Yankees' Anthony Rizzo doesn't seek closure in Chicago return - ESPN

Anthony Rizzo doesn't feel a sense of closure for his first trip to Wrigley Field since getting traded to the New York Yankees by the Chicago Cubs three years ago.

New York's first baseman isn't sure he will ever need closure in Chicago after helping the Cubs win their first World Series title in 108 years in 2016.

«I think that door will always be open in Chicago,» Rizzo said. «The amount of respect I have for the fan base there, and the love I have for them and the Cubs.»

Not that he doesn't have similar feelings with the Yankees, who re-signed Rizzo after the 2021 season and again a year later to his current $40 million, two-year contract that has a team option for 2025.

«As much as we love Chicago, I think where we ended up was perfect for us,» he said.

Still, nothing has matched the magic of eight years ago, when Rizzo had maybe his best overall season and the Cubs beat Cleveland in an epic Game 7 in the World Series.

The first championship for the Cubs since 1908 came pretty much halfway through Rizzo's nine-plus seasons with them. Rizzo came up in Boston's system before a trade to San Diego, and the Padres later shipped him to the Cubs.

«After we won the World Series, the stories that you heard, all the pictures of the people going to the graves — just the countless stories you still hear,» Rizzo said. «It was really special after we won and just the years after, being there, seeing how happy those fans were. I think anyone you ask on that team will say pretty much the same thing.»

Not surprisingly in the era of free agency and trade deadline dealing, most of the players from that team are elsewhere. While Rizzo keeps in touch with several of them, the series starting Friday will be as much about the venerable