Jon Lester on SNAPPING at Anthony Rizzo, EPIC Cubs World Series stories, David Ross standing ovation

Summary

---

The Lovable Reunion: Jon Lester – Snapping at Rizzo, World Series Stories, and Legacy

Podcast: The Lovable Reunion
Host: iHeartMedia and The Volume
Episode: Jon Lester on SNAPPING at Anthony Rizzo, EPIC Cubs World Series stories, David Ross standing ovation
Date: April 7, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Chicago Cubs’ historic 2016 World Series victory. Anthony Rizzo and David Ross host a candid and wide-ranging conversation with ace pitcher Jon Lester, uncovering untold clubhouse stories, emotional turning points, team rituals, and the inside dynamics that powered the Cubs through their curse-breaking season.

The episode is deeply personal, balancing humor, nostalgia, and honest reflection, as the trio revisit the high stakes and intense camaraderie that fueled their championship run. From behind-the-scenes contract negotiations and private jet deals, to leadership lessons, awkward confrontations, and the wild off-field experiences that made their team family, this is the ultimate inside look at baseball’s most lovable champions.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Jon Lester’s Arrival in Chicago: Changing the Culture (03:41 – 13:12)

• Process of Signing with the Cubs

  • Lester describes a tense, emotional free agency, contemplating a Red Sox return before being convinced by Theo Epstein’s vision for Chicago.
  • “Theo can sell ice to an Eskimo… sitting in there and seeing what they were doing with Wrigley, the vision… once they hired Joe [Maddon], it was kind of like, all right, this is real.” — Jon Lester (04:24)
  • Hilarious reveal about learning he had “25 hours on NetJets” in his contract only when he saw it on TV the next morning (05:24).

• Recruiting David Ross

  • Legendary Bub City negotiation story: a late-night plea by Lester to bring Ross to the Cubs, followed by Theo Epstein’s silent haggling (“Two, five. Two, five.”) with a beer stein in hand (09:53 – 12:33).
  • “See if you can get me five and a half.” — David Ross
  • “He just keeps doing it.” — Jon Lester, describing Theo’s stone-faced negotiating tactic.

• Instant Cultural Shift

  • Rizzo credits Lester’s arrival for making the Cubs believe they could win: “When you walked in that door, it changed. I don’t know if you ever got the proper respect for how much you changed that culture.” (12:40)

---

Leadership, Intensity, and Routines: Lessons from Boston to Chicago (14:10 – 30:40)

• Accountability and Boston Influence

  • Lester recounts how the pressure-cooker environment of Boston shaped his relentless routine, making accountability non-negotiable.
  • Details his rituals, superstitions (e.g., “lucky” boxers and specific drinks on start day), and how routine calms nerves in high-stress moments.

• Rising to Expectations

  • David Ross calls Lester “the most routine-oriented pitcher I’ve ever been around.” (26:00)
  • The team learned professionalism, preparation, and how accountability drives performance.

Notable Quote

“If you win, people want you.” — Jon Lester (116:30)

---

Cancer, Inspiration, and Full Circle (17:50 – 22:16)

• Personal Connection
  • Anthony Rizzo shares how Lester inspired him during his own cancer battle, recounting the powerful moment Lester encouraged him as a scared 18-year-old.
  • Rizzo: “You changed my life. You told me, ‘On days you feel good, go be a kid.’ I still send that message to every kid I ever talk to.” (18:38)
  • They reminisce about Rizzo fainting in the Red Sox clubhouse hours after his first treatment and facing Lester the next spring.

---

The 2016 Season: Mindset, Turning Points & Clubhouse Drama

Relentlessness and Setting the Tone (39:39 – 42:00)

• Spring Training Mindset
  • Team embraced pressure: “Expectations are good. Embrace the target.” — David Ross (42:00)
  • Cubs’ spring was joyous and competitive, featuring inside jokes, karaoke, and tight camaraderie.

Snapping at Rizzo: Accountability the Hard Way (42:29 – 47:50)

• The Pittsburgh “Pitching” Incident
  • Rizzo’s public comment about “cleaning up our pitching” leads to a fiery clubhouse confrontation.
  • Lester: “If you ever talk about our pitching staff again, I’ll kill you.” (45:33)
  • Rizzo: “I was in such a vulnerable position… He’s standing over me, face beet red. I was so scared.” (45:33)
  • The episode underscores accountability and veteran-led culture — criticism stays internal, never public.

“Basically, you taught me a lesson that day that I carried with me for the rest of my career.” — Rizzo (46:52)
“You play sports to win.” — Lester (122:06)

The “Pebble Beach” Road Trip & Team Bonding (51:08 – 57:35)

• Legendary Team Trip
  • After a dramatic comeback against Seattle, Lester treats the core group to a private jet golf getaway at Pebble Beach, cementing team unity.
  • “We wanted to be together all the time, on the field and off.” — Rizzo (54:53)
  • Emphasizes how off-field bonding drove on-field chemistry.

---

World Series Run: Inside Stories & Iconic Moments

Emotional Highs: The Playoffs & World Series (63:07 – 126:17)

• Lester’s Playoff Mentality & Preparation

  • “I loved when it mattered… I never looked to see who I was pitching against. I didn’t care.” (63:50)

• Game 7, The Roller Coaster

  • Behind-the-scenes: bullpen chaos, the importance of Travis Wood reigning Lester in during long warm-ups, and Lester’s nerves watching from the dugout.
  • Chaos of the rain delay and Jason Heyward’s impromptu team speech: “It was like a simultaneous deep breath… J. Hey starts talking… I don’t remember the words. I just remember him saying, ‘We have a restart, we’re zero-zero.’” — Lester (99:42)
  • Schwarber’s improbable return and pivotal hit, Rizzo’s numbness at first base, and the emotional victory.
  • Rizzo: “I was literally numb… just playing with dirt, couldn’t feel anything. This curse is real.” (101:54)

• Championship Parade & Celebration (111:00+)

  • 5 million people flood Chicago; wild bus stories (power lines, camera crews, tampons for nosebleeds).
  • Secret whiskey from 1908 is shared with their dads post-victory, highlighting generational significance.
  • Lester, the “giant teddy bear” and team dad, treats everyone as family.

Standing Ovation for David Ross: A Quiet Hero (60:00 – 63:07)

• Ross’ Iconic Exit
  • Lester orchestrates a surprise by asking Maddon to pull Ross for a standing ovation: “No one gives the standing ovation to a backup catcher.” (62:59)

---

Reflections, Legacy, and Lessons

Enjoying the Ride & Final Thoughts (117:08 – 126:17)

• Advice to 2016 Self
  • “Enjoy it more. Relish in it. I do wish I would have put just a tick more effort into some relationships when I was playing.” — Lester (117:26)
  • Rizzo credits Lester for teaching him humility, leadership, and “Instagram vs. reality.”

“You changed my life as a 25-year-old. Now I’m 36… I don’t think you understand how much you mean to me.” — Rizzo (122:40)

• Lasting Bonds
  • “You play sports to win… I didn’t do it for the story on ESPN… because I loved you guys.” — Lester (121:56)
  • The theme of “brothers for life” resounds, underscoring that great teams are built not just on talent, but love and accountability.

---

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “I’m not rich, I’m wealthy. I have rich people that work for me.” — Jon Lester (02:04), quoting Josh Beckett
• “You took the, when you walked in that door, it changed… being there before you came in was like, this is real. And we’re gonna win now because you’re a winner.” — Rizzo (12:39)
• “If you would pitch better, I could get more at bats.” — David Ross to Lester, post-game ribbing (34:49)
• “Hangovers are temporary. Legends last forever.” — Lester & Rizzo (126:24)

---

Major Timestamps

• Signing Lester / Changing Culture: 03:41 – 13:12
• Recruiting David Ross/Bub City Story: 08:23 – 12:33
• Lester & Rizzo: Cancer Connection: 17:50 – 22:16
• Pitching Routines & Preparation: 14:10 – 30:40
• 2016 Fast Start & Relentlessness: 39:39 – 42:00
• Pittsburgh Snapping Incident: 42:29 – 47:50
• Pebble Beach Team Trip: 51:08 – 57:35
• World Series Game 7 Bullets: 87:04 – 99:10
• Rain Delay/Heyward Speech: 99:37 – 101:09
• Ross Standing Ovation: 60:00 – 63:07
• Legacy & Final Reflection: 117:08 – 126:30

---

Tone & Language

• A mix of irreverent humor, sharp banter, and heartfelt gratitude.
• Reflective, raw, and at times deeply emotional (“I don’t think you really understand how much you mean to me.” — Rizzo).

---

In Summary

This episode puts you in the room for baseball history, laughter, vulnerability, and the powerful brotherhood that made the Cubs’ 2016 season so magical. Jon Lester’s leadership, candor, and hidden acts of generosity shine, as Rizzo and Ross reveal how his presence transformed not just a franchise but their own lives. Whether you’re a diehard Cubs fan or lover of great sports stories, you’ll walk away understanding why those 2016 Cubs will always be legends — and how champions look after one another behind the scenes.

Transcript

[John Lester]

Neighbor Gable.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go

[David Ross]

to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Hey, everyone. Check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[John Lester]

Oh, no.

[David Ross]

We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league anyways.

[David Ross]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.

[Anthony Rizzo]

All right, you ready?

[John Lester]

I'm nervous.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Tony, do you know what to do with your hands?

[David Ross]

Get to work.

[John Lester]

Let's do it.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Ready?

[David Ross]

Lock it in. I'm ready.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I'm nervous.

[John Lester]

Do you know how you can start this?

[Anthony Rizzo]

I'm nervous. Practicing this for three months, John.

[John Lester]

Okay. Shouldn't you let the professional do the introduction?

[David Ross]

No, he's. He's. He's put a lot of work into this.

[John Lester]

This would be good. All right, fair enough.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Thanks.

[David Ross]

I'm like the arm can.

[John Lester]

You're the talent.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I'm the.

[David Ross]

You're the true great one.

[Anthony Rizzo]

All right, guys, shut up.

[John Lester]

Y' all should have been rolling now. Oh, perfect. Perfect.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Okay, I'm nervous. Let's do this. Welcome this week's episode of the lovable reunion. Three time World Series champion, five time All Star, top five in the Cy Young three different times. 200 career wins, an insane four, and one World Series record with a 177 ERA. And fellow cancer survivor Johnny Lester.

[David Ross]

Yes. Number 34 in your programs. Number one in our hearts. Just so you know.

[John Lester]

I appreciate that.

[David Ross]

I appreciate the Left hander. We got so many. We got so many nicknames for you, but we got to set the scene. All right, we're here at John's Farm.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Sanctuary.

[David Ross]

Sanctuary.

[Anthony Rizzo]

31.

[David Ross]

31 Boston days.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We think it should be 34.

[John Lester]

But, hey, it was. There was a time and a place when it was.

[David Ross]

He started making money early.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

Actually, on that note, John, how rich are you?

[John Lester]

Well, Rossi, I'm not rich. I'm wealthy. I have rich people that work for me.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I've lived my life by that quote, and I don't have any rich people really working for me, so I don't really know where.

[John Lester]

I can't fully take that. I stole it from Josh Beckett, so. So I got to give him credit for that saying. I learned that a long time ago from him.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah. Your. Your cast of veterans that you played with are so intimidating to me years later.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And like, anytime I ever see Tim Wakefield or rest in peace, Wakey. But Beckett, who is it, Josh? Tom? Tomlin? Timlin.

[John Lester]

Oh, Mike Timlin.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Mike Timlin. I'm just terrified of all those guys because of the stories I heard from you. And I walked into that clubhouse one time, and Beckett was on the table when I was. When you're taking me around, which we'll get into. And I was, like, so terrified walking in that clubhouse, but how do you think I felt? Yeah, I know. I've heard all the stories, Johnny. You signing in Chicago in 15 was. It's the greatest signing in Cubs history. And what that simplified for our team was the most amazing feeling as someone who was there, who lost 100 games. And we stunk, and we were getting better. And then all of a sudden, we get Joe Madden that signs out of nowhere, and then the biggest free agent on the market, John Lester, comes and signs with us, and we're like, what is going on? Like, take us through that free agency process. Take us. Why? You believed in us because we stunk, and you were the best pitcher on the market. So why. Why did you sign with us? How did that go, man?

[John Lester]

I mean, wasn't an easy process. It was a fun process. Looking back on it, I wish I would have kind of relished in it a little bit more. It was, you know, at the time, when you're going through all of that, it's very stressful because, you know, I mean, at the end of the day, I got traded to Oakland, and I wanted to go back to Boston, right? Like, hey, yeah, trade me. We stink. Make your team better, hopefully. And then we'll come back in a few months and make it. Make it right. Right? Like, we'll go back to winning. And, you know, it's kind of like you break up with your first girlfriend, she dumps you, and then she kind of gives you a glimmer of hope that you might get back together and then stabs you in the back again.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Oh, yeah.

[John Lester]

So that. Been there, right? I mean, am I say anyway. But during the whole process, it was the Red Sox the whole time. And then we went up to Chicago, met with Theo and. And Tom and. And Crane and, you know, the whole cast. And as you guys know, Theo, I think, can sell ice to an Eskimo, you know, and sitting in there and seeing what they were doing with Wrigley and Wrigleyville and the team and the vision and all this stuff, and no offense to Render re. I don't know, know the man, but once they hired Joe, it was kind of like, all right, this is real. You know what I'm saying? And, I mean, Theo made it hard not to turn down.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I mean, what made it hard, John? The. Was it 187 million?

[John Lester]

It was 55.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Okay, sorry. Was it the private jet hours that you threw into your contract?

[John Lester]

Okay, so I'll tell you funny story.

[Anthony Rizzo]

What was the. What was the.

[John Lester]

I'll tell you funny story about the private jet deal. So we agree to the deal. Me and my family go out to dinner, we celebrate. You know, it hasn't been announced yet. I think they've only told. Or like, we've only told Theo or whatever. Had too much to drink at dinner, go to bed, wake up the next morning, turn on MLB Channel. And they're. You know how MLB channel, they scroll across the bottom, like the. The details of the contract. So I'm sitting there watching it, take kids to school, watching it, and I see 25 hours on NetJets. I'm like, huh? Wait a second. Pull a phone, call my agent. I'm like, dude, I got 25 hours on NetJets. He goes, yeah, we kind of got that in there. I had no idea that was part of the deal when it went down. But that was. I mean, to be honest with you, that was the best thing.

[David Ross]

Well, you had a hard time. I remember coming to the Christmas party you had.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

And San Francisco, you said, pitched a really nice buster and. And boats came in and pitch it. And then you were like, hey, what do you think about Chicago?

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

And like, from then on, you were just quiet, and it was all. It was all working. But, like, that was. That was a really big decision. I remember how much it would weigh in on you.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

And. And all your history, your kids growing up being, you know, born in Bost. And. Haven't you had a house there?

[John Lester]

Yes, we had a house there. And, you know, I mean, at the end of the day, I don't want to say the Red Sox made it easy just based on how they were operating at the time, but they made it easier. The hard part at the end is, you know, when you're at that point in your career, you want. You have a vision of kind of how long you want to play for. Right. And mine was seven. I wanted seven years, however that looked, whatever. However structure you wanted. I. I thought, okay, seven years gives me the best opportunity in a city to hopefully win, do some personal things, kind of, you know, get your roots in that city.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Build a legacy.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Like, get your legacies in Boston. And you have Legacies in Chicago. And you have a small legacy in Oakland.

[John Lester]

Small. Very small. And D.C. and even a smaller one in St. Louis.

[Anthony Rizzo]

200.

[John Lester]

But, you know, San Francisco comes in, and they. They're at six years. Six years, six years. And all of a sudden, they come. They go, all right, we'll give you the guaranteed seventh. And you're like, I don't want to go back out to the west coast, even though I'm from there. My family's here, you know, and it's like, how do you do this? How would you navigate it? And. And all that. And then ultimately, it was like, you know, we'll just play the cards and see how they fall, and hopefully I'm good enough at the sixth year where my option gets picked up and we ride off into the sunset. You know, obviously, that didn't happen, but, I mean, I don't obviously don't regret the decision of. Of coming over.

