah, right.
John Lackey
But I love Pittsburgh. I enjoyed Cincinnati. Milwaukee was cool, you know, And Kansas City, whatever the city is, like, find your little spots. Right, right. Instead of sleeping until 1:30 and going to the field, like, figure out some things to do.
David Ross
Sure.
John Lackey
You know, sure.
Anthony Rizzo
Let's. Let's get rolling into the playoffs here and see we clinch in like August. Right. We still roll. We clinch. Early September.
David Ross
We clinch. I've got a story actually, about the beer fridge.
Jake Arrieta
Yes.
David Ross
And the. I remember we clinched and the next day a lot of those guys were. It was like soon after we had clinched and we had some of the rookies up in September, we're playing Milwaukee. We're in extra innings. And do you remember when I came in and car washed the locker room? It was, it was Lester. They're all at the beer fridge. It was Lester Sutcliffe, Lackey, Arietta. And I'm going around. I'm, I'm fuming because nobody's on the bench. I'm looking around, I'm not playing. Nobody's on the bench.
Anthony Rizzo
We had a great bench in 2016.
David Ross
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
The bench was the best part of our team.
David Ross
Yeah. And like, nobody to celebrate with. These guys have been playing all the time, are back in the grind. And I walk in and I'm like scanning and I'm getting madder as I scan. I was like, I can't yell at him. I can't yell at him. Can't yell at him. And the next guy on my list was Rob Z. I was like, rob Z, you rookie fuck, get your ass out here and cheer the boys on. He's like, I was like, car washing the whole. The whole locker room, and all the boys came out. You guys got the picture. But it's like one of those, like, supporting your teammates and all that, Me having my. One of my Grandpa Rossi angry moments. But all you guys came out, and we end up winning.
Jake Arrieta
That it was right. You guys be out there to support these guys.
David Ross
I'll just support your ass. Cliff still tells me. I was like, bro, I remember you coming. I was scared of that. I was like, well, I was scanning the room of who I could yell at, and the first guy came to was Rob Zombie. It was great.
John Lackey
You did the right thing. Yeah.
David Ross
They were all throwing pop down. We're like the 11th.
Anthony Rizzo
It's like, position player. It's hard. Like, you come on the bench, you're grinding. It's July, August, and no one's out there. And you're like, yeah, yeah. These guys like, oh, it must be nice. Go throw your four, five, six, seven innings and.
John Lackey
Or eight or nine.
Anthony Rizzo
Eight or nine, Right. Well, the later in my career, it got shorter, but it's like, it must be nice, like, and we're out here grinding. But then when the team is on
David Ross
the bench, it's like, yeah, Advent support's underrated, man. The guys panic. We were talking a little bit about guys on iPads and all that stuff earlier. It's like the guys paying attention on the bench is so valuable and rooting those guys on. I think it's just like one of those. Another, you know, thing that it goes. Goes unrelated, but let's get to the playoffs.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, we roll. We were rolling, right?
John Lackey
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
And from my. My advantage is like, damn, we got. We got the Giants the first round. Like, they're on their even year, right? 10, 12, 14.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Now it's 16. Like, we're rolling through them. We go. Game one, was it. I believe it's Lester.
David Ross
Lester, because you pitched Game 3 and hit the home run off Bum Gardner, Right? You pitched game two. Yeah, I. I've got it here. Game two. I think it's like a little.
John Lackey
A little fuzzy.
David Ross
Seven innings, two runs. Yeah, yeah. Glasses, we won. We won that game. But you. You seven. Yep.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
David Ross
Seven and two. Shocker.
Jake Arrieta
Remember that?
Anthony Rizzo
But that first game at Wrigley, right? Like, setting the tone for us. A lot of I feel a lot of pressure, bro.
David Ross
Like, yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
108 years. We're rolling. We lose the year before.
John Lackey
Right.
Anthony Rizzo
Clinch really early. I think we won nothing. Right on the Javi.
David Ross
Best team in Asia.
Anthony Rizzo
Mammoth homer that lands in the back.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. That was the only thing I was worried about was that what we had at that time, like, we had so much time in between clinching and playing. That was the only. But I think Joe did a good job. We did some scrimmages, you know, did some stuff like that.
Anthony Rizzo
Scrimmages. Let's get back to the scrimmage.
John Lackey
Oh, yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
I was so bad off. John Lackey.
Jake Arrieta
I owned you in those things.
Anthony Rizzo
So bad in my career that we're getting. We're scrimmaging.
Jake Arrieta
Lock you in.
Anthony Rizzo
I know we're scrimmaging before the game. He feels so bad for me. He. Honestly, I was like a make a wish kid in this game. He's like, riz, here, I'm gonna throw you a fastball down the middle, telling me what's coming. And I still could not even touch the ball. Oh, I think I popped it up.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, I don't know about that.
Anthony Rizzo
But you did lock me in. Yeah, eventually.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. You guys were killing it.
Anthony Rizzo
We. We go, and one thing that sticks out is your home run off. That was game three, bro. We put us up three. Nothing so good.
Jake Arrieta
The boys went, bro, bomb.
Anthony Rizzo
Greatest.
David Ross
Oh, bum guard.
John Lackey
It was a laser.
Anthony Rizzo
The greatest postseason pitchers of all time.
Jake Arrieta
Don't sleep on his bp. He's got sick. Pop.
David Ross
Crazy pop.
Jake Arrieta
I was.
John Lackey
I was telling David before we got in here, hitting BP in Wrigley Field, and maybe it was monotonous to you because you're doing it every day. It was the most fun I had playing baseball, I think.
