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<\/p>\nAs part of his daily preparation, Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ consults with a posture therapist over FaceTime. The stretching and training sessions are designed to help prevent some of the inevitable wear and tear across a 162-game season. The practice also brings a sense of order to a sport that can often feel random.<\/p>\n
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Happ is an outwardly unemotional player, a process-oriented professional who works at Wrigley Field, which is both a baseball cathedral and a party zone where beer drinkers in the bleachers turn empties into cup snakes.<\/p>\n
The little details and big moments have led to this pivotal point in Happ\u2019s career. Right now, he\u2019s a driving force behind one of baseball\u2019s best teams, which is off to a historically great start for a franchise marking its 150th anniversary.<\/p>\n
The Cubs\u2019 10-game winning streak ended with Saturday\u2019s 6-0 loss to the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. To put that in perspective, only four other teams in major-league history have posted two winning streaks of at least 10 games within the first 39 games of a season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau: the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, the 1941 St. Louis Cardinals, the 1887 St. Louis Browns and the 1880 Chicago White Stockings.<\/p>\n
Winning at that rate requires execution in all phases of the game from each part of the roster. Happ, the club\u2019s longest-tenured player in Chicago, is representative of this experienced, well-rounded group.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of Ian\u2019s superpowers is his consistency,\u201d Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cThat\u2019s not exciting to anybody, usually, but the way that Major League Baseball works, you get a lot from that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really hard when you\u2019re playing every day for six months to show up as the same person, as the same competitor, with the same energy level, with the same effort. It\u2019s difficult, and Ian does a fabulous job with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The dispassionate, self-contained approach does not always connect to the fans watching at home on TV, but it works well for Happ, a switch-hitter and a plus defender whose two-way skills fit a deep, versatile roster.<\/p>\n
This season, Happ (182) has already passed Andre Dawson (174), Derrek Lee (179) and Alfonso Soriano (181) on the franchise\u2019s all-time home runs leaderboard. Dawson is a Hall of Famer, while Lee and Soriano were hitters who stood out to Happ as a young fan following the sport and playing the old MVP Baseball video game.<\/p>\n
Happ showing up to this extent is remarkable, considering the trajectory of his career, which has spanned several periods of franchise history.<\/p>\n
Part of the calculus when the Cubs selected Happ with the No. 9 pick in the 2015 draft was that a polished college hitter could quickly become a potential trade chip for a starting pitcher to supplement the organization\u2019s nucleus of young position players.<\/p>\n
Instead, Happ would gravitate toward some of the leaders of the 2016 World Series team when he debuted with the defending champs in 2017. As much as he valued that exposure, he needed the sell-off at the 2021 trade deadline to clear a better opportunity to prove his worth.<\/p>\n
Once a player without a true defensive position, Happ settled in left field, where he has won four consecutive Gold Gloves. Since the start of the 2020 season, Happ leads all major-league outfielders in games played.<\/p>\n
While holding a leadership position within the MLB Players Association, Happ elected to forgo free agency and sign a three-year, $61 million contract extension shortly after Opening Day 2023. That deal will expire after this season, when he will be 32 and one of the more accomplished players in a lackluster class of free agents.<\/p>\n
Durability and dependability are defining traits for a player whose overall production has graded out consistently on Baseball Reference\u2019s WAR calculations over the previous four seasons: 4.3, 3.5, 3.9 and 4.0.<\/p>\n
So far this season, that same rating system already has Happ at 1.9 WAR by Mother\u2019s Day weekend. He\u2019s reached base safely in 30 consecutive games while leading the team in home runs (nine) and posting the highest OPS (.857) among the club\u2019s qualified hitters.<\/p>\n
Happ\u2019s focus is on winning. He\u2019s at that stage of his career where he\u2019s already reached a 10th season in a Cubs uniform and accumulated generational wealth. He wants to earn a World Series ring and share his knowledge.<\/p>\n
Players such as Anthony Rizzo and Jason Heyward showed Happ what it takes to handle all the extra day games at Wrigley Field, the importance of establishing a routine in the weight room and the batting cages.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey also set an unbelievable example of how to post,\u201d Happ said.<\/p>\n
Players who \u201cpost,\u201d a familiar term in major-league clubhouses, force their way into the lineup with their talent and willpower. It\u2019s being available and having the fortitude to play through aches and pains.<\/p>\n
That is a kind of skill that can be learned and developed. Another former teammate, Cole Hamels, connected Happ with the posture therapist he began working with several years ago, Tyler Skovron, to keep his body in alignment.<\/p>\n
Rizzo, in particular, explained how Soriano and Starlin Castro taught him about the importance of playing every day and maintaining that sense of routine.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe preached that and passed that down,\u201d Happ said. \u201cI remember him talking to guys about: \u2018You want a day off, sure, but having your name in the lineup \u2014 even if you don\u2019t feel great \u2014 means a lot.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing available and being out there \u2014 even when you\u2019re not completely, totally 100 percent \u2014 is a huge part of this game and being there for your teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Those expectations are embedded in the Wrigley Field clubhouse, where like-minded players such as Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson and Alex Bregman also share a workspace. As exceptional as this 27-13 start has been, the Cubs still have a long way to go, which is the exciting part when you love what you do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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