[David Ross]

So you go to Chicago, you have your signing. A big group of you guys went out to celebrate that night.

[John Lester]

Yeah, I know where you're going with this.

[David Ross]

Can you walk me through what happened that night?

[John Lester]

So we go. I forgot even where we were.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I'm assuming you were overserved.

[David Ross]

Bub City, I think.

[John Lester]

City Shout out. Bub City. Best fireball in town. It's homemade, in case you guys didn't know. It's their own recipe. Really? Yeah, it's. It's pretty.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That's pretty sick. That's a good plug.

[John Lester]

So we go to Bub City. It's Theo, Jed, me, my family, my agents, and we're sitting there talking, and we're going over, like, kind of new play, like, what they need to kind of fill the roster for the team. And I'm like, y' all got a backup catcher? And they're like. They go, no. I go, you need to sign Rossi. I forgot who said it. They're like, well, you know, his ops and this and that has gone down over the last couple years. And I'm like, yeah, but you need. You need a veteran. Veteran dude that knows what his role is when he comes. When he walks through that door. There's no. I'm competing for the starting job. I'm. This is my job. I'm here to pick up. I think. I think we had traded for Miggy at that time.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yep.

[John Lester]

Yeah, I'm here to pick up Miggy when he needs a break, and then he would obviously catch me. So I get to. I mean, I'm bugging the hell out of Theo, and finally, he's like, it's two in the morning. We're the only people in bub city. And he goes, you get him on the phone, we'll work a deal out. As a kid, say, bet. All right.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Your culture.

[John Lester]

Prove it. Like, here. Okay, here we go. Pull the phone up.

[David Ross]

Three in the morning, Florida time.

[John Lester]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Forgot that. So two in the morning. Three in the morning there. I called his phone seven times. No answer.

[David Ross]

I'm waking up going, oh, John's drunk.

[John Lester]

Yeah. Yeah. Like, this is the. This is. Hey, man, what are you doing? Phone call. But. So I'm like, I go far. Do you have Hila's number? And she's like, yeah. I go, call her right now.

[David Ross]

How it goes? This is.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That's a.

[David Ross]

That's eras calling me. Because I was like, who is that? I was like, it's John. He's hammered. She said, it's fair. I was like, okay, I should probably answer this.

[Anthony Rizzo]

What if you didn't answer? Think about how history is not written the way it was. Yeah.

[David Ross]

Thank God for Farah.

[John Lester]

We can prepare for a lot.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Damn.

[John Lester]

So he an. He h. Gives him the phone. I'm like, hey, bro, I'm sitting here with Theo. Do you want to come to Chicago? And he's like, yeah, let's do it. So I'm sitting. He's like. I'm like, all right. What would it take to get you here? He goes, man, if you get me five and a half, that'd be great. Or six. You started at six. He goes, two for six. So, mind you, and I don't remember bub city having these after the fact, but Theo had this mug, like an Oktoberfest mug of beer. And I'm on the phone in one of those booths, and Theo's standing there

[Anthony Rizzo]

at 2:00am At 2:00am okay.

[David Ross]

All right.

[John Lester]

And I go, hey, he wants two for six. And Theo starts drinking his beer. He just goes. He just keeps doing this over and wouldn't say a word. Just keeps going, two, five. Two, five. So I'm like, rossi, he's saying, two, five. He's like, all right, see if you can get me five and a half.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You caved real quick.

[David Ross]

I'm like, I'm going with Lester to Chicago. Let's go.

[John Lester]

I was like. I was like, dude, Theo, he wants to. He wants five and a half. He just. He's still. This beer.

[Anthony Rizzo]

What a. What a g, dude.

[John Lester]

Two for five. Just back and forth. And I'm like, damn it, Rossy. He's.

[Anthony Rizzo]

He's five dude, this is one of the most established baseball executives of all time.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And this is how he's negotiating. Yeah, I'm going to start doing that for now on.

[John Lester]

And he.

[David Ross]

Dude, don't say a word.

[John Lester]

And he sits there, and he just keeps doing it. And I tell. I tell Rossi, I go, man, he's two for five. He's like, all right. It's like silence. I think I'm like, still good. Got the phone. He goes, all right, I'll take it. See if you can get me a suite on the road.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No way.

[David Ross]

I woke up the next morning. My agent was. So I said, I think I just came.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I remember.

[David Ross]

And we had the same agent. I was like, I think we just came to terms with Chicago for two for five. He's like, what? What are you talking about? He's getting Theo on the phone, cussing him out. But, bro, you. That. That is like. That's like. It's so funny how that went down to me. I. Like, nobody would ever. I don't think we've told that story.

[John Lester]

Nah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You came in, though, and you completely shifted the culture there. And we had great veterans before. I mean, with Soriano, Stellen Castro, Edwin Jackson, Reed Johnson, Jeff Baker, Dempster. Great veterans. But when you walked in that door, it changed.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And I don't know if you ever knew that. I don't think you ever got the actual proper respect and Runway that you. How much you change that culture. But being there for the time I was there beforehand, and you coming in was like, this is real.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And we're going to win now because you're a winner, and you bring in soon to be Grandpa Rossi with you, and he's a winner. And the respect you guys deem. Dude, that first spring training, that first day in 2015, I think you threw a live BP, and it was the most electric, intense, live batting practice to this day I've ever seen. And I was like, holy. Like, these two are legit.

[John Lester]

When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters.

[Anthony Rizzo]

But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more.

[John Lester]

Grainger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That's why Grainger offers millions of products

[David Ross]

in fast, dependable delivery, so you can

[John Lester]

keep your facility stocked, safe, and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop

[Anthony Rizzo]

by Granger for the ones who get it done.

[David Ross]

I think a lot more than me.

[John Lester]

I think that's part of, you know, growing up in Boston, though, too. Right. Like, you get to Boston and the. The media microscope there and the fan microscope is, is. I mean, it's so honed on you that when you show up to spring training, it's not like, I'll tell the story about dimp Ryan Dempster 2013 or 2000. Yeah, 13. So we're coming off 12. It's my worst year of my career, and we got our asses kicked all year.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And that was your boy downtown, right? That was the whole disaster.

[John Lester]

Yeah. And so we. We get to spring training, and, dude, I've been throwing bullpens for like a month and a half. And when. I mean bullpens, like the last six bullpens, I faced hitters before I left home and got to spring training. So first day of bullpens, you know, I'm telling the pitching coach, Juan Nieves at the time, I'm like, hey, dude, I'm. I'm throwing a 50 or 60 pitch bullpen. Like, I'm. I'm. We're getting locked in, and Demps on the other end of the six pack or whatever, and he hears me say that and he walks down. He goes, you're throwing what? He goes, this is the first day of camp, dude. I go, yeah, what about it? He goes, I haven't thrown off the mound yet. You know what I'm saying? Like, nothing against them. He was a little bit older in his career. He knew it worked for him, and that's how he did it. But I was so upset about the way the year went before and got, you know, crushed and all that stuff for my performance, which I deserved, but it was like, all right, the accountability needs to be. I need to be ready. I need to be accountable for what happened last year, and I need to get off to a good start. Point I'm trying to make is Boston makes you think that way. Even though it's day one of spring, there's 50 some odd media people sitting there and they're looking at you, seeing how you throw your bullpen and how

[Anthony Rizzo]

you go about it, it's another level.

[John Lester]

Yeah. And so coming to Chicago, you know, of talking to him and, and few other people getting there, it's like, hey, dude, just be yourself. Dive into your routine. Dive into what you do. Yeah, I probably wasn't the most sociable person, but I disagree.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, you just got to get. Break down the barriers.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

You got to get past the resting face, but other than that, you're good.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I don't care why. I don't ever get any compliments?

[David Ross]

Oh, yeah. I was like, why is everybody like, you guys? Like, because I smile at him, John.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I just. Bro, we were in. Whenever we went back to Boston, I was with. He was a Cubs employee at the time, Jeff McGee, one of our good friends. And we were in, like, a little dive bar with all his friends, and they're from, like, Lowell, Massachusetts, so they have the thick accents, and we're boozing a little bit. It was after a game. And his boys are just like, we're talking about you. And they're just pissed off that the Red Sox didn't sign you back. And they're like, there's no price for Johnny Lester. You should have got him when he was on sale. Referencing. They signed David Price.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And Chris Sale. And they just kept the whole, there's no price for Johnny Lester. You should have got him on sale. And like, bro, these thick. The passionate fans. There's only so many fan bases like that. You've played for two, I play for two. You've played. You know, it's just. It's different.

[John Lester]

It's different.

[Anthony Rizzo]

It's different. And Chicago is one of those places as well.

[John Lester]

It very much is. And, you know, it's. It's a little bit easier just because, like, the way I like to talk about it is you got the Midwest people little more laid back, kind of. Little bit. And then you got in the Northeast, which is, you know, you cross the street wrong and you're getting, you know, you're getting ridiculed about it.

[David Ross]

Well, you guys had a Boston connection you should talk about.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Well, the dude you signing, too, was, like, full circle moment for me, because in 08, when I was diagnosed with cancer, John was my. Was part of my inspiration. It was Lance Armstrong, John Lester.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And I was in Boston, and there was a rain delay at the stadium, and Theo has said, hey, do you want to go down and meet Lester and Tito and see the clubhouse and stuff? And I was like, absolutely. So little does John know that he's bringing some minor leaguer in, that he's going to pep him up. Like, probably get word, hey, this kid just got diagnosed with cancer, and he brings me in and changed my life. He tells me, hey, man, like, you're going to go through this. You're going to feel good, you're going to feel bad on days you feel good. Go out and be yourself. Go be a kid. And, like, I still send that message to every single.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Kid I ever talk to, because it's true.

[John Lester]

Well, and Especially with cancer, man, it's so hard because you're going through the treatments and you know the feeling of it where, you know, some days after treatments you wake up and you're like, man, I. I could go do my normal training and hit and run and do all that stuff. And then some days you feel like you can't get out of bed.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Like you were just like.

[John Lester]

To go to the bathroom is.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yep.

[John Lester]

Is a damn, you know, spectacle.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So you, you telling me that though, and you kind of showing me that way.

[John Lester]

Was this before or after you fainted?

[Anthony Rizzo]

Exactly. So I'm in. We're in. Yeah, bro. It was. Cuz I just had my first treatment like a day before. But it does. Your first one doesn't kick in for like two or three days. So we go to the game and I'm like trying to be strong, right? I'm 18 years old, I'm on top of the world. Like, I've got to show these executives that, like, I'm the guy, right? Like. And he's showing me around and then we're talking, he's telling me all this stuff and it's all hitting me like I have cancer. Like, I didn't even know what cancer was. And all of a sudden we're in like this little hallway and I just like, drop. And John just goes, can we get this kid of water, bro? I'm not kidding. Like, I'm so embarrassed, right? And everything hits me and I just fall down to my knees and like, thought I was gonna die. And he's like, can we get him a water? And then fast forward to spring training next year. John is. It's a spring training game. I don't know, the team must have been on the road. He didn't feel like going or something. So he's pitching on the back fields. So I was back in, in camp and they called me over one of the minor league, you know, slap dicks to come over and face him. And I was so excited. And I got two at bats off John Lester. I was like, yeah, I'm pumped. Like, I wonder if he remembers me. There's no way he remembered me. I get two at bats, I see six pitches and I strike out twice. Strike one, strike two, strike three twice. And I got home. I got home and I called my mom and dad and I was so excited. I was like, guys, they picked me to face John Lester. Like, do you think you remembered me

[John Lester]

now that you say that?

[David Ross]

I actually.

[John Lester]

No, I do remember it. But now that you say that, it was the six pitches. I think that's where. Where tech invented the front hip cutter.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

And we were.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Does that make sense?

[John Lester]

Yeah, we've been. Yeah, we'd been work. You know, I've been just thinking.

[Anthony Rizzo]

It wasn't for me.

[David Ross]

Never seen that in the minor leagues. Yeah. Lester Cutter.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Never.

[John Lester]

And I think they called you over because you were a lefty. And it was like, all right, we're throwing the front.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Please, John, don't. This is why they say don't be your heroes. Just. Just give it to me. But then in 2014, we're at the same All Star game, and another full circle moment for me. Right. This is a guy I like, leaned on hard through my cancer treatment and process. And I like, go up to him like, hey, like, kind of remember me? And he did. Or he played it off like he did.

[John Lester]

I did.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You still play it off. And we're talking. I'm just, hey, man, like, Chicago's a great place. Try to recruit him at in Minnesota. And then you sign and it's just like, it was the best feeling ever. But I. I left out after I fainted. His very next start was his arguably most special start of your career, which I take full credit for. He threw a no hitter.

[John Lester]

You remind me.

[Anthony Rizzo]

He threw a no hitter after he met with me and the Italian family that I have. It's all numbers and signs. So him throwing the no hitter was signs from the heavens. It was all for me.

[David Ross]

He felt bad for you.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah. Yeah.

[David Ross]

Little fan in front of him. That's so great. All right, I want to Fast forward to 16.

[John Lester]

All right.

[David Ross]

Yeah, we talked a little bit about that. I'm going to read off your stats. 19 and 5. A 202 ERA, 32 games started, 202 innings. Second the Cy Young, lowest ERA and WHIP of your career. Two complete games, 3 and 1 in the playoffs. Six games, five. Started 35 innings in the postseason with a 2:02. What's your favorite stat in that? Seriously?

[John Lester]

200 innings.

[David Ross]

I knew you're going to say that you loved posting, bro.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Why?

[John Lester]

If you would have read the starts, I probably would have gone 1 1a starts and then 1b innings. Because you mean you means that my. I'm accountable for my teammates, like the hardest part of a pitcher. So like, you guys, you know, later in your career, you didn't play every day, but you had to post every day.

[David Ross]

Right.

[John Lester]

Like you were there. Something hits the fan, you got to go in the game. You got to be ready. Sure. My ass. For four days Go, team. I have. No, I have.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I don't know, John, I saw your skit for those four days, and it was literally a dream. Golf.

[John Lester]

Come on, now.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The next day was some sort of fast food in the clubhouse. The myth is true.

[John Lester]

If it was a day game, yes. If it was a night game. Well, probably.

[Anthony Rizzo]

If it wasn't, you're golfing. But definitely Popeyes. You know. You know, you taught me, which you never even talked about this. It was just by example. And leading by example is you literally, as a pitcher, would stay out all night. You'd have fun and enjoy. But the next day, I saw you, one of the first guys in the weight room, busting your ass.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And it's like, you didn't need to do that. Like, your resume and your pedigree spoke for itself. But to see you do that after the night out meant more than just to see you do it after a good start or something, because that's what it takes to be a professional. And seeing you do that every day and week in and week out was, like, it was so cool to watch.

[John Lester]

Yeah. And, I mean, they learned that in Boston with, you know, with Beckett, and, you know, I kind of got thrown under his. His wing early in his. In my career. Early in his career. And Beckett was that way. It was just, hey, man, you gotta out prepare the other guy, you know? And I never looked. I wasn't like, SHIELD would always look at who he was facing in five days and be like, all right, I'm gonna. He wasn't. He was big in the weight room, but not big in the weight room. He was more of a. I'm gonna out study this guy. I'm gonna have a better game plan than him. I'm going to last longer in the game than him, and I'm. I'm just gonna outperform him. He was thinking, like, I'm competing against that guy. I never liked that analogy. I like. Because I don't ever face that dude. Right. Like, I'm not. I'm not going against him. He's pitching on the other side. I'm going against the team. Right. And so, like, I learned that if I'm prepared and my teammates know I'm prepared, they're going to play harder behind me. Not to say that people take games off or plays off or whatever, but.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No, we were ready.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You took the. When.