Anthony Rizzo
And Boz, especially those when those wind. The wind was blowing and wind was blowing out.
John Lackey
We're trying to hit him over the street.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
John Lackey
But Boz was awesome, too. He. You know, I feel like some pitching coaches would be like, just stop trying to hit over the fence. Get your work in. He wanted to see how far we.
Jake Arrieta
He encouraged it. He was fun with it.
John Lackey
He wanted to see there would be
Anthony Rizzo
times where we're waiting to hit because they're just launching balls. All right, guys, get off. They're having so much fun. Like, we're stretching next to them.
John Lackey
You guys liked it?
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. I wasn't launching nothing. I was old and sometimes didn't even hit because I was sore. I'm gonna chill today.
John Lackey
Hendrix is hitting little loopers over seconds. I Get out of here.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, it was really, yeah. When Lester would really let it loose and you were always letting the.
John Lackey
Lester had juice.
David Ross
Yeah. He could hit the game, but he had a great, he got to where, he got to where he was pretty good though. He got better.
Jake Arrieta
Ye. Actually worked on it. It was, it was pretty good.
Anthony Rizzo
And yeah, but that home.
John Lackey
No, man. Well, so I, I, I tell the story a lot. I don't remember the exact count, but he, he was pitching me in like up and in. And I just happened to, I'm like, he's coming up and in again.
Jake Arrieta
Like heaters or was like heaters. Heaters.
David Ross
Sold out for the angle. It's like.
John Lackey
Yeah, just sold out for the heater, man. And your reaction in the dugout, bro, maybe my favorite part. And I, I'm going around first base and I, I hit Hyder's hand because it was kind of a line, line shot. So I'm getting out of the box. I never knew how to pimp a home run. I didn't hit that many. But I wish, I wish I could have, you know, I wish I could
Jake Arrieta
have the time to do it.
John Lackey
Just stood there for a second and take a look and then go. But Hyder hits my hand and almost spins me around and almost fall down. But then I kind of see you a little bit out of the corner of my eye and a Cubs fan actually caught it. Like the only Cubs fan that's sitting in that entire section.
Anthony Rizzo
So that was pretty cool.
Jake Arrieta
And get the ball.
John Lackey
No, no. I mean, I probably wouldn't have given it up if I was him either.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
David Ross
My story I tell is the, the old guy that's always worrying when you hit that ball our dugout. You would have thought we won the World Series at that point.
Anthony Rizzo
We did. We were on our way.
David Ross
They were, they were going ape up and down. I'm like, oh, God, come on, keep grinding, keep grinding, boy. Cuz it was like the third, fourth inning early.
John Lackey
It was second.
David Ross
Okay.
Anthony Rizzo
It was second day.
John Lackey
It was my first day homer, bro.
David Ross
The dugout was like so excited and like the old school version of me was just going like, look, everybody calm down, stay focused. Shut up, shut up. Yeah, but it was.
Anthony Rizzo
Well, you were right. We lost the game.
John Lackey
Yeah, we did.
Anthony Rizzo
In extras well.
David Ross
And also usually was right.
John Lackey
I think the coolest part about it. So, so Bum Garner at the time hadn't given up a run in the playoffs and bro, he was.
David Ross
Yeah.
Jake Arrieta
Like six years or something. Yeah.
John Lackey
You couldn't believe it. I mean, I couldn't really?
Anthony Rizzo
No one could.
John Lackey
Yeah.
David Ross
Yeah, bro. That was loud, bro.
John Lackey
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
That team knew how to win, bro. They were three time World Series champions on that team. Like, they were battle tested.
John Lackey
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Like, the fact that we won in game four was, like, to come back, the only weakness on that team was their bowl pen. And we exposed it. Thank God, because we had quao. And we're good waiting in game five. If we had to go to game five, which who knows on that, but that series set the tone. Then we got to go play the Dodgers, who are always good.
John Lackey
The home run that Javi hit, was it off. Cuido off.
Anthony Rizzo
Quo. He pimped the.
John Lackey
Out of it in the basket.
Anthony Rizzo
Landed in the basket because.
Jake Arrieta
Yes.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
Jake Arrieta
It barely went out.
Anthony Rizzo
Barely went out. We won one. Nothing.
John Lackey
Yeah, like.
Anthony Rizzo
Like, it's just like. But that's what our team was like. I felt like our team was always. We had so much character and, like, swagger, like, but we never disrespected the other team.
John Lackey
No.
Anthony Rizzo
Which is like.
David Ross
I feel like our dugout was like a softball team. We had, like, chance and cheers and, like, we talked about the hitters. Like, remember when you get to three, two, be like, positivity on a base. On a base, on a base, on a base. Like, send good vibes, boys. Yeah, good vibes.
Jake Arrieta
Well, so we.
Anthony Rizzo
We beat the Dodgers and clinching. It's our first time going to the World Series.
John Lackey
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Your guys is second. You're third. Like, where are you at emotionally? Like, on all of it? Well, so we're invested more, I feel like, in the Cubs being here for longer.
John Lackey
But I. I think that because of the games that I had pitched previous, it didn't matter that it was a World Series to me. I mean, it did in the sense of 108 years, everything that's on the line. But for me, it's like, I'm ready for this moment. It's just another game for me, you know? And Hendrix pitched that game against Kershaw, right?
David Ross
Oh, yeah.
John Lackey
Game six.
Anthony Rizzo
Game six.
John Lackey
I was supposed to pitch game seven. And just being able to celebrate and not having to play because then I knew that I got. I would get to pitch because Lester was going to go game one one. I was game two. So not having to play that seventh game was huge for us, I think.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. Especially in your own individual journey.
