MILWAUKEE – Addison Russell has become a billboard for The Cubs Way, how a franchise slowly built a playoff contender and then suddenly became one of the hottest teams and best stories in baseball.
The Cubs believe Russell is ready for October, even if he was born in 1994 and thinks of the 2007 Boston Red Sox as the first playoff team that really caught his attention as a kid growing up in Florida.
Russell is in position to become the fifth-youngest shortstop to ever start a playoff game, according to FanGraphs, with Edgar Renteria – a World Series hero for the 1997 Florida Marlins – being the only one younger in the last 40 years.