World Series hunger fuels Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, who see chance to return with Cubs: ‘An addicting drug’
<p>KANSAS CITY – Kevin Gausman almost won a World Series ring last year.</p><p>Clay Holmes almost won a World Series ring the year before.</p><p>Almost.</p><p>For pro ballplayers, almost is usually not good enough, and the <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs" >Cubs</a>’ new pair of righty pitchers – the team’s two biggest acquisitions at the trade deadline – is itching to get back to October’s ultimate stage.</p><p>“It’s an addicting drug once you get there,” Gausman said last week.</p><p>Both Gausman and Holmes, who <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2026/08/07/cubs-kevin-gausman-starting-pitching-jed-hoyer-mlb-trade-deadline-royals-blue-jays" >made their Cubs debuts</a> this weekend in Kansas City, had their World Series dreams stomped on by the Dodgers, who made their own massive trade-deadline splash, adding back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in a quest for a third consecutive ring.</p><p>Team president Jed Hoyer said it’s up to the Cubs – and the rest of the sport – to <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2026/08/04/cubs-dodgers-three-peat-world-series-favorites-tarik-skubal-dansby-swanson" >stop the Dodgers from accomplishing that goal</a>. He brought in these two pitchers in an effort to do just that, and even before they donned Cubs uniforms, this team showed them it might be capable of stopping a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut by <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2026/08/05/cubs-pete-crow-armstrong-shohei-ohtani-nl-mvp-race-dodgers-playoffs-craig-counsell-shota-imanaga" >sweeping the Dodgers at Wrigley Field</a>.</p><p>“Watching the team play [earlier this week],” Gausman said, “why wouldn’t you be excited?”</p><p>But August is different from October, and though an electric atmosphere on the North Side was certainly playoff-esque, as Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell put it, ain’t nothing like the real thing.</p><p>“I’ve been home in the offseason the last couple years, and just watching playoff baseball, you want to get in there,” righty reliever Ryan Zeferjahn, another deadline addition, said.
Reported by 1 outlet — Chicago Sun-Times. See all sources ↓
<p>KANSAS CITY – Kevin Gausman almost won a World Series ring last year.</p><p>Clay Holmes almost won a World Series ring the year before.</p><p>Almost.</p><p>For pro ballplayers, almost is usually not good enough, and the <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs" >Cubs</a>’ new pair of righty pitchers – the team’s two biggest acquisitions at the trade deadline – is itching to get back to October’s ultimate stage.</p><p>“It’s an addicting drug once you get there,” Gausman said last week.</p><p>Both Gausman and Holmes, who <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2026/08/07/cubs-kevin-gausman-starting-pitching-jed-hoyer-mlb-trade-deadline-royals-blue-jays" >made their Cubs debuts</a> this weekend in Kansas City, had their World Series dreams stomped on by the Dodgers, who made their own massive trade-deadline splash, adding back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in a quest for a third consecutive ring.</p><p>Team president Jed Hoyer said it’s up to the Cubs – and the rest of the sport – to <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2026/08/04/cubs-dodgers-three-peat-world-series-favorites-tarik-skubal-dansby-swanson" >stop the Dodgers from accomplishing that goal</a>. He brought in these two pitchers in an effort to do just that, and even before they donned Cubs uniforms, this team showed them it might be capable of stopping a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut by <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2026/08/05/cubs-pete-crow-armstrong-shohei-ohtani-nl-mvp-race-dodgers-playoffs-craig-counsell-shota-imanaga" >sweeping the Dodgers at Wrigley Field</a>.</p><p>“Watching the team play [earlier this week],” Gausman said, “why wouldn’t you be excited?”</p><p>But August is different from October, and though an electric atmosphere on the North Side was certainly playoff-esque, as Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell put it, ain’t nothing like the real thing.</p><p>“I’ve been home in the offseason the last couple years, and just watching playoff baseball, you want to get in there,” righty reliever Ryan Zeferjahn, another deadline addition, said. “Hopefully, I get a taste of that this year.”</p><p>Just ask Gausman, who made two starts in last year’s World Series, only for the Dodgers to edge his Blue Jays for a championship in a seven-game classic of a Fall Classic.</p><p>“Losing was heartbreaking,” he said. “I wish every big leaguer could experience playing in the World Series, because that’s what we all dreamt of as kids.
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- <p>KANSAS CITY – Kevin Gausman almost won a World Series ring last year.</p><p>Clay Holmes almost won a World Series ring the year before.</p><p>Almost.</p><p>For pro ballplayers, almost is usually not good enough, and the <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs" >Cubs</a>’ new pair of righty pitchers – the team’s two biggest acquisitions at the trade deadline – is itching to get back to October’s ultimate stage.</p><p>“It’s an addicting drug once you get there,” Gausman said last week.</p><p>Both Gausman and Holmes, who <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2026/08/07/cubs-kevin-gausman-starting-pitching-jed-hoyer-mlb-trade-deadline-royals-blue-jays" >made their Cubs debuts</a> this weekend in Kansas City, had their World Series dreams stomped on by the Dodgers, who made their own massive trade-deadline splash, adding back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in a quest for a third consecutive ring.</p><p>Team president Jed Hoyer said it’s up to the Cubs – and the rest of the sport – to <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2026/08/04/cubs-dodgers-three-peat-world-series-favorites-tarik-skubal-dansby-swanson" >stop the Dodgers from accomplishing that goal</a>. He brought in these two pitchers in an effort to do just that, and even before they donned Cubs uniforms, this team showed them it might be capable of stopping a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut by <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2026/08/05/cubs-pete-crow-armstrong-shohei-ohtani-nl-mvp-race-dodgers-playoffs-craig-counsell-shota-imanaga" >sweeping the Dodgers at Wrigley Field</a>.</p><p>“Watching the team play [earlier this week],” Gausman said, “why wouldn’t you be excited?”</p><p>But August is different from October, and though an electric atmosphere on the North Side was certainly playoff-esque, as Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell put it, ain’t nothing like the real thing.</p><p>“I’ve been home in the offseason the last couple years, and just watching playoff baseball, you want to get in there,” righty reliever Ryan Zeferjahn, another deadline addition, said.
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World Series hunger fuels Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, who see chance to return with Cubs: ‘An addicting drug’
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