John Lackey
Well, sure.
David Ross
And focused. And then all of a sudden, we win.
John Lackey
Right? Well. And just. I mean, the euphoria after winning that game was just insane.
Anthony Rizzo
And did you guys feel that? Did you, like. Because the Wrigley euphoria. Because for me, it was like, I was a little annoyed after just personally, like, the Cubs fans were celebrating, like, we won the World Series. And I was like. In my head, I was like, we didn't do.
John Lackey
Sure, but you can see why.
Anthony Rizzo
Totally.
John Lackey
Just getting totally.
Anthony Rizzo
I'm saying after like, looking back a little bit, I was right.
David Ross
I remember in the moment one of my goals, knowing it was my last year and the fact we were going to the World Series, I thought that was one step above where we went the year before. So that's a bet. Like, you just keep stacking levels, right? Climbing the ladder. And I felt like the year before we lost in this championship series. So going to the World Series to me was like, oh, it's gravy now.
John Lackey
Like, well, also, hey, think about from.
David Ross
That was my personal view.
John Lackey
From a fan's perspective, getting past the Dodgers and then going to play Cleveland. No disrespect to Cleveland, Kershaw, but beating them was probably more of a challenge than having to beat Cleveland, which you're thinking now turned out to be more difficult.
David Ross
Giants and Dodgers, right? They're both like, the road to that
Anthony Rizzo
Pettit was not easy.
John Lackey
No, not at all.
Anthony Rizzo
And then, yeah, I'm going to go west coast multiple times, too.
David Ross
It was just.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, that. That. That's another factor that doesn't get really talked about at all. But then we. We run. Where are you at in that? Like, you don't want to finish second, bro. You two time.
Jake Arrieta
No, I mean, like. Like he said, like, we both had a point in our career. I was trying to enjoy everything a little bit more. You know what I mean? Like, I didn't. I knew I had at least one more year, but I knew you're getting towards the end of it, and, you know, you got your family, got kids involved, like, just. It's. It was awesome to, you know, to share those sort of things. It was. It was cool.
Anthony Rizzo
Perspective was.
Jake Arrieta
I mean, that's my perspective is when
Anthony Rizzo
I went with the Yankees in 24, it was like, I told my parents that year, told Emily even later, I was like, enjoy this. Like, I don't know what's going on. It's like, let's really enjoy this run. Yeah, we go to the world, who's gonna win?
David Ross
But, like, it's nice to get to that space in your career well, too. You played long enough where you can. Like, you're not stressed by anything. Like, we're just trying to win. But like, hey, let's. Let's take this all in.
John Lackey
How many great players played for 10 plus years, never played in the postseason a lot.
Anthony Rizzo
I know it's crazy.
John Lackey
So like it, you know, like you might 100, like as good as we were, you know, 15. It's like even though the trajectory, like John was saying, looked like we were going to go past that, you never know when you're going to get back, right? So like not being complacent but also still allowing yourself to enjoy it and have some fun.
Anthony Rizzo
We did the. The parties at LER D. My dad playing the guitar with Eddie Vetter. Like core memory.
Jake Arrieta
How's that?
Anthony Rizzo
All in his backyard, just partying like, right. It's just like all the families were there, just so happy.
David Ross
And that moment, the story I tell is, cuz I was sitting with your dad and I was showing. Remember he got me the harmonica for a retirement gift. So I'm showing him the chords I learned and was kind of playing this thing for Riz's dad. And then Eddie walks in and grabs a guitar for me and starts playing. I'm like, I opened for Eddie better that night.
Anthony Rizzo
For free.
Jake Arrieta
For free.
David Ross
Get any freaking.
Anthony Rizzo
But those are like throw. That's. That's the best part about the run was the after celebrations on winning and the parties after we went to country club, I think.
John Lackey
Yeah, a lot.
Anthony Rizzo
We're at Lester's backyard then obviously the big celebration, but we're.
David Ross
Lester did a good job. And this is like side note, but Lester did a good job like David did. Every time we won, he would throw a party and everybody's invited. It doesn't matter. We're going to bring food where you have alcohol. We've got everybody's safety, like cars. Like David Ortiz did that in Boston. And it was like such a. Like a cool thing. Like I'm bringing, you know, friends and family to David Ortiz's house and he's showing them their silver slogans. Like Lester was like that everybody's invited. We're going.
John Lackey
We have Chicago PD out. Yeah, you need a ride home.
Jake Arrieta
Just like what we talked about, like passing things down. He learned that from day, right? And he nailed it. We had a great time.
Anthony Rizzo
When we go down three, one. What. What. What gave you any belief, if anything at all, that we can do that, man? Just come back.
Jake Arrieta
We were good, man. We had. We had. I knew we had enough. Enough firepower and we had. And we had dudes that could. That were coming up pitching that, that had been there and done it. And at that point, you can't you just can't look too far ahead. You got to win the next one, just win the next one, get to the next game, and we just. All we had to do is just win the next one and then see what happens after that.
David Ross
In the moment, you said, after the game, I actually got a quote because you're starting to go, well, game four. And you said, everything's fine. When? Tomorrow. Yeah, everything's fine. When? Tomorrow. Right. And that's the veteran. Like, when you have this. Like, he's not wallowing on his. Like, doesn't matter what I did. That's over.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
David Ross
Here we go. On to the next.
John Lackey
Well, because then we had Lester, myself, and Hendrix.
Anthony Rizzo
Right.
John Lackey
We were lined up if we won
Anthony Rizzo
game five, because it was.
David Ross
That was my favorite game.
Anthony Rizzo
Game five for me, was our hardest one because I knew we would roll in Game six versus Timlin. Right.
