Former Chicago Cubs superstar set to reach career milestone

Anthony Rizzo has an opportunity this season that is the definition of tragic irony.

/ New York Yankees/GettyImages

If you’re building an all-time Chicago Cubs team there’s only one choice for the first baseman. With all due respect to Derrek Lee and Mark Grace, Anthony Rizzo had the putout that won the Cubs their first World Series in 108 years and he was the first of those great 2016 players to get the call-up to Chicago.

Unfortunately for fans, Rizzo is no longer with the Cubs, but that shouldn’t prevent them from rooting for one of the greatest players to ever take Wrigley Field as he closes in on a bit of history this season.

Going into the 2024 season Rizzo is sitting at 295 career homers and 930 career RBIs and there’s good reason to believe that he’ll crack both milestones in 2024. 

He’s only hit less than five homers in a season one time, and it was his rookie season with the Padres as a 21-year-old, so that one feels pretty safe.

The RBI total may be harder to get to but it’s important to note that in seasons in which he’s played 100 or more games, he’s only had less than 70 RBIs one time in nine such seasons (2021, when he was traded midway through the year).

Something worth keeping an eye on in this situation is that the New York Yankees will be at Wrigley Field facing off against the Cubs on September 6th-8th which are games 140, 141, and 142 on the schedule.

If I were a betting man I’d look for Rizzo to get RBI number 1,000 in that series, which will be the definition of bittersweet. 

It will never not crush me to see him in the wrong color pinstripes, in the wrong big city. However, there will also never be a game that he’s on the field (including when he's playing against the Cubs) that I’m not rooting for Anthony Rizzo. 

More Chicago Cubs News

feed