{"id":414598,"date":"2026-01-18T08:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T08:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/414598\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T08:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T08:45:10","slug":"world-series-reunion-at-cubs-convention-celebrates-2016-ignites-itch-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/414598\/","title":{"rendered":"World Series reunion at Cubs Convention celebrates 2016, ignites ‘itch’ for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the 2016 Cubs<\/a> walked into the Wrigley Field clubhouse Thursday evening, their lockers were set up just the way they had been that championship season, each of their jerseys hanging as if it were a game day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing that was missing was [Jon] Lester and [John] Lackey\u2019s beer fridge,\u201d recently-retired Cubs great Anthony Rizzo joked.<\/p>\n

Instead, former Cubs catcher Miguel Montero noted that there was a bar set up next to his locker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was honestly like we had just won a playoff series,\u201d Rizzo said Saturday on the stage at Cubs Convention. \u201cBecause that\u2019s what we did after we won playoff series, we\u2019d literally party in the clubhouse, or we went to [Jon] Lester\u2019s house, or somewhere in Wrigleyville.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what it felt like again. The families were there, the wives were there. The only thing different was the kids are 10 years older. So that was a little bit of a mind trick.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 10-year anniversary celebration of the 2016 World Series team kicked off with a reunion at Wrigley Field on Thursday. Coaches, staff, front office members and most of the roster \u2013 \u201creally good turnout,\u201d as president Jed Hoyer said, but missing Kris Bryant, Jake Arrieta, Jorge Soler, Tommy La Stella and Hect\u00f3r Rond\u00f3n \u2013 gathered with their families the night before Cubs Convention officially opened.<\/p>\n

The party carried on into the weekend. Cubs Convention\u2019s opening ceremony centered around the 2016 team. Lester was named a Cubs Hall of Famer,<\/a> with an induction ceremony set for this summer. And a panel of retired players from that team relived that magical season as a packed ballroom of fans looked on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives you the itch a little bit,\u201d Hoyer said, \u201cwhen you think about what that team accomplished and the kind of guys we had on that team.\u201d<\/p>\n

By bringing home the Cubs\u2019 first World Series in over a century, that group solidified new expectations and left behind the \u201clovable losers\u201d moniker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe set the bar really high for the guys coming up,\u201d Montero said. \u201cFrom the point of view of the fans and the kids that are actually getting to the big-leagues now, that they have that pressure, they need to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs haven\u2019t been back to the World Series in the decade since. But as they went through the 2021 rebuild that dismantled the championship core, their fan base demanded a quick turnaround.<\/p>\n

The team doesn\u2019t have any remaining members of the 2016 team. Even former catcher David Ross was unceremoniously fired from his managerial post after the 2023 season. (Rizzo praised Ross for still attending Cubs Convention this year. \u201cFor David to be able to handle everything the way he has, as his friend, is honestly amazing.\u201d)<\/p>\n

In a new era, the Cubs are back in win-now mode. They ended a four-year playoff drought last year, bounced by the Brewers in the National League Division Series. And they\u2019re determined to go further this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was literally the closest I\u2019ve ever been to that trophy,\u201d center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said of the Cubs Convention opening ceremony. \u201cCall it what you want, but that wouldn\u2019t be such a bad script to write if we do it 10 years apart. That\u2019d be a fun reunion 10 more years from now.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were plenty of moments from the 2016 run to reminisce about this weekend. Saturday\u2019s panel told stories about their many team dinners \u2013 \u201cIt was a battle between Lester and Lackey on who\u2019s paying for those dinners,\u201d Rizzo said \u2013 and revealed their thoughts when Cleveland tied up Game 7 \u2013 \u201cAre we cursed?,\u201d Ben Zobrist said.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, Mike Montgomery, who threw the last out of the World Series, said that conversations with his former teammates kept turning to: \u201cWhat if something was different? We wouldn\u2019t be here, we wouldn\u2019t be doing this whole event and having the 2016 reunion. Fate had it that the Cubs were going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs are set to have another anniversary celebration in July. And plans are in the works to memorialize World Series teams past and future. This weekend was only part one of the celebration.<\/p>\n

The reception for the team at the opening ceremony was raucous, reaching a fever pitch when Rizzo hoisted the World Series trophy over his head.<\/p>\n

Then on Saturday, after the panel had showered Cubs fans with praise and gratitude, Rizzo asked if he could have a mic-drop moment. A grin on his face, he warned that was going to go the opposite direction from the usual cliches.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re welcome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The ballroom erupted in applause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the 2016 Cubs walked into the Wrigley Field clubhouse Thursday evening, their lockers were set up just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-414598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}