David Ross
Yep.
Anthony Rizzo
He shoved against us, but it was Tomlin. Sorry. He shoved against us, but we didn't really. We hadn't seen him before, so, like, it was easier to register he wasn't an overpowering dude. Exactly. Compared to Kluber. And it was like, all right. And then we see Kluber for the third time. Like, yeah, I like our odds. Yeah. Right. But that game five was a gauntlet. I mean, we won three, two, one for me.
John Lackey
no point did it feel like we were down 3:1.
David Ross
No.
John Lackey
With the guys in the room, it. It felt. Well, I mean, maybe. Maybe for you. Sure.
David Ross
I was selfish because I. I knew I got to play game five. So I'm like, I can't wait to start a World Series game in Wrigley. That was my kind of incentive on the hitting side.
Anthony Rizzo
It was like. It was. It was a Ben Zobers bunt in the NLCS that kind of turned our entire offense around because we were grinding in, like, the DS into the. I didn't really get my. I don't think I got. I didn't get going in that playoffs until, like, the third or fourth game of the cs.
David Ross
Yeah, you started. You started Carry you. And Javi started carrying us in the cs.
Anthony Rizzo
Addie, too.
David Ross
And Addie. I mean. Yeah, Addie.
Anthony Rizzo
So we're, you know, hitting is so hot and cold, and it's like, we're down. We're down one nothing in the fourth inning of game five, and it's like Bowers on the mount. He's shoving. The wind's blowing in. And then KB hits that homer to tie it, and it was like, all right. Like, yeah. And we relax and Then we somehow. I think Chappie's. What it was an eight out save.
Jake Arrieta
He was there a while.
Anthony Rizzo
Seven or eight out save, and felt
David Ross
like he came in game early. Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
And then game six, you go out, set the tone. We roll quick.
David Ross
I feel like you shoved in the World Series, bro.
Jake Arrieta
Dude, that was.
John Lackey
Well, it was shot.
David Ross
For two years I played with you, but, like, cold.
John Lackey
Well, without that feeling Contrast from game two to six. Game two, I remember being, like, in the 30s or something.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Well, that's freezing.
Jake Arrieta
It was the game two.
John Lackey
Those are freezing. So for me, it was like, I just got to keep this hand warm.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
And I knew if I could do that, it'd be fine. Struggled with some grip issues a little bit. Then game six, it was like, 60 degrees.
Anthony Rizzo
You were two, and you had two wins, right? You register those two wins.
John Lackey
Yeah. But game two was rough.
David Ross
Game two, you were. You were good, but I remember you were erratic.
John Lackey
I think we have bases loaded at some point. I think it was. Tyler Naquin was at the plate, punched him out that once. I got through that, then we were all right. But I had a few walks. Was erratic, but when. When needed to make a big pitch, was able to.
Jake Arrieta
When it's cold, like I said, it's hard to feel the ball.
John Lackey
Hard to feel it. Yeah.
Jake Arrieta
A little control can be an issue.
David Ross
Yeah. You were cruising game six. It felt like you were in a rocking chair back, like, you know, when you were locked in.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Do you guys remember when. Again, it's not about me, but I hit the home run a little bit about you. A little bit late in the game, and Joe kept Chappie in for the 9th. And you. I remember the dugout was like, what the are we doing? Like, that's good. Travis winning the game. Get him up because Chappie was, like, gassed. Right. And we all knew it. I just remember the dugout, and it was like, that was the first time where the dugout kind of uproared like. Like, Joe, we got to get this guy out of here. Like, yeah, get b.
David Ross
Well, you hit your homer with two outs, and it, like, I think it sped up real quick. Sometimes, like, managing, you're like, oh, I wasn't expecting that.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, you got that perspective.
David Ross
It goes from four to six quick, and you're like, oh, I need to get somebody else up. There's two outs. Next guy rolls over. First pitch, you know, you're, like, kind of scrambling.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, we talk. We talked to Joe about that, and he was like, yeah, he, like, Looks back on that. Yeah.
Jake Arrieta
What did he say?
Anthony Rizzo
He was like. No, he was like. It was.
Jake Arrieta
It was fast.
Anthony Rizzo
You got to get to game seven, all this stuff, but he is. So how he maneuvered that, like, no one. Being the manager, in my opinion, is the hardest thing, because no one. Not everyone loves you.
David Ross
He's really accountable. But saying, like, we got to get to game seven kind of thing, and then, you know, obviously, like, Chappie out of gas and all that, like, he. He walked us through the whole. His thought process of what he was thinking, and then, you know, you pop that two out, two run, homer.
Jake Arrieta
It was kind of late. I mean, that could get pretty quick with two out. So what.
Anthony Rizzo
So we go to game seven. What's your. You're. I know. You were hot. Like.
John Lackey
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
You made yourself available.
John Lackey
Well, I went. Yeah. I went into Joe's office pretty early in the day and just wanted to make it known. Like, hey, I'm. I've been warming up. Feel fine. I'm down there. You know, you were down. I'm ready.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah. But I knew I was probably up extra inning kind of guy, you know,
David Ross
we walked me, you, and Lester, us three, and Lester walked down to the bullpen together in, like, the.
John Lackey
Yeah.
David Ross
Third. Whatever. And I remember. Do you guys remember that? I remember walking.
Jake Arrieta
Oh, yeah. We all went down there together.
David Ross
Yeah. Yeah. I was freaking. Like.
Jake Arrieta
I think I was just security for you guys to get.
John Lackey
Well, I felt.
