PEORIA, Ariz. —There is perhaps one baseball player in history whose impact on a World Series championship can be measured in minutes.
Seventeen of them, to be precise.
The decision by the Cubs’ Jason Heyward to call a team meeting in a vacant weight room at Cleveland’s Progressive Field during a Game 7 rain delay altered the fates in 2016.
The stoppage tinkered with the momentum and repositioned the mojo. Heyward, who had struggled in the series, decided to gift his team the time to think and regroup.
The Cubs blew a three-run lead just as they stood four outs away from their first World Series title in 108 years. Heyward slammed the brakes.
That allowed the Cubs to win an extra-inning Game 7 as the road team, something that had never been done before. The 8-7 clincher lives in World Series lore.
No element anchors the outcome more than Heyward’s decision.
“Watching our team play that entire season, I didn’t see many moments before that one where it required to get us all together,” Heyward, now a member of the Padres, said Friday at Peoria Sports Complex.
“We had everything that team needed as far as from a leadership standpoint. Guys that had won rings. Guys that had failed. Guys that had been big-time rookies. Big-time free agents. Starters that became relievers.
“That team was naturally, organically prepared for anything that was thrown our way.”
The Cubs scored twice in the top of the 10th inning and held on for an eventual 8-7 victory that squelched a 108-year curse.
Heyward’s perfectly timed decision has been called the most impactful of its kind in the history of baseball’s ultimate stage.
“It’s cool and you appreciate what people said in that moment,” Heyward said. “My feeling was simple. I already knew the right people were in the room. That allowed us to be us. It takes a village. It takes everybody on that roster.
“The most important thing was the expectation of looking the challenge dead in the eye. If something went wrong, oh well.”
That decisive leadership is one reason Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller was drawn to Heyward. Though the bat and glove of the 35-year-old have slipped in recent seasons, his presence is tangible.
Teammates respect what he says, just as they did in 2016. He’s a five-time Gold Glove outfielder.
When you’re assembling pieces as payroll numbers drop, veterans like Heyward who demand respect can be difference makers. He shared part of his 17-minute message.
“I said, ‘Just who we are and what we did to get to this point,’ ” Heyward said. “ that every team has to overcome things they can’t control during the year. That’s what separates us from everyone.
“We welcome those moments of adversity.”
That’s the hidden value of the $1 million free-agent g of a player with so much tread on the tires. It’s what he’s seen, what he’s experienced and the likelihood others will listen.
They listened in 2016. They’re likely to listen now.
Heyward clearly commands respect.
“You want the opportunity to shock the world,” he said.
That feeling remains a powerful intoxicant, a decade ago and today. Heyward recalled the 2016 team being “a juggernaut in every way, shape, form and fashion.” The group went out for drinks for the first time at the team’s Cubs Convention.
The next morning, Heyward woke up to the photo of them on ESPN or “SportsCenter.” The caption, he said: “Your 2016 World Series champions.”
“We didn’t ask for that, but we said, ‘Let’s go.’ Let’s go have fun and compete and see what happens.”
It sparked a thought.
“Walking into (Padres camp), it’s easy to see why there’s success here and why they’ve had the turnaround they’ve had,” Heyward said. “At the trade deadline last year, I talked to (Preller) about it. I felt like they made every move that you’d want someone to make.
“It would be cool to make some history.”
Is this eclectic mix capable?
“It takes a whole group,” he said. “It takes a village. There are a lot of things that do not go people’s way. I’ve seen comments by (NBA star) Michael Jordan on how many shots he missed on the way to a title.
“Everybody has to buy in and it’s still not easy.”
So Heyward plans to speak up, just as he did in 2016.
“ who we are,” he said of his message then. “ what we’ve done to get to this point. We welcome those challenges and moments of adversity. We bought into it.”
There’s more Heyward plans to share.
“You gain perspective,” he said. “You gain experience. Coming through on the biggest stage, failing on the biggest stage. It’s about opportunity. It’s about being there and realizing how hard it is to do.”
And sometimes, it’s about picking your spot.
