{"id":918931,"date":"2026-10-07T03:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T03:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/918931\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T03:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T03:18:20","slug":"anthony-rizzo-2016-world-series-champion-reveals-most-important-piece-to-winning-it-all-in-mlb-postseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/918931\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Rizzo, 2016 World Series champion, reveals most important piece to winning it all in MLB postseason"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the MLB postseason<\/a> in full swing, every team and its fan base vying for the World Series trophy is hoping that their superstars can rise to the occasion and get the job done.<\/p>\n

However, every great team who has hoisted the hardware at the end of a grueling season knows it takes more than just those All-Stars to win it all. In fact, it takes every single person from the top down.<\/p>\n

Just ask World Series champion and three-time All-Star first baseman Anthony Rizzo<\/a>, who helped the Chicago Cubs break its 108-year streak without winning a World Series in 2016 after defeating the Cleveland Guardians in Game 7.<\/p>\n

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\"Anthony <\/p>\n

Anthony Rizzo participates in a pregame segment on NBC Sports before the Chicago Cubs play the San Francisco Giants at Wrigley Field on June 7, 2026. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Of course, it was stars like himself, Kris Bryant<\/a> and others celebrating on the field after he secured the final out at first base. But Rizzo can\u2019t help stressing the importance of every player, coach, clubhouse attendant and more during October baseball.<\/p>\n

“I just think that on every team you have the stars, the middle-of-the-tier players, and your role players. Everyone\u2019s so important to a team,” Rizzo told OutKick, while highlighting PAYDAY\u2019s “Low Key Legends” initiative, which emphasizes the importance of the unsung heroes within an organization. “It takes all 26 guys, it takes your entire staff. So, in order for the superstars to win their championship \u2013 let\u2019s say Aaron Judge. He\u2019s the MVP of the Yankees, of the whole league. For him to win a championship, it\u2019s going to take every single guy on that roster. It\u2019s not just one guy who carries you.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s the small things. It\u2019s the baserunning, the pickoffs, the relays. It\u2019s all the lowkey things that maybe don\u2019t look as glitzy and glammy, but that\u2019s what it takes to win a championship.”<\/p>\n

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We asked Rizzo who his “Low Key Legend” would be, and he didn\u2019t even hesitate when thinking back to his career.<\/p>\n

“In the baseball world, I would definitely say Danny Mueller,” he responded. “He was the clubhouse attendant in Chicago. He was my guy. He always had me high-energy, ready, and always a bundle of joy when I walked in. Whatever I needed, he was there. Then, the hitting coaches. They are just behind the scenes doing their scouting reports, knowing everything I\u2019m thinking, so when I walk in, I don\u2019t have to think. They just have everything ready for me, knowing what I want so I can go out there and play effortlessly.<\/p>\n

“Those are the guys behind the scenes that are just fueling this greatness you see on the field.”<\/p>\n

At this stage of the season, teams have completely bonded into a family rather than just colleagues, if they didn\u2019t do so during spring training and the early-season grind. Rizzo enjoyed every “family” he was a part of in the bigs, where October baseball brought out that team chemistry.<\/p>\n

\"Anthony <\/p>\n

Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs celebrates after catching the final out to defeat the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series at Progressive Field on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. (MLB)<\/p>\n

“I think we\u2019re together forever. We\u2019re together for 200-plus days a year,” he said. “In October, win or go home, you\u2019re still saying to each other, \u2018In a few weeks, I get to pick my own friends.\u2019 So, we\u2019re like family in the clubhouse. Guys know when to get on guys, when they need a little more love, when to back off \u2013 maybe they\u2019re a little more sensitive. That\u2019s the family and bond that\u2019s created in a season. Every year is different. Every year is unique, but for me over my career, Danny\u2019s been a low-key legend for me forever, and my hitting coaches I\u2019ve always had a good relationship with them where they always had my dialed in.”<\/p>\n

Then, when it\u2019s time to play ball, it\u2019s not just the clean-up hitter or the ace that carries the load of winning a postseason game. It takes a village, and the Milwaukee Brewers gave a prime example of that in Game 2 of their NLDS series against the San Diego Padres.<\/p>\n

YANKEES’ JAZZ CHISHOLM JR MAKES WILD ADMISSION ABOUT COSTLY ERROR AS TEAM FACES POSTSEASON ELIMINATION<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, the highlights will capture the moment Jackson Chourio walked it off in the bottom of the ninth inning with bases loaded and two outs against the Padres\u2019 dominant closer, Mason Miller. That grabs the headlines and fan appreciation.<\/p>\n

However, Rizzo pointed to an unsung hero \u2013 a “Low Key Legend” \u2013 that helped make it all possible.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a team of destiny because they\u2019re a smaller market, but this is how they\u2019ve been all year. To stay on brand with Payday and low-key legends, Gary Sanchez in the at-bat before, pinch hitting, taking the walk to get the bases loaded. That\u2019s the low-key legend moment of the game. The superstar moment is when Jackson Chourio coming up and getting that base hit.”<\/p>\n

\"Jackson <\/p>\n

Milwaukee Brewers’ Jackson Chourio celebrates after hitting a walkoff hit during the ninth inning of Game 2 of a National League Division Series playoff game against the San Diego Padres on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo\/Kayla Wolf)<\/p>\n

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So, while your stars need to step up in the biggest ways possible in crucial moments throughout the postseason, always remember the “entire army” behind each franchise all battling for the same prize at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Those unsung heroes could be the difference between going home with nothing, or forever being called a champion.<\/p>\n

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Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the MLB postseason in full swing, every team and its fan base vying for the World Series…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[92063,64,63,5158,591,107381,300794,85],"class_list":["post-918931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-anthony-rizzo","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-outkick-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}