It’s the most wonderful time of the year, well, aside from missing baseball. But even that is creeping even closer. As we kill the time between now, Cubs Convention, pitchers and catchers reporting and Spring Training let’s celebrate the Cubs BCB style with a look back at 12 outstanding moments from the Cubs 2025 season with the return of The 12 Days of Cubsmas:
On the first day of Cubsmas my true love gave to me: one Anthony Rizzo retirement in the bleachers
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With all due respect to the previous record holder for best day at Wrigley Field, you were eclipsed in 2025 by Anthony Rizzo’s return to the Cubs on September 13, 2025. The former Cubs captain and forever World Series Champion in blue pinstripes celebrated that day as God intended — in the left field bleachers:
Ian Happ walked up to the plate to Rizzo’s old walkup music, Intoxicated, with a salute to the captain in left:
Anthony Rizzo returned the favor by engaging in some well-meaning heckling of the Gold Glover in left field:
And of course, Rizzo sang the Seventh Inning Stretch — with a little help from his friends:
Look, I have no idea if Cindy Crawford and Eddie Vedder were planning on singing the stretch or just wound up part of Rizzo’s party and got roped into it. But it really felt like the type of day where magical things were just going to happen.
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In perhaps the most incredible moment I’ve ever seen at a baseball game, during the second inning Cubs fans were treated to a moment that might appear a little too cute by half if it happened in a movie as rookie Moisés Ballesteros hit the first home run of his career — right to Anthony Rizzo:
And in case you were wondering, there aren’t really stats on “home runs hit to former team heroes on their retirement day” but baseball’s greatest maven of stats, Sarah Langs, also only had one word for this:
It was a singularly perfect day at the Friendly Confines, from the threat of rain clearing just as the gates opened, Rizzo’s jersey of choice (pictured below) and a few assists from the baseball gods: