Each year, baseball teams decide on a motto that they'll use for the season, and it gets hashtagged from spring training until that team's season ends.
When the Cubs chose "Everybody In" for 2018, they probably weren't intending it to be quite so prescient.
Injuries have struck the team heavily, and as a result, it can sometimes feel like each win requires a new hero. Last month, it was David Bote hitting a grand slam to beat the Nationals on a Sunday night, and on Friday, it was the unlikely pairing of Jaime Garcia and Jorge De La Rosa, neither of whom were even on the Cubs roster five weeks ago, picking up the last two innings of a close game.
"Literally using everybody," Ian Happ said after Friday's game. "Everybody in."
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De La Rosa was one of the newfound heroes Friday night when he achieved a first in his major league career.
"That was my first save in 15 years," De La Rosa said.
Faced with the pressure of the 9th inning in a one-run game and a division race, De La Rosa was apparently unflappable.
"I’ve been playing this game long, and it felt the same," De La Rosa said of his first time as a closer. "I just try to make my pitches. That’s it."
His minor league record has him for seven saves in the years before he reached the majors, the first of which came in 1999 when he was in Single-A. Far back enough that even De La Rosa said he doesn't really remember it.
De La Rosa's first save as a major leaguer inspired Cole Hamels to perhaps try the same when he's done starting games.
"I guess I might have to do that too, later on," Hamels said.
He might pick up a couple more with the bullpen in a state where all hands are on deck until Brandon Morrow can finish returning from injury and reclaim the closer's role. Still days away from his return, Morrow watched on Friday night and had to laugh a little at how the last two innings were playing out.
"We always make fun of the cliche hashtags that they make up for the team each year, but ‘everybody in’ is really fitting," Morrow said. "I think every person here has contributed on different days and come up big. That’s the kind of team this is."