Dodgers’ Kyle Tucker Responds After Getting Booed at Former Home Ballpark: ‘Tried My Hardest

Kyle Tucker #23 of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Credit: Michael Reaves/Getty

NEED TO KNOW

Kyle Tucker was booed at Wrigley Field during his return after leaving the Cubs for the Dodgers in free agency

Tucker played through injuries during his season with the Cubs, but faced criticism after a late-season slump

The Dodgers outfielder broke a hitting slump during the game, going 2-for-3 with a walk in the Dodgers’ Aug. 3 win

The crowd’s roar was far from pitch perfect.

Kyle Tucker, 29, received an outcry of boos upon his Monday, Aug. 3, return to Wrigley Field — the home field of the Chicago Cubs — where he played one season before leaving the team for the Los Angeles Dodgers in free agency this winter.

The Dodgers right fielder was heavily booed before his first at-bat at the historic, Illinois-based baseball stadium on Monday. Each time he stepped up to the plate throughout the game, he was hit with the unfortunate crowd reaction.

Kyle Tucker #23 of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 3, 2026. Credit: Michael Reaves/Getty

“I don’t know,” he said when asked of the crowd’s negative reaction after the game. “I tried my hardest last year. I tried playing through a hand fracture and calf thing, just trying to get back for the playoffs for them.”

Tucker sustained a hairline fracture in his right hand during a slide into second base against the Cincinnati Reds on June 1 last year, Cubs manager Craig Counsell confirmed to ESPN at the time. Initial X-rays displayed only a jammed finger, but later imaging showed the small break.

Though Tucker battled through hand and calf injuries during a productive yet turbulent debut with the team — even helping the Cubs reach the playoffs and win a wild card round over the Padres — his late-season slump and NLDS elimination by the Brewers left his overall contract year feeling unfulfilled.

“I mean, I liked playing here last year,” Tucker told reporters on Monday night after the boos. “There were some really great guys over there and they have a good team.”

Kyle Tucker #23 of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 3, 2026. Credit: Michael Reaves/Getty

“Didn’t end up great at the end of the year,” he said of his up-and-down debut campaign, adding, “But I had a good run.”

Tucker was selected fifth overall by the Houston Astros in the first round of the 2015 MLB June Amateur Draft out of H.B. Plant High School in Tampa, Florida and has since become an All-Star, won a Gold Glove and helped win the 2022 World Series with the team.

The Dodgers outfielder was hit with a round of boos earlier this year in May when Los Angeles played against the Astros, the team where he spent seven MLB seasons from 2018 to 2024 before being traded to the Cubs last year.

That night, Tucker brushed off the crowd reaction. “I don’t really focus on crowd noise and stuff,” he said at the time, noting, “Don’t really have a take.”

The Dodgers defeated the Cubs 10-5. Tucker went 2-for-3 with a walk in the win, breaking the latest slump in his debut season with Los Angeles after going 3-for-19 in his previous seven games.

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