Cubs fans can't help but notice Kyle Tucker's gaslighting reflection of 2025 season

Kyle Tucker returned to Wrigley Field on Monday night with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs fans greeted him with boos. The reaction was expected, considering that Tucker not only signed with the Dodgers over the offseason, but was clearly not a fit with the Cubs by the end of the 2025 season.

Anyone who has followed the Cubs or Tucker since their union last offseason is likely aware that there was a clear disconnect between the two sides when all was said and done. Tucker was everything the Cubs could have asked for during the first-half of the season, but his final two months were defined by injury and a prolonged offensive slump.

Kyle Tucker pulls out the tiniest violin to defend Cubs' tenure

Tucker still hasn't quite broken out of that slump in his time with the Dodgers, but after being asked about the boos on Monday night, the veteran outfielder gave a tone-deaf response.

"I tried my hardest last year. I tried playing through a hand fracture and calf thing, just trying to get back to the playoffs for them and trying to do what I could to help out the team last year with them."

No one denied that Tucker had an injury last year. And, along those lines, it is curious seeing some former Cubs beat reporters (who now cover the Dodgers) come to Tucker's defense.

The injury, itself, wasn't the problem. It was the handling of the injury. Reporting after the fact made it clear that there was a point when the Cubs wanted to turn to an IL stint as the next step, but Tucker refused. At that point, the onus then falls on the player. Moving into September, Tucker was dealing with a calf injury that essentially derailed the end of his Cubs tenure, not that a fracture hadn't already been developing.

And, to Maddie Lee's point directly, the Cubs didn't trade for Tucker to win games in June. Even without Tucker, there was a good chance that the Cubs were going to reach the postseason last season. They traded for Tucker to win games in October. Tucker went hitless in half of the Cubs' postseason games last year, and including an 0-4 effort in the elimination game against the Milwaukee Brewers with two strikeouts.

For a myriad of reasons, the Tucker experiment in Chicago ended on a sour note. Above all else, that was the reason why he was booed on Monday night. There certainly were good moments for Tucker with the Cubs last year, but the negatives outweighed the positive and there is no amount of reflection needed to change that.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow