My Two Cents: Kyle Schwarber's Rebirth in Boston Perfect Fit for Both Sides

Back in Kyle Schwarber's rookie year with the Chicago Cubs in 2015, he was the last piece of the rebuild when they finally made the playoffs — and finally won more than 83 games — for the first time since 2008.

Wrigley Field was electric every day that season, and Schwarber, the No. 4 overall pick out of Indiana a year earlier, was loving every minute of it. In close games, the venerable old ballpark would literally shake, that's how loud it was.

The Cubs were a wild-card team that year, but had to play Pittsburgh on the road in the winner-take-all game. And in the third inning, with the Cubs winning 1-0, Schrwarber hit a massive two-run homer off of Pirates ace Gerrit Cole. They would win 4-0, beat the Cardinals in the next round before losing to the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series.

The Cubs, playing before sellouts every day, won the World Series the next year, their first in 108 years, with Schwarber providing more postseason heroics.

Fast forward to Tuesday night, and nearly six years later, there was Kyle Schwarber again, staring down Gerrit Cole. He's the ace of the New York Yankees now, a guy who pitches with a $324 million contract in his back pocket. Schwarber got him again with another towering home run to right field, and the Red Sox won 6-2, ending Cole's season and sending Schwarber and his Red Sox into the divisional round against the Tampa Bay Rays.

For Schwarber, it was all about the magical moments once again, battling against Cole.

"Red Sox Nation brought it tonight and we needed it. You can’t say enough about the crowd,'' Schwarber said about the Fenway faithful. ''You’re in two-strikes mode, and you’re battling up. You see that fastball up and it looks good to the eyes. I was able to get a barrel to it, and put a good swing on it

“The crowd was electric there too. It definitely made me get to a point where I really didn’t know what I was doing running the bases. That was a home run I’m not ever going to forget.’’

That, in a moment, is Kyle Schwarber.

He's back, and better than ever. Living in the moment, the biggest moments.

And it's a good thing, too. The Cubs' World Series hero struggled near the end of his time in Chicago. And with a massive rebuild on the horizon, it was easy for Cubs management to part ways with Schwarber after the 2020 season.

After all, he had brutal numbers that year. He hit just .188, the lowest batting average of his career, and struck out 66 times in just 191 at-bats during the COVID-shortened season.

Sending Schwarber packing might have made sense for the front office, especially considering that the plan all along was to have a massive fire sale before the trade deadline. But it still didn't sit well with the fans, who still adore him — even in another uniform.

He signed a deal with the defending champion Washington Nationals instead, for one year and $10 million, and had a June for the ages, setting home run records and hitting 15 homers in 17 days, including five in consecutive days.

He was selected as an All-Star for the first time, but couldn't play in the game after a bad hamstring injury in early July. The Nationals, in rebuild mode too, decided to trade him to Boston.

Back to adrenaline mode.

The Red Sox have been thrilled to have him, and for a lot of good reasons. For one, he is a tremendous clubhouse guy. Always has been, always will be.

Secondly, since coming off the injured list two weeks after his arrival, he's really played well, and he's been a big reason why the Red Sox made the playoffs. His .435 on-base percentage since mid-August is third-best in all of baseball.

Some are surprised that Schwarber wasn't washed up after all. Not me. He just needed a jolt, and he's gotten it in baseball-crazy Boston.

Big numbers in sold-out Wrigley Field and big numbers in rocking, electric Fenway Park? Is that a coincidence? Absolutely not. He feeds off that energy, playing baseball with that same linebacker ferocity like he was in high school back in Middletown, Ohio.

I am firmly convinced that Schwarber was so bad in 2020 because the Cubs basically played all 60 games in empty stadiums. There was no energy, no emotion, no pizzazz.

That was all missing, and Schwarber was missing, too.

But now, it's the postseason again, and this is Schwarber's time. He admitted after the game on Tuesday night that the electric crowd was lifting him up.

“The (Xander) Bogaerts homer in the first inning, talk about a pop. The crowd went nuts, and you feed off of that energy. You thrive for that,'' Schwarber said.

And facing Cole again, and winning another magical moment against one of the best pitchers in the game?

Pure gold.

“These guys have faced him a lot more than I have. I faced him back in Pittsburgh, and once with the Astros,'' Schwarber said of Cole. “I think we did a good job of taking walks, getting big hits.

"It was a total team effort there, and being able to get him out of the game early and getting into their pen was huge. We kept adding on, which was big.''

2015: Kyle Schwarber hits a home run in the 3rd inning of the Wild Card Game off of Gerrit Cole to give his team a 3-0 lead

2021: Kyle Schwarber hits a home run in the 3rd inning of the Wild Card Game off of Gerrit Cole to give his team a 3-0 lead pic.twitter.com/Md1Lz9aojJ
— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) October 6, 2021

“Red Sox nation brought it tonight and we needed it. You can’t say enough about the crowd tonight.”

Kyle Schwarber gives credit to the fans in tonight's huge win over the Yankees@RedSox | https://t.co/sl8J2jGmth pic.twitter.com/fU35fUzx8g
— NESN (@NESN) October 6, 2021

He's loving his time in Boston. That's no surprise. They're loving him in Boston, too.

Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom knew what he was getting in Schwarber, and it's all played out as he hoped.

“Yeah, his at-bats, especially when you see him every day, are really something,” Bloom said. “And I think it’s had an effect on the whole lineup. Just watching how he manages the at-bat and beyond that, the person he is, who he is in the clubhouse.

"We knew that by reputation, but to live it, to see him come in and have such a positive impact on other guys, even before he was active. He lived up to the hype.”

Schwarber is a free agent after this season, and now that baseball is back to normal, there's sure to be plenty of interest in him. That huge June caught a lot of eyes. His shorter, quicker swing has made him a more productive hitter, as has that great eye, where taking walks isn't a bad thing either.

Staying in Boston seems to be a perfect fit for him, because they're built to contend every year. Schwarber needs that, needs the playoff chases, and the eventual postseason that follows.

“Right now, we’re worried about playing as long as we can. We’ll worry about that when it comes,'' Bloom said about making long-term plans with Schwarber after the season. “But I mean, we absolutely love having him. He fits perfectly here.”

Schwarber proved that again Tuesday night, and now they're off to Florida to take on division rival Tampa Bay. The Rays won the division by eight games, beat Boston 11-8 in the season series, and are the favorites heading into the season.

That means nothing to Schwarber and his mates, of course. It's the postseason, and that's Schwarber's time. The AL division series starts Thursday night, a best-of-five series.

More fireworks coming from Schwarber?

Probably so. It is October, after all.

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