David Ross
I felt like the. The guy. Because all you guys are so big. I'm, like, walking down there. Heart rate's going up. It's such a different view from the bullpen or being in the dugout when you're trying to, like, grind with the boys is just.
John Lackey
Well, at that point, too. It's the last game of the year.
David Ross
Like, I. Yeah.
John Lackey
Whether I threw 100 the night before, it doesn't matter. Running off adrenaline. It's for.
David Ross
I'll give you what I got.
John Lackey
Everything that's on the line.
Anthony Rizzo
Like, 108 years.
John Lackey
You need me. One out, one inning.
David Ross
Yeah.
John Lackey
Got you.
David Ross
I'm here. Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
When. When Raja hits that home run, you guys are down the bullpen. We all are numb.
John Lackey
Yeah, we have.
Anthony Rizzo
We have the rain delay. Where are you guys at? You were down there.
Jake Arrieta
You were. I came back in.
David Ross
What were you thinking when Raje went deep?
John Lackey
I was thinking.
Jake Arrieta
I was thinking loudest things I've ever heard.
John Lackey
Yeah, I was just thinking at that point, like, it's a coin flip now. Like, you just. You're not sure which direction it's Going to go. Because nobody expected that.
Anthony Rizzo
Nobody.
John Lackey
Nobody expected nobody.
Anthony Rizzo
No one saw bullpen.
Jake Arrieta
They're so weird because they're. Remember, there's, like, fans in front of front of the bullpen and behind you. Like, we were like. We were like, surrounded by Cleveland fans, and they were screaming. We just kind of give us the bird.
John Lackey
We just kind of like, he was lackey's to my left. And we just kind of like, oh, look at each other. Like, oh, yeah, yeah.
Jake Arrieta
Try to play it cool.
David Ross
I was catching it. Usually I turn the page really fast on the next. I kept going, fuck. Like, man, like, just negative.
Anthony Rizzo
The fact that Chaby got through the ninth inning, though, was.
Jake Arrieta
Dude, such. Such balls.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
Jake Arrieta
And do another inning.
John Lackey
Insane, man.
David Ross
And then the rain delay. You said you were getting ready.
John Lackey
I was getting ready. I was kind of towards the tail end of.
David Ross
Of the speech, and then you were in the.
Jake Arrieta
I was in there.
David Ross
Yeah, in there. What do you remember about that, man?
Jake Arrieta
I obviously j. Getting up, saying what he said. But then I still thought there was a. There was a pretty good vibe with the boys. I mean, we. We didn't come this far. Just, you know, to come this far. Like, we still. We still had a great opportunity and. And I think the boys still believed.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Coming out of that.
David Ross
Coming out of there. Yeah.
John Lackey
What were your thoughts like during. During that speech?
Anthony Rizzo
My. I would always go to Bussy with everything. So I'm talking to Bussy. Dexter and I had just re upped on our five hour energy and Woodford reserve cocktail Myers speedball. We called it from Bill Murray. And we're just like, no way. Like, we're gonna win this. Like, just kind of like trying to psych ourselves out of what just happened. Because I remember when that happened, looking in our dugout, getting a temperature of our guys. Everyone was like, pale as a ghost. I remember even looking at, like, Theo because he was kind of like in our peripheral there off the dugout. He was like a ghost. So it was like getting to that ninth and getting to reset was huge. And then obviously we all come together.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, reset's a good, great word.
Anthony Rizzo
It was like we all come together, like, and.
Jake Arrieta
And Jay. Hey, that gets up and talk. A guy that doesn't do a ton of stuff, right?
Anthony Rizzo
People that.
Jake Arrieta
People that don't talk a lot, when they do say something, it means something sometimes.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
Jake Arrieta
I mean.
John Lackey
I mean, he was always a guy that showed up in the right moment to say the right thing.
David Ross
He's one of the most pro guys
John Lackey
I've ever Been around ever. And not the most vocal guy. We all know that. But when something needs to be said to the group, he's paying attention. He was the guy for the job.
David Ross
He's paying attention. He's got a really good feel for people and moments and stuff like that.
Anthony Rizzo
But I think too, the fact that, like, that was our team too, like, we are so close. So the fact that it almost happened organically, that meeting, and then he did call some guys in, but, like, we were all there, like, like getting closer anyways too, and it just all happened the right way. Dexter said it perfectly. He was like, that 17 minute delay was the tears of all the fans. Like 108 years of tears. Just like, no, please don't do this.
Jake Arrieta
That's good, right?
Anthony Rizzo
So that's pretty.
Jake Arrieta
That's awesome.
Anthony Rizzo
But coming out and then getting those hits and winning is like, that celebration is. Is, man. I've only done it once. I don't know if ever doing it again could match.
Jake Arrieta
The only bad part was it was in Cleveland. They have such a small. It'd been better if we'd have been at home, way bigger clubhouse to have a good time.
Anthony Rizzo
It's a great point.
Jake Arrieta
And there's million. It rained a million reporters and stuff in there.
John Lackey
They smell like hell in there.
Jake Arrieta
They were trying to get in our way where we were trying to, you know, have some cold beers and stuff.
David Ross
Yeah, yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
But like, the. The magnitude of us winning. Did you. It was your first year there, this your second year, did you guys think that. That. That what you saw transpire afterwards with Cubs fans, probably to this day, you guys see Cubs fans?
John Lackey
Well, for me, I didn't understand exactly how significant it was until more time has passed. Have you guys experienced that too?
Jake Arrieta
A little bit.
