Chicago Cubs: Greatest players of the decade – #30-21

Chicago Cubs: No. 28: Mike Montgomery

For years, Chicago Cubs fans wondered what it would be like when the team finally won the World Series. One question would be, who would be on the mound to get the final out? Mike Montgomery may have been among the most unlikely of candidates heading into the 2016 season.

The Cubs traded for Montgomery from the Seattle Mariners during the 2016 season in order to give their bullpen a boost, with future All-Star Daniel Vogelbach going the other way.) Montgomery made 12 relief appearances and five starts for the Cubs that year, posting a 2.82 ERA. His claim to fame would come in the tenth inning of Game 7 of the World Series, when the Cleveland Indians rallied and Joe Maddon brought him in to get Michael Martinez to ground out to end the game.

Montgomery ended up being a valuable swing man over the next two years, putting up an ERA under 4.00 in both 2017 and 2018 while pitching both as a starter and reliever. However, he struggled in 2019, posting a 5.67 ERA in 20 relief appearances before the Cubs traded him to the Kansas City Royals.

Thus, in 2019, the Cubs traded away both tenth men who took the ball in the final frame of that fateful game (Carl Edwards, Jr. being the other). Though Montgomery is now gone, he’ll always be the answer to that one trivia question.