07-29-21 and 07-30-21 The Days the World Series Baseball team died

 

Ken is a dyed in the wool Cubs fan.  I half-watched most games that he watched, but I did start getting interested in 2016, when more games were broadcast because they started playing well.

They won the  World Series in 2016 and have done decently since, until this year, when they haven't been playing as well.  I really liked that I knew the names of the players.  Ken got to see the Schwarber a few years ago in Iowa when he wasn't hitting very well.  Anna, Joel and I got to see Bryant (KB) in Iowa when he was rehabilitating from an injury in 2018.  (Ken was out of town for work....I actually skipped part of the middle school parent-teacher conferences to go.) 

We had great seats!  We must have been early because I think many more people arrived later to see KB.

We also saw many of these guys before they hit the big league.

Last year Lester and Schwarber left the team as free agents.  Russell and Zobriest left a couple of years ago with family issues.

Well the nail was placed in the coffin when they traded Rizzo, KB and Jave Baez in the last 2 days.  (They also traded their EXCELLENT closer Kimbrell, but he was newer to the team.)

UGH!  They were all going to be free agents after this season and they let them go this weekend.  It was crazy because we went to see the Iowa Cubs (AAA) yesterday and you could hear people talking about it.  Also everyone's shirts (except I saw one Contreras shirt) are now obsolete!  Ken has Bryant shirt.  Anna and I had Lester and Joel had a Russell from years ago.  But all during the game,  most people walked by with shirts of players that were all let go that day or the day before! 

I watched an interview with Rizzo and it looked like someone had punched him in the face.  He started with the Iowa Cubs, I believe, right out of high school.  (correction....not true.....he came to the Cubs  when he was still quite young after fighting cancer....per Ken)

So sad.  The joke was that the Cubs were still going to expect people to pay over $100 to watch Contreras (catcher and now team captain) play with the the Iowa Cubs in Chicago.  I felt like they didn't even get good people in the trade.  Baseball is not going to be as enjoyable for me now!