David Ross
Royal told me that we were partying in. In Boston and we're sitting there and he's like, ross, how you feel? I was like, I don't. I don't feel anything. It's just like, I'm happy. But he's like, you won't. Time has to pass. And like saying like, they. That city treated me like I was you guys, like the backup catcher, you know, and that, like, probably carried you off the field, right? Well, it's not about me. About me either, but it's like that kind of stuff. And the love you have, you talking about the brothers for life and like the fact you go into restaurants and you get like stand ovations and there's these things. It's like people are just so generous with their love in that city. It's because of that.
John Lackey
Well, the stories. Right. Like my great grandparents or grandparents, it was their dying wish to see it. And they passed away a month or two months later. Like.
David Ross
Yeah.
John Lackey
And the stories continue to.
Anthony Rizzo
Crazy.
David Ross
That's my favorite all the time. When you run into fans asking their game seven story and then they start in on all that.
Anthony Rizzo
That's my favorite part, was a baseball fan that year. The story of the World Series was, you know, the Indians hadn't won in like 60 something years. We hadn't won. The fans were actually like enjoyable the entire.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Because they were so happy.
John Lackey
It was like.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. It's not a big rivalry or anything.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
And the fact that we came out on top and then hearing all those stories is like, this is like. We knew it would be monumental. But then the parade, 5 million people.
Jake Arrieta
That was.
David Ross
Wow, that was nuts.
Anthony Rizzo
You guys almost died. You're on that flow. Right off my face.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, yeah.
John Lackey
He was.
Jake Arrieta
Got his head cut off.
John Lackey
I was right behind him.
David Ross
Yeah, we were with Lester and Woody.
John Lackey
And Woody.
David Ross
And we had that, that thing hit. It hit you across. Remember the little. The screen that we walked through from the players parking garage?
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, yeah.
David Ross
So that netting. They had a wire up top. Well, our. The cameraman that was filming it was like we were on the very back sitting on the top of the bus and he's got this thing and the. His camera. Nobody told us to duck. His camera hit that wire and it like pulled and then it flew down and that thing whipped all three of us. Lester at miss. Lester hit you. You had a hat on.
Jake Arrieta
I, I had sunglasses gone. They were out on the street somewhere.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, yeah.
David Ross
It hit me. Almost ripped my nose. I was like, nose is bleeding. My wife.
Jake Arrieta
You had a full on like whammy right here.
David Ross
It was like. Yeah, no skin on my nose. And I think it hit Woody's. Ms. Lester, but it hit Woody too.
Anthony Rizzo
Somewhere.
David Ross
Yeah, no, Woody shirtless.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
David Ross
And he was already three sheets. But yeah, we went on that, that parade. That wasn't stopping us. We still partied. Just, Just hard in that. Getting up on that stage, I, I got all the feels on that stage where I could barely go.
Jake Arrieta
So many people.
David Ross
God almighty.
Anthony Rizzo
Five million people, bro.
David Ross
That's crazy.
Anthony Rizzo
I look at videos all the time. I'm just like people saying.
David Ross
I just remember people like seeing like the sea of people and then the tops of trees, you know, I mean, it was like. It was as far as you could possibly see.
Jake Arrieta
I had my little daughter just been born. I was Carrying my daughter, like, it's cool.
John Lackey
But as we would continue to move block to block, you just see the wave of people following us.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
Couldn't even see the streets.
David Ross
Right.
John Lackey
Incredible.
Anthony Rizzo
When you guys look back on, like, the body of work of your careers, where, like, from a leadership standpoint, Right. We all have different styles.
Jake Arrieta
Where.
Anthony Rizzo
What, like, what are you guys proud of? Like, looking back on that team, your O2 team, you go ahead and play with the Phillies, everything you learned, you had bounced around a little bit with San Diego, back to the Cubs, like, where. What are you most proud of looking back on 10 years later?
John Lackey
I think I'm most proud of getting everything out of my potential that I possibly could have. You know, it took me a while to get going, to kind of hit my stride and figure things out, but I left it all out there. And that's why when I get asked, like, do I miss it? I miss you guys. You know, I. I do miss some of the competition, but I. I did everything in my power to perform the best that I possibly could. So I think showing young guys and even. Even the veteran players, like, hey, when. When I'm out there, they know that I'm doing everything in my power to help us win a baseball game every. Every fifth day, you know, for you, definitely for 12 years, you know, and even when I wasn't very good early in my career, I was still trying to be. You know, I just didn't. I just really hadn't really found my stride yet. You know,
Jake Arrieta
I just really, like. I think I got what I could out of my. Out of my talent. I think I. I worked hard, I respected the game. Hopefully I took care of people, you know, even outside the team, like, you know, the clubhouse, guys and people like that. Hopefully, you know, they say good things about me, and. And hopefully when guys walked in the locker room, they saw my name on the lineup. They thought we had a chance that day.
Anthony Rizzo
It's about it.
Jake Arrieta
Well said.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, it's.
David Ross
And that's all. That's true.
Anthony Rizzo
It's really two different career paths, honestly, because you are. We're a career path of, like, resilience, of, obviously, we all had to face our adversities. But, like, you were close to, like, fringe, right? There's a lot of guys that are out there right now at any level, any kid playing sports of, like, man, am I that good?
Jake Arrieta
Or.
Anthony Rizzo
I. I feel like I'm good, but I can't figure it out. And it's like, you did figure it out, and you, like, figured it out to the highest level in a big, big way.
David Ross
Well, I trusted yourself.
John Lackey
Well, sure, sure. You know, I did do a lot of soul searching and look in the mirror and conversations with. With Brittany. When Cooper was this big and, you know, close to get being pregnant with Palmer, it's like, do I want to drag my family around minor league hotels, you know?
