Jason Heyward may be struggling on the field right now, but he's earning his money off it once again.
It may not have been the same empassioned speech he gave during the rain delay in Game 7 of the World Series last fall, but Heyward helped lead a different kind of team meeting Wednesday afternoon before the start of Game 4 of the NLCS at Wrigley Field.
Jose Quintana let word of the meeting slip in his pregame press conference, mentioning how Heyward, Jon Lester, John Lackey and Jon Jay pulled guys together.
"A couple guys made a big impression," Quintana said. "...We haven't lost anything yet."
But the thing is, not everybody was pulled into the meeting. It wasn't all hands on deck like that World Series get-together was in the weight room of the visiting clubhouse in Cleveland.
Ben Zobrist had no idea any meeting even occurred. Same with Brian Duensing. Jake Arrieta was warming up and getting psyched (probably doing pilates or improv somewhere) for his start.
But for the guys that were there, it was to just help get everybody on the same page.
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"It definitely helps focus us," Schwarber said. "We all know what's at stake. We're not stupid. By any means that we can come together even more, that's only an advantage to us."
Schwarber said the players were just trying to bring the team even closer than they typically are, especially because there's nothing to lose right now.
"This team's already close, but if we can bring this team even closer, watch out," Schwarber said. "Things might turn the tide, whatever it is. You never know in this game. If we can just come together even more, it's only a positive thing."
Addison Russell's main takeaway from the pregame meeting was to focus on things one day at a time, not worrying about Game 5 or the weekend back in LA until Game 4 is taken care of.
"We know that our backs are against the wall," Russell said. "We know we're a great ballclub. We don't want the season to end. We gotta keep pushing.
"Whatever it takes. Being down in the series 3-0, the odds are not really in our favor, but with this ballclub, we defied the odds already once, so why not us?"
Schwarber wouldn't divulge what was actually said at the meeting, shaking his head violently from side to side to indicate he wouldn't give any further details than this:
"You guys can just know we had a team meeting."
While we're on the topic, we're still waiting for the transcription of Heyward's now-legendary rain delay speech....