MLB fans rarely forgive their star players when they leave town. Bryce Harper’s return to Nationals Park after joining the Philadelphia Phillies or Alex Rodriguez’s return to Seattle after joining the Texas Rangers will vouch for that. Kyle Tucker became the latest player to experience that harsh reality on Monday night. He returned to Wrigley Field for the first time since joining the Los Angeles Dodgers this year and was welcomed with loud boos. And he responded with an honest reminder of his time with Chicago. 

“I tried my hardest last year,” MLB insider Fabian Ardaya quoted Tucker on X. “I tried playing through a hand fracture and calf thing, just trying to get back to the playoffs for them and trying to do what I could to help out the team last year with them.”

The Chicago Cubs acquired Tucker from the Houston Astros. He played the entire 2025 season batting at .266 with a .841 OPS, helping the Cubs reach the playoffs. But the now-29-year-old missed 26 games due to multiple health issues in the second half of the regular season. He battled through a hand injury in August and a left calf strain in September. He managed to play in the postseason, recording 5 runs, including an HR. That’s why the greeting felt unexpected. 

But the Chicago fans didn’t boo him because of his performance. They couldn’t accept the fact that the star who helped them reach the playoffs signed a 4-year, $240 million deal as a free agent with the Dodgers. They expected him to rejoin the team and help them end their World Series drought. Instead, Kyle Tucker now plays for one of the biggest contenders that won the last two championships. 

While the Dodgers are en route to a three-peat, they have dropped their fourth straight game. They were recently swept by the Boston Red Sox at home. They came to Chicago in the hope of changing things a bit. Instead, they suffered a 10-5 loss to the Cubs. 

Tucker went 2-for-3 in this game, managing just one run and a walk. He admitted that he was just trying to make something happen with the Dodgers trailing almost the entire game.

“I mean, I liked playing here last year,” Kyle Tucker said. “There were some really great guys over there, and they have a good team.”

Notably, this is not the first time he was booed. Tucker had a similar experience with the Astros fans when he visited Daikin Park earlier this season.

While the welcome at Wrigley Field was not as he had expected and the Dodgers lost the series opener, the 4x MLB All-Star tried to take it in a positive note. 

“I just try to move on to the next day if I have a bad game,” he said. “If I have a good game, I try and just keep it going. So, I mean, felt like I had good at-bats tonight. And I’ll just try to continue that to tomorrow’s game.”

Tucker has a .240 AVG and .709 OPS this season. This is his worst record since his rookie year in MLB. He will keep trying to improve his numbers while the Dodgers will aim to stop the slide.