Why Chicago Cubs fans gave Kyle Tucker brutal Wrigley reception

Chicago Cubs fans were not kind to Kyle Tucker in his first return to Wrigley Field after signing on with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the offseason.

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The Wrigley loyal booed the right fielder mercilessly during both pre-game introductions and during his first at bat.

“I tried my hardest last year,” Tucker told The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, referring to the less-than-friendly reception he got at the Friendly Confines. “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 booing managed to make headlines even amid a hectic trade deadline day, a well-received deadline haul by the Cubs, and Chicago’s 10-5 win over the Dodgers.

Why Kyle Tucker got booed

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The Cubs fans’ reaction to their 2025 star right fielder puzzled veteran MLB insider Bruce Levine, who asked sports radio hosts David Haugh and Mike Mulligan of 104.3 The Score’s Mully & Haugh Show to explain the “why” behind it.

“Kyle Tucker never really looked like he wanted to be at Wrigley Field…that is the perception,” Haugh said. “He was not somebody who looked like he bought into the Cubs experience…He never looked like he wanted to be here. So, when he returns, ‘boooo.’”

Mulligan then added his perspective.

“They gave him all the love in the world,” he said. “In the first half, he was unbelievable. And they gave him all the love in the world even when things were going wrong and he never seemed to embrace it.”

Signing on with the Dodgers for a very “Dodger-y” four-year, $240 million contract didn’t help Tucker’s public perception any. But the Dodgers contract wasn’t the real reason Tucker got booed by a fan base that usually receives ex-Cubs with open arms.

Tucker did play an instrumental role in the 2025 Cubs’ success in the first half of the season when he served as a linchpin for a Cubs offense that was looking like a juggernaut.

Souring on Tucker

In the second half of the season, though, Tucker had grown ice cold and fans who were previously bullish on getting him extended before he headed out into free agency were suddenly not all that concerned about losing him.

Tucker flat-lined after July 1 and became entrenched in a career-worst extended slump from July to mid-September that led to boos from the normally mega-loyal Wrigley Field fans. Then, just days after seemingly snapping out of his slump, he suffered a calf strain that dragged on for more than three weeks, hobbling him throughout the playoffs and forcing him into a DH-only role.

At the time, there were signs that the Tucker-Cubs relationship was not so harmonious, but nobody really focused on them. For instance, Tucker opting to leave the team for calf treatment in Tampa Bay on the day the Cubs clinched a playoff spot in September raised some eyebrows and brought into question whether Tucker was really interested in being a Cub.

When he was healthy and locked in, Tucker was an incredible boost to the offense. When he wasn’t—like for nearly half the season—he dragged the team down around him. All in all, he just seemed to be fragile, both physically and mentally, prone to long stretches of on-field doldrums that he was slow to snap out of.

And, worst of all for Cubs fans, he never seemed like he cared to be a Cub. That, right there, may be the biggest sin he committed. In the eyes of many, Chicago was just a forced layover en route to bigger things.

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