[John Lester]

You know what I'm saying? Like, you knew that I was ready.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We had you, and we had him. So we knew we were. What was the line? You Said yesterday with the three pound fishing pole.

[John Lester]

Oh, you couldn't get three pound fishing line on my ass.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That was. That was all. Most of the defenders, like, everyone was on edge as far as, like, you better be ready.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And same with Lack. You.

[John Lester]

You.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Like, the cowboys demanded that respect, and it was real.

[David Ross]

Well, when you guys. You. We watched you prepare. I obviously, like, I just caught you, but, like, you're. You had a. You were the most routine oriented pitcher I've ever been around.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I could take you through your entire routine right now.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Starts the day before you're doing your film, sometime before the. The game, after the game, the night before you start, you pour yourself a stiff crown and Sprite Y. Right.

[John Lester]

As a sleeper.

[Anthony Rizzo]

As a sleeper. You get in, you do your flush day, right?

[David Ross]

This like you.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You.

[David Ross]

Was that the treadmill?

[Anthony Rizzo]

No, this is. This is the start day now.

[David Ross]

Oh, start day.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You get in, you do your Bob Tuksberry shout out to one of the greatest sports psychologists, put his headphones in. Headphones. Do your cards, go over your scouting report again, take your little cat nap, and then you throw on. Well, first off, I forgot the superstitions. Boxers. Are you wearing those today?

[John Lester]

No, I'm not.

[Anthony Rizzo]

John had these boxers that he wore.

[John Lester]

I had two pair. One pair I wore so much, the crotch got worn out of them, and I actually took them to a tailor.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I remember you told me this had

[John Lester]

new fabric put in them. And then.

[David Ross]

You're lucky. Boxers.

[John Lester]

Yeah, I hadn't heard that one. And then for Christmas one year, my wife got tired of seeing these holy boxers, so she got me a set, like. So normally I wear, like, the tight ones. The briefs or whatever they're called.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, but on start day, they're like the loose.

[John Lester]

Yeah, they're the loose ones. Okay. And so one Christmas, she gets me these. This box of three from Ralph Lauren or whatever and gets the sanctuary logo put on them. And they're all three different colors. So in spring training that year, I had test runs. So, like, I wore this pair. Yeah. Which one? If I pitch good in this one. All right, we're gonna give this one another run. If it doesn't go well, I switched to the next one. And then by the season, I had a pair, and then I wore that pair the rest of the time.

[David Ross]

And the. And the camo.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The camo, that was like. I remember too, like, you being one of my guys, I looked up to the most, and I tried to get that. And you had to live strong cleats. That one year, it Was like, we

[John Lester]

did that a couple years. Yeah, that was cool.

[Anthony Rizzo]

But then you do that. Then you, you. Then you just start laser focusing it. Yeah, yeah, but you're superstition.

[John Lester]

Five o'. Clock.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The five o'. Clock.

[John Lester]

Five o' clock is I always had

[David Ross]

to go to you and do the scouting report because he'd be getting rubbed down on the table. And we just go over the scouting board again for like, you had already done it and you were. If you had anything, it was, it was. I'd be like, hey, we're gonna throw this guy. Cut her in. He'd be like, no, no, back. It'd be like, no, no, no babies. No babies back there.

[John Lester]

No babies.

[David Ross]

Backdoor, no babies. I was like, okay, so we're throwing a backdoor cutter to this guy. It was. You were, you were, you were just a professional.

[John Lester]

Well, of a player, but also too, like, I realized at an early age with the routine, you know, I get kind of thrown in to game four of the World Series in 07. You know, I'm 22 years old and

[Anthony Rizzo]

I'm in the bullpen coming off cancer the year before.

[John Lester]

Yeah, coming off cancer. I had no eyebrows, I had less hair than I have now when I showed up spring training and you know, go through the season, up and down the season, like just physically, mentally get called up, went down for a start, yada, yada, get to the playoffs. And, you know, luckily John Farrell, I heard this later on, he fought for me to be on the roster. Fought he wanted me on the roster. He thought that I could be, you know, some sort of guy in the bullpen that could help out or whatever. So I'm in the bullpen, wakey pitches, game. I think it was Game 4 in Cleveland and comes out because he's hurt. He hurt his arm. And so I get called in the office after we win and they're like, hey, you're going to get a start in this series at some point. Well, now I'm back to being a starter. So what do you do? You immediately fall right back into your routine. Right. And I just remember being so nervous going out there, but I'm like, all right, I have, you know, leg kicks here or I have this stretch or I have this. And I just kept falling back to that, right? Like I'd get to the outfield and I'd look around and start, you know, getting the jitters. All right, what am I doing? What is my warm up routine coming back. And then now you start throwing and first throw, you're like, oh, God. Okay. All right. Where do I go from here? You know, I do 10 throws here, and then I go here, and then I. Then you get into the bullpen. And now, like, my routine was so locked in from my warm up that everything just went away. Now it's like, all right, three fastballs. Three fastballs. This, this. Boom, boom, boom. Now you get in the game. Now you're pitching. And so at an early age, I learned like, oh, the routine actually calms you down.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Sure.

[John Lester]

You know what I'm saying? Like, so then from that moment on, I was like, this is what I'm doing.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

It prepares you way to handle that.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So what happened with. Where what got lost between spring training, all the PFPs and backfield work? What happened? Where was the routine on pickoffs?

[John Lester]

There was no routine.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No, I know, I know, but we did it. We nailed it.

[John Lester]

Yeah, we did.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I mean, it took a very long time. We got it, but what the happened?

[John Lester]

So I tell people this. If I knew, I would fix it.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We fixed it, though.

[John Lester]

Well, it's easy when it's just like when you go, you know, I tell. I have, you know, playing golf and stuff with people and you get to know new guys and, you know, they get a few beverages in them and they think they could have liquid courage and ask whatever they want. And they ask about that. And I go, hey, with all due respect. With all due respect, I'm like, hey, dude, have you ever stood over a chip and you're like, I got this. And then all of a sudden you spasm and you can't hit it? They go, oh, yeah, all the time. I go, like, it's the same thing.

[Anthony Rizzo]

What it feel like, though, when we picked off Tommy Pham? I know it was a later, but the announcers were talking too. Oh, Tommy Fang. You just steal or.

[John Lester]

No, was it. It was Tim Carver.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I'm over there, literally like, john, I got you. Just throw it.

[David Ross]

And I hated it when we started throwing over because I'm like, I love throwing these guys out. They're trying to. He's like a under a one to the plate, you know, like, yeah, well, that's so good.

[John Lester]

That's the other part, control in the running game. Yeah. Like, the reporters. Without throwing over, the reporters ask you about it. And I'm like, listen, you know, in life, if you're not good at something, you try to get better at something else to basically negate that. Sure. Right. So I knew I was not good at that. Okay, well, not good is probably not the Right word to say. Terrible at that. And I knew. Okay. In order to hopefully fix this of some capacity, also shout out to Joe. Joe was great with it. If there. If there was any other manager, it would have been way worse. We would have been an issue, and it wouldn't have been handled properly. Joe handled it great. And he's the one that taught me. He's like, if you're not good at something, get better at something else. So I said, okay, I'm gonna. And, you know, in today's game with the pitch clock, obviously it would be null and void, but I got better at holding the ball, varying my looks, slide stepping. We in. Implemented the modified. The modified pitch out. You know, did you did things over at first base, having Javi at second base with the tag?

[Anthony Rizzo]

Oh, no, we may do.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, we may do.

[John Lester]

But, like, so 2015, for example, I think gave 40 stolen bases, led the league in that. So I had to come to Jesus in the offseason, like, all right, if I'm not good at this, what can I do? And worked on those things. I think the next year we gave up 12.

[David Ross]

Yeah. And I stunk to start it too. Like, I wasn't throwing good. I remember start that season. Had to. Had to do a lot of that was just, you know, you found your We, You. We worked on it in spring training. I remember we started, like, the bounce pass on some of the bunts and different stuff. Like. But it was. We knew they were going to. It was like. And you were so fast. It was fun. And we had, like you said, we had Riz and Javi. It made it a lot of fun. I want to go back to. We talked about those stats, and I look back on 2016. Do you have a favorite start outside the. Let's. Let's put the playoffs aside. Do you have a favorite start that year? Because you got off to a little. You put so much pressure on yourself.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

You came in there. I remember coming in the dugout one that was like a third start, and you. You were just okay. And you came up in the dugout and you were like, you got anything? You see anything? And I would lost. I was like, compete. Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I said just.

[David Ross]

I was losing my mind. Because if. If you got taken out of the game, didn't do good, I didn't get to play.

[John Lester]

Just.

[David Ross]

Just so we know, I didn't get my last at bat. If he came out of the game and wasn't anymore, I didn't get to play.

[John Lester]

If it was the bus or if it was the hotel room or if it was in the club, I think it was in the clubhouse because I think you kind of embarrassed me in front of everybody. But he comes in and he. One of those mediocre starts. And, you know, I think we're all. We end up winning the game. We're all high fiving afterwards, doing the party thing, and he comes in and he goes, hot damn it, John.

[David Ross]

He goes, if you would pitch better,

[John Lester]

I could get more at bats. He goes, if you stink, I don't get to hit.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I remember it. But you said the story about, was it coming into 13 being, like, accountable? And I know you weren't happy with your 2015 year, which ended up being a really good year. It was just a. It was a grind for you all year. Right. It was like peaks and valleys, but ended up being a solid year. And we get swept by the Mets. Daniel Murphy still have nightmares, but we come into spring training in 16, and everyone's like, we're. We have already won the World Series. And that really started with you. You're like, we already won. Just press play.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Like the script. He had shirts for us made. I was about to say, literally, with duck boats on them. Right.

[John Lester]

That's a Johnny Gomes thing.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

To go back before I answer that, to go back to your question, there's two starts that stand out in my mind. One ended up being a good start. Didn't start out very well. The other one was probably my favorite one because I didn't expect to get the opportunity to finish the game. But we had a late season game in Pittsburgh. Tight race, two to one game. I get in a jam in the eighth, end up punching out the dude that Coughlin broke his leg.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The shortstop.

[David Ross]

Yeah, yeah, Kim.

[John Lester]

South Korean. Yeah, yeah. Korean guy. Kim, I think, and struck him out. Big situation. I'm already at, like. I think I'm at, like, that hundred mark fist pump. Yeah, let's go. Give it to the closer. Like, I'm walking off the mountain thinking. Because Joe usually didn't let you go, especially a close game. I get in the dug and I sit down. I'm like,

[David Ross]

somebody come shake my head.

[John Lester]

I'm like, boss Joe Nobody. All right, here we go. And then boss comes down with, like one out or two outs. He's like, hey, you good? I said, yeah. And we ended up finishing that game. And I was like, not that I was happy he gave me the opportunity, but I was happy he gave me the opportunity to finish that game.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Then the other one, September, too And we're. September was a priority clinched about.

[John Lester]

No, we were.

[Anthony Rizzo]

It was on the verge.

[John Lester]

Yeah. It wasn't quite there, but it was a big game against them. And, you know, one of those deals, the other one ended up being a good game, and they went 7. 7 or 8. Day game in Atlanta, home.

[David Ross]

Was that the Freddie Freeman day? Oh, my gosh.

[John Lester]

So we're in the. I'm in there getting rubbed down before the game. Rossi comes in, we're going over the thing, and I'm like, hey, I like.

[David Ross]

I like, first of all, he hometown, like, lives in Atlanta, wants to beat him bad day game. I was a brave. You'd always want to beat your former team, right? Like, it's just kind of natural. So we're locked in, day game. It's hot as heck, and it's 164 degrees. Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah. You're seven feet from hell, Turner.

[John Lester]

Yeah, so actually, that wasn't 16. That was 15.

[David Ross]

15.

[John Lester]

Yeah. So anyway, sorry got my ears wrong,

[Anthony Rizzo]

but played so many. John, I.

[John Lester]

So we go over the thing, and I'm like, hey, I like to strike breaking ball to Freddie, like Chase. He goes, no, you cannot throw a strike breaking ball to him.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, you can.

[David Ross]

He murders well. Yeah.

[John Lester]

Yours is 47 miles.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I mean, so it's not about me. It's not about me.

[John Lester]

So anyway, so first inning, something happens. Guy gets on second base, two outs, Freddy's up, and I'm shaking and shaking and shaking, and you can see Rossi, he's just sitting back there going and keeps throwing stuff down, and he won't put down curveball time. He looks at me, he goes,

[David Ross]

curveball.

[John Lester]

Yep. Don't bury it. Base it to right. We're down one, nothing. We come in the dugout, he yard sales his whole catcher's gear.

[David Ross]

He goes, it.

[John Lester]

Just throw it.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I remember this.

[John Lester]

Just throw whatever you want. I'm not putting down any more signs. You throw it, I'll catch it. And I'm, like, following him like a lost puppy dog. I'm like, come on, bro, don't give up on me.

[David Ross]

Like, don't give up on me.

[John Lester]

I meant to bounce it. He goes, but I told you, no strike breaking balls.

[David Ross]

John, we just went over it. We just went over the first inning. Do you think I did it on purpose?

[Anthony Rizzo]

He goes, no, but throw whatever you want.

[John Lester]

So we sit down, we're in the air conditioning, we're all drinking our water. Three outs, we go to run out. He goes, all right, we good?

[Anthony Rizzo]

You had to get it off your ch.

[David Ross]

Dud.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You were so angry.

[David Ross]

It was. I was so mad.

[John Lester]

It was. I mean, it was hot. It was all the stuff.

[David Ross]

But you pitched. You did pitch well.

[John Lester]

We ended up. We ended up winning the game.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We get off to What a historic 279 start. We're rolling, right?

[John Lester]

What it was. That was.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, we were. We were rolling.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And everyone. I mean, spring training, we already had the mindset of, we're winning the World Series, there's no one stopping us, and we get off to the start. For me, there was a few games that stood out early on, but I want to know from you what stood out on that team early that was like, holy, we're going to. We're going to do this.

[John Lester]

I just feel like we were relentless early, you know what I mean? Like, when we had a chance to step on somebody's throat, we stepped on it early and we made a point. And Joe. Joe always harped on it. I remember Joe, spring training, he's like, all I care about. Y' all get off to a fast start. Yeah, that's all he talked about. Quick start. Because if you don't get off to that quick start, there's going to be a team that does. And now you're chasing, and that's hard to do, but I just remember we freaking. We came out and it was like. I mean, we were in la and it was like, team dinner. We had that.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We just had dinner. How much did we spend at that team dinner?

[John Lester]

Well, we talked about it last night. I thought it was more, but I think we agreed it was 15.

[David Ross]

It was. It was over 15, because I think Theo had told us, like, hey, we're gonna give you this much money. We're coming from Vegas. Let's launch.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So we have spring. Two spring training games in Vegas, which we blow it out on. But they'd only wanted us there for one or two nights, not the third night.

[David Ross]

We had an off day.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So they're like, all right, we're going to, like. They're forcing us to go to Anaheim when the whole team wanted to stay in Vegas, because we all wanted to enjoy. And so Theo and Mr. Ricketts agreed that they would buy us a huge team dinner, which once John came over, he was usually the one him and Lackey would fight for. Who's paying for the team dinners? And we have this beautiful team dinner, and then we go out, we roll la.

[John Lester]

I mean, Angels. Angels. Yeah, it was the Angels.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We take, I think, two out of three. No, it's just two or I'm Saying from the Diamondbacks.

[David Ross]

That's where Shoreber got hurt.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Schorber got hurt. Lackey gave up like five or six

[John Lester]

early and we end up winning that game.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And we ended up destroying him in that game.

[John Lester]

He gave up a lead off homer.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, he was.

[David Ross]

He never does that first fastball. Here it comes. And he. Nobody ever swings and.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

And he gave up a homer.

[Anthony Rizzo]

But what was. Were some things just being relentless.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And then Cuz getting off to the good start was key.

[David Ross]

Cuz I thought the messaging in spring training. You're talking about.

[John Lester]

Joe.