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
John Lackey
You know, I was at a point in 2012 and 13, like, I might go back to school and finish my business degree, start a business.
Anthony Rizzo
Those are real thoughts.
John Lackey
I was kind of at. I was at that spot. Brittany and I had a long conversation, and she's like, you're not done yet. And I felt that in my heart, you know, awesome. But I was, you know, and guys go through that every year.
David Ross
We said it difficult. We said, sucks to suck.
John Lackey
Sucks to suck because there's so much on the line.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, I, I. Well, with you lack, you've been. You were so consistent for your entire career. But like you said, I was consistently. Okay, here's the deal.
John Lackey
I have to make a lot of money.
Anthony Rizzo
I relate to you because guys I play with, like, the superstars I played around, they were so much more talented than me. Yeah, I've seen these dudes hit bombs, and, like, for me, I always thought, like, right here was, like, the end all be all right because everyone's talented. And then Rossi, you were. You grinded for, you know, you played every day for a little bit.
David Ross
Yeah, yeah. No, like, you try to start and you try to. You want to do this. I became better in. In Chicago. I mean, in Atlanta, backing up Brian McCann and realized, like, man, I'm just gonna. I love the support staff role, and, like, I want to play a lot, but, like, I could. I couldn't handle a lot of the mental side. Like, I let 0 for 12s turn into over 24s. You know what I mean? And trying to hit four home runs and a bad. So I'm very thankful for the teams I've been on, the teammates, the people that affected me, made me a better person and teammate that affected me in winning teams, you know, and so getting to Boston and taking that to Chicago and doing that with John and how he treated me and all my. The things I've learned about what a big leaguer is, I get to manage with no experience. Like, there's a. There's a lot of great that baseball has given me, and it's all because of my teammates and things I've learned of just paying attention to. Wow, this guy makes me feel this way. You should treat people this way. Stuff like that and trying to grind. On the day I played, you were
Jake Arrieta
unbelievable at talking, like, kind of being where those guys were. Like, you could talk to people, you know where they were at. Like, you could. You really related to everyone.
David Ross
Well, I think the blessing, looking back on being able to do that because I had a bunch of different roles. I started for like a year and a half.
John Lackey
I had.
David Ross
I've been the backup. I know how hard it is to pinch hit. I know what, like, it's like to suck a lot and have some success and win and lose. So, like, being on that bounce around a bunch of different teams, see good managers, see bad managers. This is like, you know, you get perspective. Perspectives of. I think is a powerful thing in our game. Even being a dad. Like, yeah, you'll be able to teach Cooper and. And tell the kids. Like, you. You're able to tell everybody, oh, no, no. I'm doing my daughter right now. It's like, no, no. Like, trust me, I know how hard it is mentally to beat yourself up, but, like, you need to talk good to yourself. You know, stuff like that.
Jake Arrieta
Little.
David Ross
Little things that change the game.
John Lackey
Well, and like with. With Rossi, he's not having the longevity of the career that he had without that sort of character.
David Ross
Right.
John Lackey
And. And being that kind of a teammate. Right. Like, that's extremely rare.
Anthony Rizzo
I think all of us, too, though.
John Lackey
Well, sure, sure. But his ability to not say, no, I should. I should be this. This guy or that guy. Like, I am who I am.
David Ross
Sure, that's right.
John Lackey
And I'm going to be the best at it.
David Ross
That's right.
Anthony Rizzo
And you are.
David Ross
You're the best I can. Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
David Ross
You're the best out there.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
David Ross
You're the best out there. Worst in here. I saw Med Aquino the other day as I. Hey, man, oh, man.
Anthony Rizzo
As I got older in my career, it was like I enjoyed the. The cloudy days more than the sunny days because, like, I would just sit in my locker sometimes I'd laugh like, dude, this is so hard.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
But this is what makes those sunny days so much better.
David Ross
No doubt.
Anthony Rizzo
Right. When that sun comes out, it's a perfect day in Chicago or New York. It's like, this is why you do it. And struggle would really make me, like, embrace the success more because I was
John Lackey
like, yeah, but at the end of the day, you're still one of the best 1200 players on the planet.
David Ross
Yeah.
John Lackey
You know what I mean?
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. Perspective. Yeah.
John Lackey
That's like 12 or 1300 guys a year get to play in the big leagues or whatever the number is.
David Ross
Yeah, now you're one of them. Now I sit and watch like the World Series or games with, with people or friends or family, and the guy takes one right down the middle. Fouls off a heated right down the mid. They're like, why did he miss that? I'm like, easy, bro. Yeah, easy looks a lot easier.
Jake Arrieta
I am definitely not the one that says it's easy. I'm like, d, you guys are out of your mind.
Anthony Rizzo
You guys, I'm the same way, bro. I look, I'm like, does it easier? And I go, no, it looks cool. How do they hit that?
Jake Arrieta
No, they're better. Everybody throws a million. Like, when I first came up, there was like three guys in the league that threw 100. Now every team has three guys.
David Ross
Yeah, G was like the dot guy and he threw like 96. Yeah, right now 96 is a starter
Jake Arrieta
and it had game over on the fence when he came in.
David Ross
Exactly.
John Lackey
On that note, I got a question for you. Because you played, played for a long time and you played when guys, you saw some mid upper 90s, not very many, but then towards the end of your career, so a lot of it. How did you make those adjustments? Like as a, as a hitting staff, how did you, how did you guys make those adjustments? Or was it just like, you see it more and it just hand eye coordination or.
