Anthony Rizzo was feeling bewildered and frustrated. He was trying to process the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wis.
He also had just played a game without respected teammate Jason Heyward, who was staging a personal boycott over the episode.
So Rizzo let those feelings show for a moment.
He wondered how an officer could shoot someone seven times in the back and how Blake could think he could avoid arrest. "There's a lot of common sense in this world that we don't use," he told reporters on his postgame Zoom call.
FAGAN: Consider listening for once instead of reacting
He then made a reference to his high school alma mater, which was the site of a mass shooting two years ago, and followed that by ripping lawmakers.
From The Athletic's Patrick Mooney:
“Shit doesn’t change,” Rizzo said. “It’s just the fact of the matter. Politicians don’t really give a f— about us. All they care about is their own agenda. It’s just the way it is. It’s upsetting.”
A lone gunman on campus killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., in February 2018. Rizzo provided financial and emotional support to the community, which included him leaving the Cubs during spring training to speak at a vigil.
Heyward took himself out of the Cubs' lineup Wednesday against the Tigers in Detroit to show solidarity with the NBA's Bucks, whose boycott of a playoff game led to the league postponing all of Wednesday's schedule. Teammates offered to sit out with him, but he said he encouraged them to play, adding that he didn't believe the game should be canceled.
Three MLB games were postponed Wednesday as other teams decided together to boycott: Reds-Brewers in Milwaukee; Mariners-Padres in San Diego; and Dodgers-Giants in San Francisco. Those games will be made up parts of doubleheaders Thursday, MLB announced.