[David Ross]

The messaging in spring training was so like expectations are good. Embrace. Yeah, right. Embrace it.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Embrace the target.

[David Ross]

Target which. The target's on our back because we went so far and everybody came in hungry. So that was the most fun spring train. Dex came back. We had a Dex. Remember that I was retiring. Making fun of.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We had all the skits with busy.

[David Ross]

Yeah. Kawakami singing. The.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The Kawasaki singing. Yeah.

[John Lester]

The karaoke.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The karaoke.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Play Drops of Jupiter on the piano.

[David Ross]

It was a good time. It was a good time. I want to go back. You brought up something that we were just thinking about stories here. But you said Pittsburgh.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

I want to hear. I want to hear the Pittsburgh story. When you came in yelling at Riz.

[John Lester]

Oh, bro.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We.

[John Lester]

So that was right before the All Star break.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Right. And we this Sunday morning before the All Star break, keep in mind, now we have two birds because there's 12 of us going to the All Star game or whatever. We have two private planes waiting for us after the game. The morning of the game, we roll in, we lost 9 of 10. Our. We're getting shelled. If the offense does well, the pitching sucked. Pitching does well. Offense sucked. I'm riding high. I go into the All Star break raking.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I'm like, you're feeling 14. I'm like 12 for 15 in that series, like on a high. The game before John gives up three or four runs, we end up losing. I go four for five in the game.

[David Ross]

I think I gave up six with a homer.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Homer shy of the cycle. It's not about.

[David Ross]

Oh, that's what it was.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I have.

[John Lester]

Not that he remembers.

[David Ross]

It's not about me.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Not that he remembers. Well, I remember this because I'm in the weight room the Sunday morning before the Australian and I knew that night when the quote came out, I was like, I text our media relations guy, Peter Chase, and I was like, hey, this came out wrong. Like, is it that bad? He's talking me off the ledge because I know what's. What's coming. So can you read the quote, please? Yeah, I have the quote here. You don't mind?

[John Lester]

Well, before you read the quote, do you know how I found out about.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Oh, I know. Travis Woods. Okay.

[John Lester]

Just Maddie, about the water.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Oh, I know.

[John Lester]

Okay.

[Anthony Rizzo]

This game isn't easy, said Anthony rizzo, who went 4 for 5 and was a home run shy of the cycle. Feel myself. It's impossible to boat race the whole season like we were doing. We just have to clean up our pitching a little. We're talking, we're walking too many guys and that's not the formula. We've had a formula playing good baseball and we don't have it right now. Maybe we have to mix a few cocktails together and figure it out, but that's what it comes down to. I knew right away when I said the pitching.

[John Lester]

Also, if you read the whole thing, it's not as bad.

[Anthony Rizzo]

But John comes.

[John Lester]

What Woody showed me.

[Anthony Rizzo]

John comes in the next day start before the All Star Game. He's not pitching the All Star Game, right?

[John Lester]

No, I didn't pitch that one.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So he's had a good night. And I'm in the weight room. We're watching. Me and Tim Buss are watching Joel Osteen, right. It was like our Sunday morning.

[David Ross]

We were just losing everything.

[Anthony Rizzo]

They have a small lid. It's a small. A small weight room with a tiny little screen. And Joel Osteen's on or one of the shows are on and I'm foam rolling on the ground like socks, just shorts and like maybe a shirt. And foam rolling in such a vulnerable position. And John comes in after Travis Wood runs. John, look what, look what Anthony said. Look what Rizzo said. Like your little brother. And he comes in. I've never seen him this mad face, beet red lip quivering, standing over me. If you ever talk about our pitching staff again, I'll kill you. And I was like, I'm so vulnerable. Like in submissions.

[John Lester]

It wasn't the best choice of words that I said, but obviously the night before was my start, so I was still pissed.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Sure.

[John Lester]

Like I said, if you read the whole. When you just read that off, I. That's the first time I've ever heard the whole thing.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Of course.

[John Lester]

Cuz Woody, it doesn't sound as bad as when Woody just shows you we need to clean up our pitching staff.

[Anthony Rizzo]

If you. We need to clean up our. You never talk about. And I'm just looking at him like. And the. I just remember the only Thing I said to him, and he couldn't do anything about it. He says, I'm sorry, John. I messed up. And he didn't know what to do. And he just kept quivering and he just walked out. And like, the whole later on, we hugged it out and calmed down, but I was so scared.

[David Ross]

Part of that is when you bring over winning players and re Establishing culture, Right. It's like, you know, we used to get pissed if somebody had a. Is always there in front of their locker. In a good game, you got to be there in the bad game. You know what I mean? Like, you got to talk to the media. Like, that's a thing you're establishing as winners, and that's basically as a veteran, a guy with two world series rings coming in and going, hey, man, we're. We don't bash each other and that. We're going to bash each other in the. To the media. Like, you got like, I. No, I wasn't any good, you know, but that's. That's the standard you were brought up with in the winning culture. And it's like, that's how. I think that's how winning.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Basically, you taught me a lesson that day.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That I carried with me for the rest of my career. And by doing that, I grew up and I became a better leader. And when it was my turn to go talk to someone, I didn't scream at him because as I got older, the culture changed, and you can't do the old school cowboy stuff.

[John Lester]

But I also knew at that time in our relationship and our friendship, I knew that by me saying that to you, in five minutes, you would be fine with it. And in five minutes, I would be fine with it. If I did that to another player.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

It would be a long thing, you know, Like, I knew. And also, too, I knew if I did it loud enough that somebody out here might hear it and be like, what did Anthony say? And look at it and go, oh, okay, I need to pay attention to what I'm saying now. Right? It. I hate the fact you were the guinea pig on it, but no, I love. You know, it is what it is.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I was. I was so.

[David Ross]

I was like that for the rest of your career.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I was gonna be eating a dog after that. I was so scared. But again, and then after we go to the All Star game and we have a great time.

[John Lester]

I mean, 10 minutes later, we're fine.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah. Because that's what that team was. That was the bond we had. And then we go into the allstar game and Then we go into the end of July. We're playing the Mariners Sunday night baseball.

[David Ross]

Oh, my God.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We have a huge. I mean, I'm talking the biggest road trip of the year coming up, right? That's been planned out for numerous reasons. For numerous reasons that we're going to get to after the. This play. And Theo calls you guys into the office with Joe. With Joe. And they playing Seattle. They're playing Seattle Sunday night baseball, and they want to give the starters a rest. Right?

[John Lester]

And I think we had won the first two games. We were going for the sweep.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Oh, bro. We were rolling.

[David Ross]

We were rolling.

[John Lester]

We were back.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We were rolling. So we bring up a starter to do a spot start.

[John Lester]

And also nothing against Brian Mattis. It's not Brian Mattis's fault.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No. It's just our team.

[John Lester]

Okay, just reiterate.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Our team was so solidified. Right. There's nothing that can break us. Well, we bring up for a spot start to give the guys a rest, and everyone's like, why? With. Why with us? Like, this is working. And he ends up giving up a bunch of runs early. And we come back, and that comeback was, like, probably the biggest moment, I think, of the season for us of, like, that was a good one. Nothing can stop us because I know the starters were all kind of pissed off. Like, you're skipping my turn. Like, you're messing with our routine. You guys are creatures of habit.

[John Lester]

Well, it wasn't only that. It's the fact of. It's almost like when you're rolling and Joe's like, hey, I'm gonna give you a day.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No, no, no. It didn't happen. It didn't happen.

[John Lester]

You know what I'm saying? Like, no, now it's not. When I'm rolling, you roll me out there until I don't have it anymore. And that's kind of the starter. Because we had pitched so bad leading up to the break, and we all came back, and it was like, we're back.

[Anthony Rizzo]

They were pissed. Yeah, I remember the starting staff, and it wasn't, like, legit.

[John Lester]

Yeah. It's because we were. We were back. We were rolling. Everybody was. It was. We were feeding off each other. It was going. It was. It was good vibes. And we all knew we had that off day coming up. And then every. You just follow the off day, right? Everybody just gets that extra day. Well, they wanted to give us two extra days because. Go ahead. Sorry.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No, no, it. It's. And so we come back in this game on Sunday night baseball, which, at the Time was the biggest deal to have. Sunday night baseball and we're rallying. Right. And the old school way, when you're rallying, the starters are in the clubhouse throwing back some pops, having some rally beers. So not only did you have a suicide squeeze, but I want to know

[David Ross]

a suicide squeeze to win the game. I've still got my shirt. I should have brought day bun to win. Johnny.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We bring Lester in what was like the 10th or 11th? Is it extra innings? We'll check the table for a suicide squeezed walk off wind like, big comeback. Had to be a few pops deep because you were always for the boys. But it was such a significant moment for us. Looking back because of the unity that we all came and afterwards. What happened afterwards is something you never see and you probably will never see again with walking into a clubhouse with Theo.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

I got so much respect for Theo.

[John Lester]

I do, too. I mean, I had respect for him, you know, before, in any profession, you're going to have disagreements with your bosses. Right. Like nature. That's life. But for him to come down and be like, hey, that's on me.

[Anthony Rizzo]

He. He was apologizing to our team, to the whole team.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And it wasn't anything against Brian Mattis. Great dude.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

It was just what our team was building. And then he just. He kind of. They claimed him off waivers.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And he came up for just a spot start. And it was like him saying that to us was like, wow. Like, this is. This is another reason why we're so special. Another reason why we're going to win the last game of the year.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

His accountability in that, mom.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Which you just don't see. He's. He's Theo Epstein. He's, you know. Yeah. He's a Hall of Famer and he's incredible. So come to find out, the next trip, which we all knew was going on. Mr. Lester, the most generous player I've ever played with in my entire career.

[David Ross]

The greatest road trip of all time.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Of all time. We're going out west. We're going to Oakland. We have an off day in Oakland. Thursday, off day. So we fly out Wednesday. Wednesday night we land or Wednesday day game. We land Thursday at San Francisco Airport. John has a private plane for all the boys. There's eight of us to fly to pebble beach to play. Pebble beach two night stay, right?

[John Lester]

Yeah, we got in that night, played the next day.

[David Ross]

No, no, we flew out after.

[John Lester]

Yeah, because I. That's. That was the whole point of the. Of the. Of the. Why I got Mad of the pitching change. Okay, yes, we were rolling. Personally, I was mad because I was supposed to pitch the following day, I think the second day in Oakland. But because of the pitching change, my day got. No, that doesn't make sense. I was supposed to pitch the Wednesday day game. That's what it was. And because of the start on Sunday, I get pushed back to the Friday game in Oakland. So Theo tells us this. This is before the whole Sunday night baseball game. And I go. I just. I raised my hand. He's telling us. I'm like, eighth grader. Hey, Theo, I have a question. Listen, I have set up around at pebble beach for eight dudes, okay? We have hotel rooms. We're staying there. I've got the rounds taken care of, and I got a plane picking us

[Anthony Rizzo]

up and dropping us off.

[John Lester]

And dropping us off. Mind you, it's a 27 second flight. And he looks at me and he goes, so you're playing golf on Thursday? I said, well, that's my question. I'm supposed to pitch on Friday now, because you with the rotation, you with my golf, you with pet, not my golf game, you with pepper. So.

[David Ross]

And all the boys.

[John Lester]

And all the boys. And I'm like, theo, I can't possibly sit on the plane and watch seven guys get off the plane and walk onto a plane and fly down there

[David Ross]

that I'm paying for.

[John Lester]

Yeah. And he goes, tom.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Tom was.

[John Lester]

Yeah, good point. The. The flight. He was. And I go, theo, dude, like, what do you got? He goes, well, are you good to play your body fine? I said, yeah. He goes, go play.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I love him.

[John Lester]

I was like, all right. He goes, when are you guys getting back? I go, well, we'll be back as soon as we're done, we're flying back. We'll be in. We got back for dinner. We went out to dinner.

[David Ross]

Yeah. John paid for. Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We're all together.

[David Ross]

We're all.

[Anthony Rizzo]

This is.

[David Ross]

John paid for.

[Anthony Rizzo]

This is now August. Like, we're together forever. And we go to Pebble Beach. We play. We hang out all night there, like to the wee hours of the morning there. We play golf.

[David Ross]

Breakfast. Flying on the.

[John Lester]

On the patio.

[David Ross]

On the patio right there.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Fly in that night, and we still go to dinner. That's how much we wanted to be together. Yeah.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And we were there. John, as great as he was, he sometimes cut some corners, and he. Not only did he buy us all eight rooms, but I was the guy who kept them in check. He got us partial view rooms, and it was like, john, if we're going to do this. You got the plane. You're giving me a partial view. Like a partial view suite. It was a suite, but partial view. So I'm just wearing them out. Right? Partial view, partial view. And we get there, the partial view is like there's a little parking lot and then it's all ocean and cliff.

[John Lester]

It was a view of a parking lot with a little bit of ocean over the top of it.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No, it was more ocean than. But I panned and like, made it look like John, this partial fuse. Like, look at these rooms. And he wore me out. And I wore him out about having to walk. But that trip, I still have that picture of all of us in the sand trap.

[David Ross]

Me too.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I got in the house.

[David Ross]

Everybody's posing skis, posing. It was me, us three, Miggy, KB Hensky, Arieta. Arieta Lackey, right? And I was three. Unbelievable. And we left there, went go to dinner. Go to dinner, win, beat the out of Oakland Friday night, day game Saturday.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Meanwhile, we're in the middle right now of what turned out to be 13 out of 14.

[John Lester]

And.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And this was. We went 11 of that. This is all the stuff that's going on off the field.

[David Ross]

Saturday we have a day game. We beat Oakland. John's got a race boat race and we've got a sprinter van that sends us down to San Francisco 49ers.

[John Lester]

Big up to VJ Police.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Escort, escort Kenny Chesney concert.

[David Ross]

Chesney concert. Met the head coach, walks around the facilities, party with Chesney.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Sammy Hagar's there.

[David Ross]

We're hanging out backstage, go back, sweep Oakland on Sunday and head home. Like, that was like literally the best road trip.

[John Lester]

That was a good one.

[Anthony Rizzo]

It was a straight.

[David Ross]

That was the best one, bro.

[Anthony Rizzo]

It was.

[David Ross]

I tell that story.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I think what people don't understand is how much we enjoyed life that year off the field.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Like, it was like we would got to the field and we were excited to play together and we were equally excited for what was about to happen after.

[David Ross]

Well, I don't think Joe gets enough credit for the mindset of which he created of Be your have fun off the field and you're going to be better at your job when you come to work. Like, that was such a different kind of mindset than a lot of managers, like living and breathing baseball 24 7. It's nice like coming to work every single day knowing it's like, yeah, I. We've done a lot of fun stuff. And off the field that when we come, we still want to hang out. And now we. We're a tighter knit group. When you come together and want to get to work and, and play hard, focus for another.

[John Lester]

And to your point to that, I think Joe did a really good job with the. The schedule and the times of which we got to the field. Sure. Right. Like on a random Tuesday and We've got a 7 7pm game and he's like, all right, Little League week.

[David Ross]

Yeah. American Legion week.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Shout out to Davey Martinez too.

[John Lester]

That. Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Because Joe handled the media so well and us. But Davey ran that asylum of communicating. Yeah.

[John Lester]

You love the asylum.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Prisoners run the asylum. I've said it my. For my whole career. True. If they don't, it's not a good team. If the team's not controlled from within, it's not a great team. Yeah, but Joe. But I remember coming in one day, I think I was at your house or something and we were just pounding wine. I think.

[John Lester]

What was the screaming all your start with this?

[Anthony Rizzo]

You opened up a screaming eagle for us or something?

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

A crazy bottle of wine. And I thought, I thought it could have been the potatoes or the steak that we had that night that made me a little fuzzy the next morning.

[John Lester]

But it's always the steak.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah. It could have been the wine. I go into Joe's office and I'm able to have a conversation with him like a friend. And I'm like, joe, last night we're at Lester's. I believe it was there.