Anthony Rizzo
The league started turning in like 17, 18. That's when guys started throwing a lot harder, right. But they didn't know where it was going. So it would be hard and down the middle. So it was like, all right, you can gear up. They didn't have the secondary stuff yet. And then over the last six years, it was like, guys are not only throwing hard, but now they're doing all this different pitch sequencing that like, like has been new. The upper, the high fastballs. I think the Dodgers started in 17 and it was like, all right, now we gotta, we gotta make that adjustment up top.
Jake Arrieta
So.
Anthony Rizzo
And then the last few years it's like, dude, there's these guys are all throwing 100 miles an hour with 93 mile an hour sliders and change ups and it's.
John Lackey
And spotting it and spotting it and
David Ross
landed secondaries behind on the count. You're like, wait a minute, two zero. There's no, there's no such as a fastball count anymore.
Jake Arrieta
No.
Anthony Rizzo
So the preparation had to be. You had to really dive even harder into the prep. There wasn't. The days of two zero fastballs were, were gone. Right.
John Lackey
They might not see a fastball.
Anthony Rizzo
Exactly. So you really had to. To do your homework more. Actually, Schwarber said this to me, which makes so much sense for him as a player. He was like. For him, he thinks hitting is a lot simpler now because guys throw the ball down the middle more, which is true. They don't hit their spots as good as, like, you. You relied on.
David Ross
You guys were like, we came up.
Anthony Rizzo
You had. You had to power stuff. But, like, we relied on your stuff. Right. For sure. Where he's like, guys now miss so down the middle. And his eye is so good. He's like, I just swing at the stuff over the middle, which.
John Lackey
Regardless of the pitch.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, regardless of the pitch.
John Lackey
Yeah.
Anthony Rizzo
And I'm like, well, for you, that makes sense because you strike out a lot looking and, like, you have such a good eye. That's why he walks 100 plus times. Yeah.
David Ross
It was hard for me as a manager to start buying into catcher, setting down middle because of the way I was brought up in fastball, command and on the edges and stuff that when we were coming in.
John Lackey
So, like, we did that a lot, though.
David Ross
Yeah, we.
John Lackey
No, because of my stuff.
David Ross
Because your stuff. Because it went.
John Lackey
Because it made no sense for me to have you set up on the outside corner, inside corner, and I miss this far off. It's a ball, right? It's like, if my. My stuff's doing this, take my chances.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah. You know, but the evolution of the game is. Evolution of the game. The numbers and the analytics and all that is, I think, amazing if you. If you know how to use it the right way. It's great information, but like, anything in life, if you're oversaturated, then.
Jake Arrieta
Yeah, you're gonna be.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah, you're gonna be spinning too much. Well, this is.
David Ross
This is our. This is our process of, like, saying thanks to our teammates and having fun and putting this in a. In a series where we get to tell all the stories. So it's been really fun. So thank you for your time. Thank you for my ring, my two rings, and the watch. Okay. Yeah. All the jewelry. All the jewelry. We love you guys to death. I love you guys to death, man. You guys are the best. Thanks for opening your home for us and taking your time and final thoughts.
Anthony Rizzo
Dude, without we say this, without you guys, without everyone on that team, that puzzle isn't complete. And like, our relationship. Our relationship, it's like forever. And I love you guys. And seriously, without you, you. How much you both have taught me, I'd say Ross all the time. But you have taught me as a person, as a. As a player, as a. As a dad. Now is like, I take for the rest of my life. So thank you.
Jake Arrieta
Awesome.
John Lackey
Ultimate team game, man. Like, we can't. Couldn't. Couldn't have done it without you. Really.
David Ross
Love you, dad.
Anthony Rizzo
Yeah.
John Lackey
Love you, dad.
Anthony Rizzo
That is a rap.
John Lackey
That's a rap, boys.
David Ross
Thank you. Good work. Good stuff.
John Lackey
Done great.
Jake Arrieta
Boom. Killed it.
David Ross
You guys nailed it. I love what you guys are.
John Lackey
Our talent. So 14.
Episode: Jake Arrieta & John Lackey on no-hitters, beer fridges & more Cubs World Series tales
Hosts: Anthony Rizzo & David Ross
Guests: Jake Arrieta & John Lackey
Release Date: April 28, 2026
In this special 10th-anniversary episode of The Lovable Reunion, Anthony Rizzo and David Ross bring listeners inside the 2016 Chicago Cubs clubhouse with pitchers Jake Arrieta and John Lackey. Together, they revisit the unforgettable World Series run, sharing untold stories, clubhouse dynamics, pitching philosophies, personal growth, and the lasting brotherhood forged during that historic season. The conversation is candid, funny, deeply reflective, and loaded with fond memories and insider anecdotes.
On self-belief & overcoming adversity:
“I tweeted back at somebody and said, one day I’ll be an elite starter in the big leagues. You know, I just had that self-belief, man.” – Jake Arrieta (08:06)
On accountability & leadership:
“If you partake in some of the fun and you don’t show up and do your work, you lose the trust.” – John Lackey (52:01)
On the World Series rain delay:
“We didn’t come this far just, you know, to come this far. Like, we still had a great opportunity and I think the boys still believed.” – Jake Arrieta (77:09)
On winning as a brotherhood:
“When you’re doing that on a personal level, like you said, that’s when you win, in my opinion.” – Anthony Rizzo (42:07)
On the legacy with fans:
“Have you guys experienced that too? …I didn’t understand exactly how significant it was until more time has passed.” – John Lackey (79:43)
The conversation is a celebration of not just what was achieved on the field in 2016, but the family that made it possible, the obstacles overcome, and the memories that endure. Even ten years on, the lessons and camaraderie of the “Lovable Reunion” keep resonating as a blueprint for championship teams and lifelong friendships.