Back to the Friendly Confines: Javier Baez's Long-Awaited Return to Wrigley

As the season comes down to the wire, there are plenty of stories to keep track of on the field for the Cubs as they continue to try and make a late-season push to try and make the playoffs. While there are plenty of different things to keep your eye on, two of the biggest stories to follow will be reunions and returns, and one of them just so happens to be tomorrow. 

With the Detroit Tigers heading to town for a three-game set starting on Tuesday, a familiar face will return to the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field for the first time since departing from the team. With the Cubs playing the Tigers, former Cubs shortstop Javier Baez will return to Wrigley Field. 

While Javier Baez, whom Cubs fans once knew as an All-Star, is well past his prime, it will be a cool moment for Cubs fans to enjoy a beloved franchise legend throughout the week. Since leaving the Cubs, things have not gone so well for Baez as he is on a big deal that is not in the Tigers’ favor and has essentially been benched for the rest of the season in favor of the Tigers playing rookies. 

If we flip back open the history book and go back in time, the Cubs parted ways with their beloved shortstop at the 2021 trade deadline, when they had a fire sale trading off more than a few of their franchise cornerstones. The Cubs got Pete Crow-Armstrong in return in a deal with the Mets, who is now obviously an everyday starter with high potential. The Mets ultimately let Baez walk where he would then go on to sign a 5-year deal with the Detroit Tigers. 

Since joining the Tigers, Baez has statistically become one of the worst players in baseball. Since joining Detroit, Baez is batting a whopping .215 with only 32 home runs and 337 strikeouts in three seasons. While it hasn’t been all but sunny in terms of Baez and the Tigers, his return to Wrigley Field has been long anticipated for many years. 

Similar to what we have seen with Kris Bryant in past years, Cubs fans know how to appreciate their former players, especially ones that helped break their 108-year World Series drought. Let us not forget that Baez’s time with the Cubs was all but mostly great! During his time in Chicago, Baez racked up plenty of hardware, including a World Series championship, two All-Star game appearances, a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove award, and finished second in MVP voting in 2018. 

This will be only the first of two long-awaited returns to Wrigley Field, as Anthony Rizzo is set to come back to the Northside with the Yankees in early September. 

While Baez’s fall-off has been extremely hard to watch from an outsider’s perspective, it will feel good to see someone who did so much for an organization return to a fanbase that will always appreciate and love him. It will be interesting to see how much playing time he receives this weekend, but hopefully, Tigers manager AJ Hinch will let him play so he can get his standing ovation from the crowd at Wrigley Field.