[David Ross]

And I'm.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We drank so much wine. Oh, brother. He's like, how you feeling today? I'm good. Like, he's. Yeah, just get through it. You'll be fine. I go out and have a great game. But like, how can you say that to your manager? Because that's the environment he created. Sure. You know what I mean? It was like, there's nothing better than that.

[David Ross]

I want to get to one of my favorite games because I've never asked you the story. The, the last game of the season. Sunday Night Baseball, St. Louis. We're going to the postseason. And Joe takes me out of the game. Joe comes out. You're carving. We're up and three to one. Three to one. Like the seventh. Right. I mean, it was late and you still had your pitches were down. Joe, I think we got one out. And Joe. Here comes Joe out of the dugout. I look over, I'm like, we got two.

[John Lester]

We got two out.

[David Ross]

We got two out. I'm like, what the he doing out here? Like, wait, Johnny's rolling. Like, so I'M like, on one of my piss. Like, I played mad, right? Like, I was definitely.

[John Lester]

Oh, we know, we know.

[David Ross]

I know, I know. I get this reputation of like, oh, Rossi's so nice, grandpa. These guys hated me. Just so everybody knows I loved you. It was. It's still it. He's coming out, and I'm on one of my. My rants to the mound, and you're just. You're staring at me, and I'm thinking, what's he doing?

[Anthony Rizzo]

What's Joe doing?

[David Ross]

And you're like, he's taking you out of the game. Or Joe grabs me. He's like, hey, I've never done this before. You went in his office and told him to take me out of the game. I want to know how that whole thing went down.

[John Lester]

So nice.

[David Ross]

And I appreciate. I appreciate that, but I don't. I. I've never heard how I can imagine a player coming in my office and going, hey, we're going to take this. We'll take this guy out of the game.

[John Lester]

So night before, send it home. You know, fair and I are just talking or whatever, and I look at her and I go, hey, what do you think about this? I said, if everything goes well tomorrow, having Joe taking Rossi out of the game before he takes me out, I was like, but it's got to go perfect. It can't be. It can't be the fourth inning when I've got 87 pitches and we're losing six to three or whatever. I said, it's got to go perfect. And she's like, yeah, go talk to Joe. See what he says. Said, okay. So I get there early the next day, planning on having to talk to Joe for, like, 30, 40 minutes, right? Like, give him the whole spiel. He's going to talk me down off this ledge. And analytics say, you can't do this or whatever. And I go in a jug, hey, Joe, I got an idea. He said, yeah. I said, now, same thing. If everything goes perfect tonight, what do you think about taking Rossi out for his last game before you take me out? Let him get. Let him walk off the field, get his love, because I love it.

[David Ross]

That's all he said.

[John Lester]

And I said, always.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Any idea you ever brought to Joe?

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

He was like.

[John Lester]

And I sat there, I was like,

[David Ross]

I just can't imagine how that.

[John Lester]

That's it. He goes, yeah.

[David Ross]

I remember starting to pull the mask down, starting to cry right in front of you guys.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Bro, you had a homer that game.

[John Lester]

Joe's like this. And he's like, in Your face and you got your mask off and you're like looking at me and looking at him and he goes, taking you out of the game and you didn't know what to do. And I'm like waiting for like a hug or like a bro dap or something and you just go, I love you guys.

[David Ross]

It just stormed, bro. I was about to melt down. Like I, like I saw all the look on you guys face and you were just like staring through me and I'm like, I love you. I'm out. I almost forgot to hug Joe and everything.

[Anthony Rizzo]

It's another example of the things that John did for us.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That no one knew about.

[David Ross]

Exactly.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No one knew that Jon did that. Like no one knew that you went to Joe's office and pulled him out and nor did you want the credit for that afterwards too. But these are all the things behind the scene that make a championship team. That it doesn't. You can't quantify it. It just happens, Right. And for Joe to do that, for you to be able to have the confidence to go tell Joe this. Right. It's just all of these things come together to make it where the reason you want to do that for him is because you guys were brothers on the field and you care about him and you got your Runway of your 100th home run, the Grandpa Rossi, the whole thing, the whole retirement tour, it's not about me. No, it's not about you.

[David Ross]

But let's get back to no one.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No one gives the standing ovation to a backup catcher.

[David Ross]

Great point.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You know what I mean? Great point.

[David Ross]

Great point. And they don't even get to get all of his at bats.

[John Lester]

Right.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Exactly. Because of John.

[David Ross]

So we go into playoffs and playoffs and you put us on your back, bro. Like, I mean we had, obviously our whole pitch staff was really good and. Yeah, and Arietta was on a two year run that like I've never seen. And you, you're different in the playoffs, right? Like, what is that? Like, I think people need to learn from your mentality and you're talking about routine, you're talking about your experiences. I always have a lot of, a lot to do with that. But bro, you're dominant in the postseason.

[John Lester]

Looking back on it, I think a little bit, a little bit of it is, like I said, I'm not, I never looked to see who I was pitching against. I didn't care.

[David Ross]

Right?

[John Lester]

Like Adam Wainwright, Annabelle Sanchez, Joe shit, the Barber. It doesn't matter. Right? Like, I'm not competing. I'm competing against him, but I'm not pitching against him. So that, in my mind, never scared me. You know what I'm saying? And then I just. I loved when it mattered. Right. Like the season gets so long. Beginning of the season, you're so hyped, you're ready to go, you're amped, you feel good. You should be somewhat locked in with your stuff. You get to the middle of season, it's kind of dictating which way the years going for you. Whatever you get to August, you hate everybody. Angry August, angry August, you hate everybody. You hate your family, you hate your. Your teammates, you hate.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You could say whatever you want, and

[John Lester]

it's, you hate everybody. September comes around, you get that little boost where you call up the young fellers. They're there, they're get to. Especially in our situation, to 16. Those young guys got to experience some first for them, which is cool.

[David Ross]

You're in a playoff hunt.

[John Lester]

You're in a playoff hunt. We clinch early. When you clinch early, it's good and bad. Because then you're like, all right, I'm preparing. I'm still trying to win the games, but I'm also not trying to get hurt.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

You know, so you're kind of dodging and weaving your way through September. Now those lights come on and the weather changes. It's getting dark early. You have flyovers. All of a sudden, you know, you got the big flag for the anthem. You people are there. The stadium's filled before.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, goosebumps right now.

[John Lester]

The stadium's filled before the first pitch. Everybody's ass is in their seat before the first pitch because they want to see playoff baseball. The crowd is into it. First inning, two outs, three. Two. Right. Like now you. Your senses are amped.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So romantic.

[John Lester]

It is, right?

[Anthony Rizzo]

You're really. You're getting me going.

[John Lester]

That's why I love baseball, though, especially, like, I got spoiled early in my career to go to the playoffs so much and be a part of it and have responsibility, you know, I wasn't a fourth. I wasn't, you know, the.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You were the guy.

[John Lester]

Yeah. Yeah, it was here. Here's game one. Go get him, kid.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Let's talk about game one because it was cold, it was windy.

[John Lester]

Which game?

[Anthony Rizzo]

One in NLDS 2016.

[John Lester]

Oh, at. Wrigley.

[Anthony Rizzo]

At Wrigley. We're playing the Giants. The Giants are coming off their even year. Was it three years in a row. Three even years in a row. So we're now 16. This is going to be their fourth. They won in 14 and that's real. And it's real that we have 108 year curse over us too, which we handled really well, but that was real because we didn't win. And you get asked about it all, all the time and you just add a little bit of extra juice.

[John Lester]

Yep.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So we go into game one and John shoves. What do you go? You go eight innings, five strikeouts, we end up winning the game one nothing on Javi's home run.

[John Lester]

A six mile homer that hit the

[David Ross]

basket, barely got in.

[John Lester]

I mean, I still don't think he's touched first base. He's still standing at home.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We all knew it was a homer too, and it barely got over and we win one nothing. But the tone that you set for that game set the tone for the rest of the playoffs because we do, we, we boat race pretty much all season. We have a little hiccup in July, we have a great second half, we kind of start amping up for the playoffs and then game one, boom. We get hit in the face with cuaito and we win one nothing. But that game set the tone that, the energy there. We, we had a back pick there backpack. Game one that I think you threw a guy that no one knows.

[John Lester]

Like we second too.

[Anthony Rizzo]

This is how fearless we were and this is how amazing Joe was that he trusted us. We do a backpick in game one where a guy's bunting, I come up in the guy's face, the guy at first takes a big lead. Javi comes around on the back, backpick him. And you trust Javi, you trust Javi, you trust John, you trust, you're trusting four guys there to do their job. And we get a huge backpick there. That just another example of us playing fearless, us being too young. What you always say we're too dumb to or what did you always say

[John Lester]

about young and dumb?

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, that was John's favorite line because we were all, I think 26 or 25 and under. We're the second youngest team. But that sets a tone. We win. Then lds, we go into game one of the NLC US Dodgers. And you set the tone again there. You remember what you did there?

[John Lester]

I remember game five more than I remember game one.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Let's see, game one of the NLC has six innings, one run, we went eight, four Miggy Montero grand slam.

[David Ross]

That was sick. That was a chess match between Joe and Dave Roberts.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, Biggie. Yep, Miggy. And we'll get to this when we talk to Miggy. But Miggy was for The. The whole team, if you weren't playing, you had a mission, and that was to get runs. And how do we get runs, John?

[John Lester]

A little something we like to call rally beers.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Rally beers or shots or. Because in 16, I believe it started in 15, when we swept a series, the boys would take shots. And if we ever got into a little rut and we were kind of grinding, those shots became. Instead of after the game, sometimes they were before the game. On occasion. On occasion.

[John Lester]

Not very often, but it happened.

[Anthony Rizzo]

It did happen when we needed it. We. You can't go to the well too much or it doesn't work.

[John Lester]

And the crazy thing about Miggy is, I think earlier in that day, he couldn't walk.

[Anthony Rizzo]

He just got a cortisone shot. Yeah.

[John Lester]

It was that day, right?

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah. And he was still rallying for the boys. Yeah. So he comes in and it's that grand slam. I don't even think he really knew his name at the time.

[John Lester]

Joe. Joe should have thrown the heater.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

He hung this line.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I was crushed. But that was electric.

[John Lester]

Yeah. I mean, dude, the whole playoff scene, like, whether. And don't take this the wrong way, but whatever side you're on, whether you win or you lose, you will never forget being in the playoffs.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You're right.

[John Lester]

Never. And the further you go, the more electric and the more your senses are awake. Like you're. You're. You're hyped. You get to the field, you're hyped as soon as you get there.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The closer you get with your teammates.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The closer the families get. Because all the families are rallying together, too.

[David Ross]

Well, the fans. You're getting out of your car. The fans are there. What's that in the playoffs? Like, you're getting out of your car? Like the.

[John Lester]

Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, I'll never forget. I'll never forget game five. I'm jumping ahead of the. Of the cs. But game five of the World Series, you know, not very often in Wrigley do you walk out of the. Of the dugout to go warm up, which was, if I think what we play seven o' clock games during the play. Yeah. Because Chicago's one hour behind, so seven. So I'd be out there at 6, 20, walking out of the dugout. Right. You couldn't see a seat in that place.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Wrigley's special.

[John Lester]

And they were.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I mean, bro, that nlcs.

[John Lester]

Because everybody was standing, but you couldn't see seats. You know what I'm saying? I guess for Warm ups.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We hadn't been to the World Series in 60 plus.

[John Lester]

No, I get that. I know it's the World Series.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No, I'm saying we in the nlcs. We haven't at that point haven't gone. So when we win, you win game five. Right. And then game six, we win. We beat Kershaw. Double play end of the game to

[John Lester]

go back to game five. I think probably one of the best postseason games I've ever thrown. Bro.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You dominated.

[John Lester]

That's. That was like. I knew going into that game I was locked.

[David Ross]

I want to talk about. Let's. Let's walk the. I think like you got a form. Form one record in World Series games and the one loss in Cleveland. Game one. We went. I went us together so heavy scouting report.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

And what did we say after that game? Like you were having to throw it in a Dixie cup by the second time through the lineup because we're sinking away. We're change up back door trying to cut it in off. They were giving up on the end. And your bread and butter was. I'm going to establish. I mean we got an argument in Boston about it. I'm going to establish my four seamer in. That's when I'm at my best. That locks me in mechanically and that gets everything. Everybody looking in for my. And then I can go cutter off that I can sink away. Everything works after that. And I learned that over time and then got to the World Series in game one and we went so heavy. Scout report. Remember everybody. The. Everybody was like sink down the way. No strike breaking balls. Change up different things like that. And we had to. You had to grow. We grinded through that game. You grinded.

[John Lester]

But so to go. You just said something. It reminded me and I don't know if you remember this. The reason I said that to you is because the very first time you caught me in 2013. Yeah, I know you came back. He. He was on a Hawaiian vacation all year with his.

[David Ross]

I had a good question.

[John Lester]

He had scrambled brains easy.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Both of us potato there for years.

[John Lester]

His. He didn't know what planet he was on and went to Hawaii. He came back all tan, you know, and the tan World Series. I'm not gonna lie. The tan line was a little weird when we got in the shower. That's all I'm saying. It was a little awkward.

[David Ross]

You guys don't wear thong.

[John Lester]

I didn't know what kind of bathing suit he had on. So 13 started out really good for me. And then I hit a lull Kind of like we're talking about in 16 for us in July, whatever struggled. Beginning of September, we're facing Detroit. Do you remember this?

[David Ross]

Yeah. Yep.

[John Lester]

Facing Detroit. I know I'm getting off topic. We'll get right back there. Never caught me. Except for spring training. Comes in.

[Anthony Rizzo]

This is started.

[John Lester]

This is when. This is when Detroit's rolling. They got Sanchez, they got Prince, Tory, Hunter, Berlin, Victor Martinez, Miggy, Omar, and

[David Ross]

Vonte was a really good player.

[John Lester]

Murders row. Okay, no disrespect to the Yankees, but. So we get in there and I'm, Dude, I'm like, I don't know what the I'm gonna do. Like, these guys plus Victor Martinez, Tori Hunter, and Miguel Cabrera's ops against me is a combined 7 million.

[David Ross]

He never finished good again.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Niggy loved when you pitch 7 million.

[John Lester]

Okay, so we sit down and I've got all my notes, and I look at Rossi and he goes, hey, this is what we're gonna do. He goes, every. Every bit of film I watch, everybody's kind of off with these guys. They're going back door, breaking ball. This, this, this, this. They fall behind 212-031. Then guess what happens. Parakaya, right? Like now, that's where the damage comes. He goes, we're going to come out and we're going to throw the ball as hard as we can, and we're going to throw it right at their hands till they make an adjustment. Cool. The only lefty in the lineup was Prince Feeler. All right, here we go. Rossi sat back there,

[David Ross]

heater in just over and over again.

[John Lester]

And just the first three innings. And like, I was pissed. Like, I was still trying to figure it out. I was blowing like 96, 95, 96. Just Miguel's jumping out of the way. Next thing you know, got curveball under chase. We end up winning the game.

[David Ross]

They're swinging at the.

[John Lester]

And that.

[David Ross]

The cutter.

[John Lester]

What that did in 13 was then all right to go back learning about establishing. Establishing your fastball, establishing your cutter, which made everything else.

[David Ross]

And it locked you in mechanically. We. You learned later on, too. It's like just. Just.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So we roll up game six at Wrigley for the nlcs, right? Just win game five. You go seven innings, I think one run, we have a chance to go to the World Series. And we fell short the year before. We have first ballot. Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw on the mound. And we roll him right?

[David Ross]

And Kyle Hendrick deals.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, the professor went deals. Our whole staff, he dealt two games.

[John Lester]

He got the loss in the. In game two. Nothing.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Well, we were down 2:1 in that series. That's right.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So we win off Kershaw, the double play, and I just remember Wrigley being so loud and that celebration and you winning the mvp. Co MVP of that series, and it's like, what does that mean to you? You sign there, you have this massive deal. You put so much pressure on yourself. In 15, we exceed all expectations. We're going to the World Series. Job's not finished. We're 108 year curse. You're the guy. You just went MVP. Like, what are you feeling?

[John Lester]

I feel like I'm feeling at the time like I'm doing my job. You know what I'm saying? Like, not to downplay it, but I feel like I'm doing what I was supposed to be doing, you know, I think in 15. I know we're jumping around a lot, but in 15, I felt like I needed to win the World Series in April.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, I remember that.

[David Ross]

Yeah. You're trying to live up to that contract.

[John Lester]

Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to make. I'm trying to make.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You're still new. You're also grumpy and unapproachable and all these things, allegedly.

[John Lester]

But yeah, I mean, all those things. Thanks, Riz. But yeah, I mean, I feel like at the time, you're like, all right, I'm on a personal level, you're like, all right, I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, right? Like, the pieces are falling now. At the end of the day, I'm just throwing this out there. I'm three for three on World Series, okay? I've never gone to the World.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I remember.

[John Lester]

I just wanted black's famous line. I got Black famous line. Remember, he said when we got to the World Series, he said, hey, Tony, I ain't never been to a World Series. I hadn't won, so I have. How's that second place ring anyway? So. Anyway, I just feel like at the time, I'm like, all right, we've accomplished half of the goal. We've got to the World Series, right? That sometimes that's half the battle.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Totally.

[John Lester]

Is getting there. All jokes aside. But we've got there. Okay? We've accomplished goal one of getting there. Now goal two is to win the right? Like. Like we didn't come here for to lose. Like, we came here to win, right? Probably in my. Obviously, I'm biased to this, but I think one of the greatest World Series in the history of the game oh,

[Anthony Rizzo]

hands down, hands down. There's not even the ups and downs, the droughts. Both teams, both teams.

[John Lester]

The.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The.

[John Lester]

The cat and mouse game. Two great managers going at each other as far as game planning, pitching, matchups, you know, all this stuff. Starting pitching, offense, stolen bases, everything. Like. Then it ends up at game seven, which is my first game seven. It was incredible. Oh, roller coaster of emotions.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Let's not skip out. You win the MVP of NLCS that night. That party at John's house was elite. Okay. Basically, the whole team's there, the whole city's rioting. Everyone's just happy to be back in the World Series. We still know we have a job to do, but we celebrate. Celebrated everything that it felt.

[John Lester]

It felt.

[David Ross]

I don't know how you guys felt when we won the CS because we had lost it the year before. I felt like, boom. Like, that was. That was a sense of relief for me. It was like, okay, now we're going to the World Series. Just roll it all out there, whatever. But getting further than we did in 15 to me, was so important because of the steps we had taken so fast.

[John Lester]

And especially for the young guys, it's like confidence.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Right?

[David Ross]

Right.

[John Lester]

Like you feel like. And I know there's guys that have done this where it's like, I can't get past the ds.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Right.

[John Lester]

Right. You know what I'm saying? It's like there's a roadblock there. And maybe that's why break that roadblock. It's like, oh, oh, here. This is still the same game. We're good. Yeah. So funny story, after game six, we win, celebrate all that stuff, drive back to that. I mean, you know, I lived a mile from Wrigley. Wife calls me, says, hey, there's a group of people in the front yard TPing our tree.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I remember this

[John Lester]

pull around. We've got a alleyway that you pulled into the garage. Berto, that we lived on was a one way street going that way. Pull around, go down the one way street this way, pull up. I'm like, hey, what are y' all doing? Oh, we just wanted to celebrate. And I go by TPing my tree.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Didn't you invite him in for a beer?

[John Lester]

Yeah. I go, if you guys want to celebrate. I go, you guys want to celebrate? Knock on my damn door, I'll come have a beer with you.

[David Ross]

That's great.

[John Lester]

And the one lady goes, we are so sorry. We'll start cleaning up. They cleaned up all the.

[David Ross]

You came in, had a beer?

[John Lester]

Well, I. I parked and came out and we Cheers. And had a drink and then went, bro.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That party was first off, I have to tell you. Set the scene on John's house. John bought. Not only did John buy a house, he bought the lot next door. It was a house as well. He knocked it down. So his dog famously quoted. And I quote, I knocked it down, so my dog had a yard to him. Okay, that's the type of.

[John Lester]

I may have just told you that, but.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Okay. Well, not anymore. Not anymore. This is what the. This is what the people get John. But John has this party, and we're all there, and we're all celebrating, and next thing you know, we're on the back patio. Rossi's playing the guitar. My dad's there playing the guitar. Eddie Vetti, Eddie Vedders there starts jamming out for us in the backyard. Like, I think he's saying what, the Cubs go all the way, right?

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Someday we'll go all the way.

[John Lester]

Yes.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And he's just doing an acoustic.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Rossi's playing. My dad's playing. It's one of my greatest memories because my dad loves playing the guitar, too. And all of us coming together there and just knowing that the job's not finished. But we're. We. We got this. Like, we were so together. And then we roll into game one.

[David Ross]

Well, because I. Because me and your dad were playing. Our thing now is we opened for Eddie Vedder just so everybody did.

[John Lester]

Yeah, you did.

[David Ross]

I opened.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You're an opener.

[David Ross]

I'm an opener.

[John Lester]

You're an opener.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And we go. We go into game one of the World Series. You're setting the tone for us.

[John Lester]

Didn't do a very good job. We don't. We set the tone.

[David Ross]

That was my fault. I take full responsibility. Me and. Me and Borzello. Mike Borzello.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

Remember, we went. So. Scouting report. But then in game five, you came out and we. You punched out the side going, I'm being. Me. I'm being.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Game 5 was the hardest game of the series, hands down. Game seven was its own fairy tale, but game five. But let's go back to game three. The first game at Wrigley in what, 60 plus years?

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The atmosphere there was so, like, dead. Coming off the nlcs and everyone partying and celebrating. It was like, we get there in game three, we're tied 1:1. And the atmosphere was almost like everyone was just so nervous.

[David Ross]

Like, they were nervous.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I don't know if it was just me and I was projecting on the fans, but, like, the energy in the stadium was flat. We didn't really give him a lot to cheer for. Granted. But we go down, we lose game three, we lose game four, and we're like, fuck, like we just got swept the year before. We ain't doing this. And you come out in game five, and we get. I think we gave you an early, early lead.

[John Lester]

Well, how could you at home.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Well, you got us through the first. An early lead is the first three innings, Jon.

[John Lester]

Oh, my God. I thought you liked the first inning.

[Anthony Rizzo]

KB Hit a homer.

[John Lester]

No, it wasn't till the fourth or fifth inning. Third base power hit a.

[David Ross]

Hit a homer.

[John Lester]

KB early second inning. Remember?

[David Ross]

We went in so much and finally I was like, okay, we've established in. When Ramirez. Ramirez, yeah, Hit. Hit a solo home run. We went heater in second, one heater in homer. I was like, okay, now we've established.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That game was.

[David Ross]

Now we go.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That game was a gauntlet. We won three, two. You go six innings, one run, Chappie comes in, I think goes two plus.

[John Lester]

Yeah. I'll tell you this. I. I don't want to say it's the only game, but I think it's one of the only games that I have looked at the pitching coach and taken myself out of the game.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Your gas.

[John Lester]

Was realistic with. Yeah. Was realistic with myself.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Thank God.

[John Lester]

Yeah, I'm done.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So. Because six innings, one running, we're riding. You're a bull.

[John Lester]

I'd just given up the second run. I grinded in the sixth.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Okay.

[John Lester]

And somebody hit a base hit up the middle. They score. And I want to say it was Lynn. No. Yeah. Lindor got the base hit up the middle, and then you threw him out at second to get out of the inning. And we got down there and Boss came to check on me. I was at like 90 something pitches. And I go, boss, I said, I'm. I can give you as much as you want next inning.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I remember.

[John Lester]

But also, don't put me in there. And if I give a base hit, take me out and. And have that reliever come with somebody on. I said, if, if. If you guys are questioning it, give that guy a clean inning. And he's like, all right, fair enough. And so he went. And they.

[David Ross]

So much emotions leading up to that game, like that was.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We knew we win game five, we're going to roll in game six. That was our mentality because we saw Tomlin, he kind of diced us up a little bit. And game.

[David Ross]

Remember, the wind was blowing out and it was him and Hendrick. And I was like, oh, take the over in this game.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Game six. A two.

[John Lester]

One game.

[David Ross]

Yeah, it was like two to one.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Two to one.

[John Lester]

No, Game six.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Game six, after we won game five, was a huge exhale, like, oh, we're going to roll game six. Game seven's a crapshoot.

[John Lester]

Right, Right.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And we did. We came out.

[David Ross]

Knew Arietta was.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We came out in Game 6, and we popped off, and we're all celebrating early. And I remember Rossi being so pissed off that, like, we're all, like, happy games are over, pacing up and down the dog. I don't even know. I don't even think you were playing.

[David Ross]

I wasn't.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, exactly.

[David Ross]

No, and relax.

[John Lester]

We go up a long way to go.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I was at the seventh or eighth, eighth inning, I think.

[John Lester]

And they brought.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Again. This podcast is not about me. It's about the reunion. But I had a home run, World Series home run. And we go up, like, five. Five or six runs. And Joe left Chapian. And that was like, the first real time. First time where, like, you know, during the year, you get a lot of bickering. Everyone questions the manager at some point.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

But that was the first time where, like, the whole dugout came together and was like, joe, get this guy out of the game. Like, we. This game's over. Chappie's still in. Like, let's get him out. Get Travis Wood up.

[David Ross]

Your homer made it over. When you hit the homer, boom. Got it.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Mic drop.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And I dropped the bat, too. Again, it's really not about me, but I did draw. It's. It's a good picture I have in the office. Shocker. But that's, like, the first time where we were like, get him out of the game. Yeah, right. Because Chappie was our dog. He was our dog. He came over at the deadline and just. I. The. What he did for us, the respect I have for him.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And then we go into game seven. We're all ready to go. Right? Like, baskets of emotions in that game, bro. That game was. But what was your. What was your mindset like, coming in? Because you just pitched, so you're kind of on short rest.

[David Ross]

Me you lacking area to go down.

[John Lester]

Well, before that. Hold on. Game six, we win. Joe calls me in the office. Hey, how are you? Fine. Why? What do you need? This is what we're doing tomorrow. Kyle's gonna go five, and you're gonna either four or five, and we're. You're gonna bridge to Chappie, and then hopefully we got the trophy. Right? That was jokes. What Joe Said. I said, cool, Skip. I'll be ready, and I'll be ready whenever you need me. Cool. So now I'm going to bed knowing I'm pitching, which I think looking back on it was a blessing, because now your nerves go down.

[Anthony Rizzo]

There's no question. There's no getting in.

[John Lester]

Yeah. Like, I'm not walking down there and going, is when the phone rings, is it me?

[David Ross]

Right, right.

[John Lester]

You know, so, like, that helped. So go ahead.

[David Ross]

Sorry. No, but, well, going down there and I went down there with you guys,

[Anthony Rizzo]

and I remember you were like the actual. He was like the. Really the decision maker because.

[John Lester]

Right.

[David Ross]

Yeah. Bought. You got down there and just started, like, throwing a little bit. You want to take a while to warm up. And I remember catching you and getting ready, and then I was going down early and you were still going to be warmed up and Noble was catching you. And I'm watching you pitch. I'm like, he's throwing BBs. Like, if this goes too long, he's going to be gassed. Is with my mind. Right. Like, he is down. You're.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You call down.

[David Ross]

Boom.

[John Lester]

Boom.

[David Ross]

No, I went in at the end of the inning, and Joe and Boz came up to me and was like, how's he look? I'm like, he looks great. But I wouldn't just extend. This was my advice. I was like, I wouldn't have him sit down there and throw bullets. Like, the bullets are coming out good. Whenever you're ready to bring him in, he's ready. Like, don't wait two innings.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Well, you're supposed to come in on a clean inning.

[John Lester]

Supposed to come on a clean.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You come in with what run around where.

[John Lester]

Where it all. Where it all went first. Where it all went awry was the third inning where Kyle kind of gave up a little bit of hard contact and they scored the run. So it was one one and the next, they. They called down then, and they're like, go get ready. Mind you, before all of this started, before the game, I told Travis Wood, I said, woody, I don't know what the I'm doing down there, okay? I said, one. I said, one's the World Series.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Two.

[John Lester]

I'm in the bullpen. I have. I have my routine that I'm going to try to stick to, but you can't, because it's. It's. It's a damn game.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Seven of the ones, and I could go out last game of the season.

[John Lester]

And then once the phone rings or grenade goes off and everybody goes everywhere, and you're like, what do I do? Right? And so I told Woody before the game, I said, if you. You watch how many pitches I'm throwing, if I get to a point where I've thrown too many pitches, I want you to stand directly in front of me where I can't throw another pitch.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So you imagine that. Imagine on the broadcast, Woody saying,

[John Lester]

I wish. I wish they would have got it. But there was a point where when you left and I was down there and it was just aimless throwing, then I was just throwing to throw.

[David Ross]

You were loose.

[John Lester]

When I left, Woody came over and literally stood. Not, like. Not like face to face, but, like, he kind of stood off to my side to where I knew, okay, I'm done.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Damn.

[John Lester]

And he stood there. And then, like, if I went to throw, he'd be like, nope. He's like, when that phone rings and they say that you're coming in, you fire three or four as hard as you can. And then you go in, and that's what we did.

[David Ross]

And then you came in, and I it all up.

[John Lester]

And you. You died, bro.

[Anthony Rizzo]

He died twice.

[John Lester]

He died.

[Anthony Rizzo]

He almost killed me, bro. Kipnis. What was it, a swinging bar or did he.

[David Ross]

Swinging buttons swinging two strike, cutter away. It went like this. I bust out. I think I blew a hammy in the. In the. In the process. Spin throw, air mail. He. Kipnis runs into him. I'm like, I just got Kim.

[Anthony Rizzo]

This is a bowling ball, bro. He's short and compact.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Like. And I always said, too, as a first baseman, because when balls go up the line, like, when it really matters,

[John Lester]

I'll stay in there.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I'll stay in there.

[David Ross]

Yeah. You hung in.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And I felt so proud afterwards, because I actually did. But that bro, he ran me over.

[David Ross]

Yeah. And I'm feeling great. I just got in this thing then. No strike, breaking balls. We got a theme here. No strike, Breaking balls to Lindor. And you shake to the breaking ball. And I'm like, all right, he's gonna

[John Lester]

bounce this 47ft and literally kill you. You died off a mass roll.

[David Ross]

Roll my ankle. Go to get up, Doc Adams. Think I'm concussed. I'm stumbling everywhere. Two run score.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Two run score on a pass ball. Probably never happened in World series history. Yeah. Before.

[David Ross]

And I'm thinking, I just got insane. I'm the defensive guy, and I just this all up, like, what happened?

[Anthony Rizzo]

But then you let off the next inning. Right. Was that your last at that second?

[David Ross]

Second. I think I hit second the next inning.

[John Lester]

Okay.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

Is that Andrew Miller.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Andrew Miller.

[David Ross]

And I was everybody. Where do you show emotion? I'm like, thank God I got one back. It's let in two.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Oh, so, bro, you threw what, three and a third. What was it?

[John Lester]

Three, Two and a third.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Two and a third. Two and a third to bridge the gap.

[John Lester]

To bridge the gap to Chappie. Yep.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And.

[John Lester]

And I wish he wouldn't have taken me out because. Because Jose Ramirez does have good numbers off me. I think he only got the one homer, but he's got some hits. But we had two outs in that inning and we're up six to two or three at the time. Yeah, six to three. Well, yeah. So I. I would.

[David Ross]

Coming in after the crazy inning we came in, I had to hit. I'm taking off my stuff and you looked at me, he's like, look. I was like, bro, you're fine. Your shit's great. I that up. Like, he's like, looked. I was like, bro, you're throwing great. Just like.

[John Lester]

Other than the 47 foot curveball that killed him.

[David Ross]

But he had other nasty stuff. You were lost.

[John Lester]

Other than that, you were locked. It was good. I mean, and then.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And then we win, right? Chappie comes in, Raja Davis, it's a homer. We go down. Let's go.

[John Lester]

Before we hear that story. Have I told you that story? When Roger Davis hit the homer?

[Anthony Rizzo]

Oh, God, no.

[David Ross]

No, I heard that either.

[Anthony Rizzo]

But I do know that. Which no one knows. Sorry to cut you short. You, grandpa.

[David Ross]

That feels aggressive.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You the finger point I'm attacking you or the trust tree you didn't call a slider.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

All playoffs 12. Araldes Chapman.

[David Ross]

Why so like, going back, one of my. One of my things that I held was I got taken out a lot when Chappie came in and he would do Miggy or Wilson, and so I didn't. The scouting report for Raje was the slider coming into him was bad and change ups were good. Well, I had never caught Chappie splitty, and I didn't trust to throw it myself. Right. Especially with runners in scoring position. So I was just like. And in San Francisco, it worked great. I just threw heaters down and it was punchy, punchy, punchy or whatever it was. And so I'm just like, guy at second. I look at his bat, he's choked up.

[John Lester]

He's this far, this far up on the bat.

[David Ross]

And I'm like, he's got to pop one of these heaters up, right? It's 103. Like back then, not nobody threw 100.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

Right.

[David Ross]

And I'm like, he's got two people. Yeah. And I'm like, so I'm just keep throwing down heaters. And I'm like, I remember getting in. I was like, to Mike Borzell, our catching guys, I was like, it should have.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Don't slide.

[David Ross]

He said slider wasn't the pitch. Don't split. I was like, it sounds like Borsy, but I'm like, well, I have never even caught. I didn't catch him that much. So it was like an insecurity of mine. Yeah. Of coming out in that moment. Of not. No. Not knowing what to. What to.

[John Lester]

To do.

[David Ross]

And all the credit to Raje. Like.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

I was gonna say, also, let's. Let's call a spade a spade here. Like, Chappie threw the perfect pitch with him choked up down to his bat path that he hit perfectly for a home run.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Sure.

[John Lester]

You know what I'm saying?

[David Ross]

Like, but you're right. I called. I think it's 12. We should go back count like 12 heaters. But then when Miggy came in, he threw almost all sliders. Remember that? Chappie stayed in another inning and threw a ton of sliders.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The fact that Chappie got through.

[John Lester]

That's the ninth.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Is. Is the unsung hero of the entire game.

[John Lester]

Well, imagine. Imagine your. Your emotional baggage, bro. You just gave up the game tying homer and now you got to go out for another inning and try to get three outs, bro.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Every. Every time as a kid watching that 10 out of 10 times, the guy comes back out, he's going to give it up 10 out of 10. So the fact that he was able to do that.

[John Lester]

And that's what I don't like, though, is everybody wants to talk about. About Chappie giving up that homer to tie the game. Let's let. No, forget that. Let's talk about him coming out and going 1, 2, 3, the next inning.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

Because that takes some freaking cojones, bro.

[David Ross]

We rode hit like they wrote him. I mean, he.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And I'm more attacking up. Are the two biggest.

[John Lester]

Yeah. Baseball people. That was the wrong thing to do

[Anthony Rizzo]

is bring him back out.

[John Lester]

No, no, I'm more taken up.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

It's in a baseball, like, if you talk like. No, you don't tag up on that. And I'm more tagged up and got to second.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Alora tagged up on a deep fly ball by KB which earlier in the game, the wind turned around, which would have been a home run.

[David Ross]

I thought KB clipped that.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And Almora who was a rookie, had the wits about him to read where that ball was going, understand that it's either a homer, an out, or probably a homer and out.

[David Ross]

How I think nobody contributed on that team.

[Anthony Rizzo]

He goes and tags up and gets to second base. And then the rest.

[John Lester]

Most coaches are going to tell you halfway.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

And he went back and tagged up.

[David Ross]

Yeah. Which is the baseball with the base open.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Walk me. And they go, zobris. And the rest is history. But the fact that Chappie can get through that. Then we have a 17 minute rain delay. But when Raja hit that home run,

[John Lester]

what did you think before Raj hit the homer after? You know, because kind of the rule of thumb is if you, as a. As a pitcher, if you get taken out of the inning and you have a runner on, that's yours, you stay. You have to stay in the dugout till that run scores or they get out of the inning. So I gave up the hit to Jose Ramirez. Who was their damn guy, Guy or Brandon? Guy or Guy. He could hit a damn cannonball for as long as that cannonball is coming from the left side. He could hit it. Hit the ball in the gap. Jose Ramirez scores. So it's six to four now, right? Ro had a two run homer.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

Okay. Right.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yep, Yep.

[John Lester]

Yes. Yep. So he hit the double. So I'm. I'm like, all right, I'm good. I'm going to the clubhouse. Well, I go into the clubhouse. You know, Cleveland's clubhouse. You got to go down five stairs and up 342 stairs to get up there. Well, I get up there, they've got the damn champagne.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Oh, my God. I.

[John Lester]

They got the signs. World Series champs. They've got the. The.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I walk to the clubhouse, too.

[John Lester]

They've got the. The damn, what you may call it the Saran Wrap over our lockers, the whole thing, right? So I kind of come in and I'm like, this is weird, you know?

[Anthony Rizzo]

Why were you going in there? I'm just curious because I was done

[John Lester]

and I was gonna go get out of my stuff and then come back down really well. And I have a pop, too.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Okay.

[John Lester]

I'm done for the day. Dude, I'm.

[David Ross]

It's.

[John Lester]

It's.

[Anthony Rizzo]

It's literally your job. Your season's over.

[John Lester]

My season's over. I cannot re enter, and there's no game eight. Okay? So I get in there, I'm taking my. I take one cleat off, I get my ankle tape off, and, you know, Raje's got pitch 37 from Chapman that he keeps falling off or whatever. And I go to untie my second shoe, and I hear the crack. And I look up, and I just see the ball going over the fence. I take my shoe off. What was the clubby's name?

[Anthony Rizzo]

Willie. Yeah, Willie.

[John Lester]

I take my shoe off, and I. They had the entrance right there. I didn't know he was coming around the corner. I throw my shoe as hard as I can at the entrance. I go, willie. What? He comes around the corner. The cleat. Missed him.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No way.

[John Lester]

By this far.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That's great.

[David Ross]

I go get this down.

[John Lester]

There was people that came out of places in that clubhouse I've never seen before. Champagne gets put up. Saran Wrap over the top, signs down the whole thing. And then. So I change, and I come back down to the. To the dugout, but he was not happy with me. I apologize to him after the fact, but what.

[Anthony Rizzo]

What do you remember when we had the rain delay? Where were you at first? Were you in the.

[John Lester]

Were you in the dugout?

[Anthony Rizzo]

So when you came into the weight room, was it after the fact when everyone was coming in? Or like, what. What's your biggest.

[John Lester]

I followed everybody in there. So we all went in there. And I remember it kind of being, at first, a little somber. You know, everybody kind of got in there, and you all. It was almost like a simultaneous deep breath, you know? Sorry. And I remember sitting there for a second, kind of, you know, one of these, like, all right. Like, you're kind of. You went back in your corner as a fighter. You know what I'm saying? Like, I got my breath. I'm gonna get a drink of water, maybe Miller Light. And I just remember J. Hey. I remember J. Hey, start talking. And at first, it really surprised me because J. He doesn't talk, right? Like, J. He's not a vocal guy. And I kind of sat up and I looked at him, and I don't remember. I think him speaking surprised me, you know, like, holy. What's he saying? Like, what's he saying? But I don't remember the words of what he said. I just remember him saying, all right, IT guys, we have a restart. We're zero, zero. It's kind of what I remember. I don't know if that's exactly what he said. You guys can correct me. And then the best part of the whole meeting was they're like, hey, they're pulling the tarp, and Schwarber's leading off. And he walks out, and he goes, I'm gonna get a hit. You drive me You. You drive me in to whoever he was talking to. Yep.

[Anthony Rizzo]

He got the lead off single.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

He came by me. I was sitting on the bench. He had his back gloves on, and it was. Shaw was pitching me the cutter guy. He goes, if this guy throws me a cutter in, I'm gonna knock the out of it right in my face.

[Anthony Rizzo]

This is second year. Kyle Schwarber, broken knee, just came back, third game of the season.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Came back as, like. The fact that they let him come back, I think speaks volumes to us too, because our belief in him.

[John Lester]

Yeah, yeah, right.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Like, if we didn't. I think if the. The boys didn't believe that, there's no

[John Lester]

other young guy, no way that would have come back and been allowed in that clubhouse like Schwarber was.

[David Ross]

And he leaves that ball so hard. Kibnis was in the grass with a shift, and I swear it was like a foot to his right or left.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

And he didn't have time to bend down.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

He didn't time to get it. Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So we reset. I remember in the dugout in the ninth, when we were hitting in the ninth, everyone was white as a ghost, bro. Yeah. Cuz I was like, even me. I. Bro. I'm sitting there at first, I'm like, this curse is real. I'm just playing with dirt. Like, I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't even hear myself. I couldn't hear anything. I was literally numb. And we get in the dugout, and everyone's white as a ghost. And then Chappie gets us through it, and we give this the rain delay, and then we ended up going out scoring, winning another one.

[David Ross]

That Miggy doesn't get enough. Love that second base hit.

[John Lester]

Yeah, of course.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah. Because they ended up scoring a run in the night. Yeah.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You know what I mean?

[David Ross]

Rajay was on first. I'm like, he's fixing to steal. Going back to that. I remember that home run. Like, usually I could turn the page really fast and like, okay, on to the next thing. Like, I was legit. Could not get that out of my head. Catching for the rest of that inning,

[Anthony Rizzo]

like, it was just like, rest of my life, bro.

[John Lester]

Damn.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I mean, I know we won, but you. I still see Raje was a special assistant for mlb, and I saw him a lot, especially when I was the Yankees, bro. Every time I saw him, I got like. You know what I mean? We won, right? Like, right. So we win again. Let's go back. KB Gets the groundbreak.

[John Lester]

I got.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I catch the last out. Where are You. What are you thinking? This is now your third World Series championship. 108 year curse.

[John Lester]

I was not well in the dugout. Was not well.

[David Ross]

You hit. Side note, you hate sitting the bench. He, like, he can't handle the nerves, all right? You'd go to your routine during the game.

[Anthony Rizzo]

It's one of the greatest left handed pitchers of all time. Just does not like to sit on an actual serious note, dealing with his own demons of, like, nerves routine to get him in. One of the greatest left handed pitchers of all time. Hall of Fame pitcher. And everyone goes through that also, you

[John Lester]

know, like, I didn't like. So I played in two incredibly historic stadiums, okay, for the majority of my career. Even when Wrigley redid their dugouts. Two of the worst places to sit in the dugout and watch a game. You're.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We are in Cleveland, John.

[John Lester]

Well, I'm just saying. Well, hold on.

[David Ross]

I'm talking about.

[John Lester]

Normally Wrigley is four and a half miles from home plate, okay? Fenway is 27ft from home plate, and you can't see anything. All right? Yeah, I know it looked as if I wasn't a great teammate, but I liked being able to see what was actually happening because you know how it is. You sit on the bench, guy gets rung up on a call, the guy goes, oh, that's not a strike. Now everybody in the dugout's like, let's just get your together, right? Well, when you're sitting in downstairs, you're watching tv, like, that was a good pitch.

[Anthony Rizzo]

So you were downstairs when we went a little.

[John Lester]

No, hold on.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I was just saying, I gotta know, John.

[John Lester]

This is why I was not. Well, I was up there. We bring in Carl Edwards Jr. To, to finish the game, okay? I'm going back. The only way to calm my nerves is I'm going to Borsy. And I'm looking at the scouting report with Borsi, like, all right, I know this dude only throws cutter curveball. What do we got? And he'd be like, all right, we've

[Anthony Rizzo]

got X, Y and Z. Mike Borzello was our. He was like our scouting report catching coordinator, strategist. Had a game. Game. Such good game calling.

[John Lester]

So. So that.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah, that's Borsy.

[John Lester]

I should have said that first. But. So anyway, I'm going to him. To where I'm like, trying to call the game, trying to take my mind off of what's going on. And I'm literally pacing from him to the end of the dugout, him to the end. I Got. So Carl gets two quick outs, and I'm like, let's go. We got to get one more infield pop up. Let's just make it simple. Okay. I think he walks. Somebody walks.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

Now we bring in Mike Montgomery, the closer. No offense to Mike Montgomery. Okay. But I look at Borsi and I go, what are we doing? I'm like, we got no. Like I said, no offense. We're in the tree strophy rundown close for us for three quarters of the year until we got Chappie, we got Woody, we got other area and lackey are down there.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

Arieta like, we got these people. Once again, Mike, no offense, but I love you.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I love. We've got love, Mike.

[John Lester]

We've got. He was one of their bench players.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Michael Martinez.

[David Ross]

Michael Martinez, Yep.

[Anthony Rizzo]

First about the World Series.

[John Lester]

First about the World Series mind you,

[David Ross]

because they made a switch when he brought on the lefty.

[John Lester]

Remind me to go back to that. Hold on.

[David Ross]

Who was it?

[John Lester]

Coco.

[David Ross]

Coco.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Coco.

[John Lester]

Chris. That's right. He took Coco out. We did something. I can't remember what we did. We made a pitching change. They brought Coco in for that guy. Coco only was hitting left handed. And then we brought in Mike Martinez. So they took Coco out and Montgomery for.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Martinez.

[John Lester]

Martinez. So anyway, I literally take one step. I come off the rail, I take one step to Borg. He goes, don't worry, we have spin.

[David Ross]

And I'm like, that sounds like.

[John Lester]

I go, oh, Montgomery has a badass curveball.

[David Ross]

We're good.

[John Lester]

Let's go. First pitch, curveball. Roll over to kb. I did everything I could to hurdle that thing. I went to jump, and I was like, nope. And put my foot down and then jumped. And then as I did that and landed Jason Hamill face plants right next to me, and I'm like, I am so glad I put my foot on the rail because that would have been me.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Oh, bro, that celebration. The. The celebration that night was special. We party, we pop champagne, we fly back to Wrigley. We get. We're all blitzed, right? And I remember getting off the bus at Wrigley. Well, I remember on the field giving you this big hug, bro. It like, it felt so good. Like, you win the World Series and first off, you're gas. Run a two year run for me at least. Like, I just learned how to win in 15. All my energy now is winning the World Series this year. It's like a lot make or break. So game seven, World Series. I actually remember talking to Kipnis at second base at Some point during Sam, I'm like, bro, thank God the season's over tomorrow. Like, win or lose, right? We're still in the heat of the battle, but like, to be able to just turn off for a second, talk to him, giving you guys a hug, right, Is the best feeling in the world. We party with our families, the plane ride, have great pictures of my parents and Emily, my. My girlfriend, then soon to be fiance, now wife, baby mama, love her, but just the. The celebration with the families. And then we get home to Wrigley and I have the trophy. So I walk off the bus with the trophy and like, there's fans outside of Wrigley, and it's great. And I look at Vijay, our traveling secretary. I'm like, hey, like, what do I do with this? I don't know. So I just took it home. I took the trophy home, Dick.

[John Lester]

Well, bro, what so mad.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I did not only did it make it so mad, we. I get home at like 6:30. We lay down for like, I don't know, an hour and a half. Like, that's the only sleep I had for like four days.

[John Lester]

No sleep.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I get a text or phone or I'm up and VJs like, hey, John's pissed off you took the trophy home. And I'm like, how the. First off, how the does John know I have the trophy? It's 7, 8:30 in the morning.

[John Lester]

I didn't go to.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And I'm like, I don't really care. Like, trophies in my bed overlooking the Chicago river in Lake Michigan, right? So I'm like, John's mad at me, right? I'm like, all right. So I get up, which was a great reason to get up.

[John Lester]

It was love mad. It was.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

No, I know it wasn't. Bring the Pittsburgh Matt.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Bring the trophy back to Wrigley. And then I think it was like 9:30 or 10:00am Emily and I got to the bar, bottle blonde. Our. Our guy Eric Ferrone opened. I texted him, hey, you can open up. He's a big Cubs fan. And we sat at the bar from like 10am to like 2am and then from 2am we went to Underground and just went until like the next morning. And like throughout the day, everyone started coming and partying, but for me it was like. It was just. I was in heaven, bro. It was like my dream came true, right? And I'm with all my friends and family. But where. What were you doing after? What were you doing that you texted at 8:30 in the morning saying you were mad? At me for taking trophy.

[John Lester]

I don't know if I went to sleep at that particular time.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Farrah was pregnant with now psy. Psy Elizabeth, who's soon to be nine. Soon to be nine, which is crazy.

[John Lester]

Yeah. So I don't. I don't. There. There's a little bit of a blur there. One, sleep deprivation. Two, some beverages were in. In involved there. I. I just remember. I don't know how I even came to about. I was like, where somebody might have said something to me. And I was like, where's the trophy, bj? And he goes, riz took it home. And I got mad, right?

[Anthony Rizzo]

I took it home, bro. I was there with the 100 loss team.

[John Lester]

Well, that's not my fault about him.

[David Ross]

It really is all.

[John Lester]

That's him. It's not my fault. I had. You got to pick better timing. Agreed.

[David Ross]

Agreed.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Whatever, John.

[John Lester]

Agreed. Anyway, let's get.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Let's get to the parade. What. What happened?

[John Lester]

Rossi almost died.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We're on the. We're on the bus, so.

[John Lester]

Well, Rossi lack and Woody almost died.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I'm on the second last bus with KB&DAX and the country cowboys.

[John Lester]

Get right here, didn't you?

[David Ross]

Yeah, I had my nose. Almost got rid.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We're pulling out a Wrigley and we're getting like these. Look, granted, meanwhile, this is the first time the cubs have ever done a parade, right? Like, no one knows what the last parade was like. Why is it a lot? So we have. We have the buses, the double decker buses, and we have, like, our guides on there.

[John Lester]

Not to interrupt you, but do you remember when we got to the clubhouse and I had that whiskey. I never told you this. I had somebody date that whiskey. It was from 1908.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No, really? I had a whiskey, too, from 1908 that I took a shot with my dad after we won.

[John Lester]

So that. Remember that whiskey in my locker? I had the old bottle. It had the messed up thing. It was from 1908. And you're me. You. Your dad. My dad.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Oh, yeah. Yes.

[John Lester]

And we all took like. The cork was like dissolved in it. We're like. Well, we're either gonna.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That. That moment at Wrigley where we were all there.

[John Lester]

Yeah. Yeah.

[David Ross]

That was cool. Everybody's family.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I have a. I had a guitar signed by all the boys with the world series patch.

[David Ross]

That's what I've got. He gave that to me. He gave me. And it's my favorite thing I've got.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Everyone was there, and it was just so special. And we get on the buses and we have, like, our, like, almost tour guide on the bus, basically giving us, like, a tutorial. Like, hey, when we get out of Wrigley, the power lines are really low, so there's gonna be a few times you have to duck on the power.

[David Ross]

We didn't get that message. We had camera crews on ours.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Okay.

[David Ross]

And these. These wires that pulled a sheet so we could walk from the parking lot to the. To the stadium. So there was these. These steel wires that held the curtain up. Well, everybody had forgotten. They didn't tell us this, but everybody forgotten.

[John Lester]

Well, everybody's excited.

[David Ross]

Everybody.

[John Lester]

We're seeing fans right there.

[David Ross]

Hey, how we doing? It comes, we go to that, and the camera guy was facing us, having a camera shooting us on the back of the bus.

[Anthony Rizzo]

There's footage of this. And imagine getting that footage.

[John Lester]

I've never seen it.

[David Ross]

I hadn't seen it. I hadn't seen it. But the. I know the camera guy got hit first. His camera caught, and the thing pulled really taut right as we're driving. And so his camera goes boom and falls and then whips the line right across. Lackey's hat, sunglasses went off. He got hit across the face. I got hit right in the nose. Nose bleeding. Thank God. If it would hit me. Here.

[Anthony Rizzo]

We're done.

[David Ross]

The back.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

I probably got a statue of Rigby

[John Lester]

and Harry Carrick, and I don't know what happened, but I kind of went like this. Like. I don't know why.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You escaped.

[John Lester]

Yeah, I had a. I had a damn gouge in the top of my head right here for, like, six, bro.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I remember seeing you guys bleeding because I was in the bus in front of you. Yeah, that was.

[David Ross]

I had my wife at the time breaking out tampons to stick up my nose so it stopped bleeding. I could wave to the fans.

[John Lester]

I was a train wreck.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Five million people.

[John Lester]

Five million people. But I.

[David Ross]

Stage was crazy.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I'm sure the Boston parades were insane. The duck boats, the passion. But it wasn't. It wasn't, bro, that our parade was, like. It went forever.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And the fans. And then we get on stage. What. Like, what's your. What do you take away from all that?

[John Lester]

So I'll say this. When we were on stage and they were, like, calling people up there to, like, say something. When you're standing there and you're with your boys and you're, like, kind of away from. You know, you're there, but you're removed. You know what I'm saying? Like, you're not having a microphone in front of you. And having to talk. You're like, damn, that's a lot of people. You're kind of like, that's a lot of people, brothers.

[Anthony Rizzo]

People in trees.

[David Ross]

That's all I remember was heads and then the treetops, but 50 deep.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Remember crossing the Chicago River?

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

With that. It was blue. They dyed the river blue.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

So Big Jim's like, hey, John, you're next. I'm like, yeah, cool, man. I've got enough liquid courage. We're good. I don't like talking in front of people.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And 5 million people.

[John Lester]

5 million people. 5 million. And he calls like, somebody talks. I think it was you. I think it went after you. And he's like, hey, you're up.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Let's go

[John Lester]

stumble up there. Get up to the podium. And you look up and I was like, I don't, I don't know what to say. There's a lot. It's a lot of damn people out here. From five feet, right, you're standing with your boys like, you're good. You, you, no problem. You're like, damn, that's a lot of people. You get up and you're like, holy, what is this? It's so emotional. And then all I said was, how about this? That's what came out of my mouth. That was, that was my speech. Tony, how about this? And of course, as soon as I say it, I look right there and there's like a nine year old kid just looking at me like this. All right, once again, the.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Sorry, we won. When you win, you could do anything.

[David Ross]

Yeah, I should have said.

[Anthony Rizzo]

I mean, you used to always tell me, though, winning solves everything.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

When you win. And I tell us all young players that I play with, especially now in the social media error days, like, winning solves all your problems. And you said that where it's like you can come up and have this whole social media following and do all this stuff, but when you win, that's how you make the real money. Like. Yeah, because when you win, you can do whatever you want.

[David Ross]

That was my saying. Being a backup catcher, it's like everybody wants a winner. Everybody wants a winner. You're on a winning team. You're just going to, you know, solves

[John Lester]

everything and the guys to keep playing, you know, like you're looking at Scherzer and Verlander right now like they're 42. 40, whatever. 41. 42. Still pitching. Well, they're pitching because they've won, right? And I'm not saying they don't have good stuff and they shouldn't be pitching. They still have good stuff, but teams want those jokers around because they've one. Right, right, right, right. Like you. If you win, people want you, and

[David Ross]

there's a lot of knowledge in winning and experience and having that.

[Anthony Rizzo]

No doubt.

[David Ross]

I want to know because we're. We're going down that road looking all. Looking back at everything, right? You're retired. You've been home raising kids, enjoying your life. Like, looking back 10 years ago now, what would you tell John Lester than

[John Lester]

the, you know, now enjoy it more. Yeah, I. That's.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Bro. You enjoyed it, though, man.

[John Lester]

I did enjoy it, but I didn't. I didn't relish in it, you know? Like, I had this conversation with Rossi one day, and I'm kind of envious of, like, the relationships that he has, which obviously. Little different personalities. Okay. Like, slightly more vivacious, like Dancing with the Stars. Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

You know. You know, Dancing the Stars lives in the middle of nowhere.

[John Lester]

Yeah. I mean, but my thing is, is like. And I'll never forget this. So it's game one of the 2013 World Series. Okay. Fenway Park. Me and you are getting ready to go out. And their weight room is upstairs, and where the. The lounge area to hang out was upstairs. Well, I walk through and I come up the stairs, and I hear music playing. It sounds like radios is playing in the. In the. Or the, you know, speakers playing in the weight room. And I get up there, and Kenny Chesney has, like 10 dudes around him just jamming big green tractor. And I look at those guys, and I'm like, man, that sure looks fun. I had to go hop my ass on the bike and get ready for game one. Right. Point of what I'm trying to make is I'm not saying that's the time to relish in it, but the times that dabo comes into the clubhouse or Brett Eldridge comes in the clubhouse, Eddie Vetter, Bill Murray or whatever, taking 10 minutes and going over there and talking to him, Stopping what I'm doing and going and talking to him. But also, too. I know in the back of my head, if I stop what I'm doing, I'm not going to go back and finish it.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

You know, so.

[David Ross]

But that's what made you great, too. So it's like, I definitely.

[John Lester]

I definitely get that, but I do wish I would have put just a tick more effort into some relationships in my. When I was playing. Good feedback.

[Anthony Rizzo]

That's good.

[David Ross]

That's what's all about, right? We're talking about all These stories we're going to tell throughout this series is like it takes a group of special men to come together and you create or brothers for life. Right? And so those relationships are special and I think they grow. But when you're in the middle of it, you're just in the middle of it. You're doing you, bro. You're doing, you're, you're. You. You were brought in at a high price tag to establish what winning is. And this is how we go about our. And Theo recognized that because he had been around you and you had been around great players. And that's the great thing about being a veteran and passing that stuff down. So the reason why you get the ball in game seven and we're all, I mean, going game one of each freaking series, it's like, this is the ride or die dude that's putting us on our back. This is a that here we come, right? And after him, we got another good one, you know, and we got another good one.

[Anthony Rizzo]

John, you single handedly, I said at the beginning, you're the best free agent signing in Cubs history. You brought winning single handedly to an organization. From your leadership on how you went about your business, from how you treated everyone else, from how you were like a giant teddy bear at times, but also prick as well.

[David Ross]

So generous. Spot every team dinner.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Like, all my cowboy boots are from John on John's dime. I have two pairs of these.

[David Ross]

You got a Rolex 200, 200 win

[Anthony Rizzo]

Rolex, private jet hours. You flew me and Emily home on

[David Ross]

your dime, flew me home, my grandma passed away.

[Anthony Rizzo]

All of these things just created so much love and within.

[John Lester]

And bro, through 162 also too, man. Like you're my boys. Like, you know what I'm saying?

[Anthony Rizzo]

Like you treated everyone like this.

[John Lester]

Yeah. But like everybody's my. Like if you're on my team and we're doing like we're, we're. We're supposed to be in this together. I spend more time with you than my family. Right. So I didn't care if it were in the tree. No offense. I didn't care if it was your grandmother or if it was the 26th man on the roster's grandmother. If you need to get home, I've been blessed with this perk. Right. Yeah. I put in the work and I got it and whatever. But at the end of the day, that's not like you should go home. And if you got to go home at midnight and get on, you go like, that's the way I Look at things. And I didn't do it because I wanted the story on espn. Never, ever have, John, Because I loved every. I loved you guys. I showed my love in different ways.

[David Ross]

True.

[John Lester]

Wasn't the nicest person sometimes, but I cared about what I did and I cared about you guys and I cared about winning. Dude, like, you played sports to win.

[Anthony Rizzo]

He said, that's right, bro.

[John Lester]

Play to just go participate. Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

In an era of. In an air of social media, all the things you and Farah and your family have done are. It's like Instagram versus reality.

[John Lester]

Right?

[Anthony Rizzo]

You have people who put stuff on Instagram and think they're living this lavish life. You lived it behind the scenes, and you have done the coolest things that nobody's ever heard of doing.

[David Ross]

Yeah.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And literally, you changed my life on that. Because when I was younger, it was like, you know, you want to flaunt a little bit. Like, I'm in the big leagues, I'm young, I'm single.

[John Lester]

That way, it's different.

[Anthony Rizzo]

And then I see you in 15 come over, and it was like from that day on, like, I rarely ever post anything I'm really doing because of how you went about it and, like how you shaped my life as a 25 year old. Now I'm 36. You know what I mean? So it's like you. I don't think you really understand how much John. I don't think you understand how much you mean to me. All right, I got one. One question too, because he asked about the 10 years. If you can go back to that season, playoffs, or regular season, what's one moment you go back to that stands out? That's like you'll never forget

[John Lester]

the whole season.

[Anthony Rizzo]

The whole season, spring training, regular season, post season, whatever.

[John Lester]

I think the feeling I had walking out of the dugout with Rossi in game five of the World Series.

[David Ross]

Damn, that was cool.

[John Lester]

And like stepping on that top step, it was the old dugout. I always went out on the left side and stepping out, I always tried to make it a point. When I stepped out to look around and I got out and I started in left field and I looked. I didn't go behind me, but I looked all the way as I'm walking. I looked as far as I could. Look this way, and I was like, there is not an empty seat in this place.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Wow.

[John Lester]

Like that feeling.

[David Ross]

That's a badass feeling. Your song came on. I was so emotional. I had out singing Jason Aldean. You know, we're here at the top of My lungs behind my mask, just so you could. I was a wreck because I was just, like. My heart was on another level. And you're out there just like, here we freaking go. That's.

[John Lester]

I think I was on, like, pitch three, and it's like a point where, like, the. The. The drums come in or whatever. And, you know, I had my little routine that I did. I'd look down, or I'd do this, look down. I never put the ball on my glove, and then I'd lift my leg, tap the ball or tap the glove, and I'd look home, and Rossi is back there before I throw the ball, and he's.

[David Ross]

I had to get out my motion, bro. It was crazy.

[John Lester]

We've had a couple that was like, that. We. We were talking about this last night. That moment, like, I'll. That moment is, like, ingrained in my head. And then the other moment was. We were talking about last night. The 13 World Series for game one.

[David Ross]

This is fun.

[John Lester]

And national anthem plays. And the. The flyover was late, and, you know, I'm getting ready to throw a pitch, and all of a sudden, you just hear. You know, it's dark. It's pitch black.

[David Ross]

You can see the bullpen before the game. So Mary J. Blige, Whales.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

And then this flyover, when all you

[John Lester]

see is the after burners as they pass Fenway and just do this, and it's loud, and you just, like, you could feel them. And I was getting ready to throw a pitch, and I put my foot back down. And I love planes. I love flyovers. And so I'm, like, looking for them, just trying to see what kind of planes they were or whatever. And I, you know, kind of dig back in, and I look down to Rossi, and Rossi squatted down.

[David Ross]

He's like, yeah,

[John Lester]

but, like, at the same time, it's like, you know, like, you're having fun. Yeah. You're having fun. It's a grind, but it's. It's the best, man. Like, when you're in that moment, I wouldn't. I wouldn't trade that.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Yeah.

[John Lester]

For anything.

[David Ross]

Cheers, Johnny Lester.

[Anthony Rizzo]

To 10 years.

[John Lester]

10 years. How about that?

[Anthony Rizzo]

Hey, by the way, this is John's famous line.

[David Ross]

Hangovers are temporary.

[Anthony Rizzo]

Hangovers are temporary. Legends last forever. And for us, winning, we lost forever.

[John Lester]

Yeah.

[David Ross]

Johnny.

[John Lester]

Yeah, man.

[David Ross]

That's a wrap.

[John Lester]

I think that's all you guys are gonna need for the podcast. How long?

[David Ross]

We've been talking seven hours.