PHOENIX – Michael Conforto knows a championship team when he sees one.
The Cubs’ designated hitter and veteran of 11 major league seasons spent last year with the Dodgers, who won their second consecutive World Series.
Things went well for the Dodgers. They didn’t go so well for Conforto, who didn’t play in the playoffs after hitting .199 during the regular season. But he had a front-row seat to a yearlong championship performance.
So does he sees any similarities between last year’s Dodgers and this year’s Cubs?
“I think so,” Conforto said Monday. “I think there’s an expectation. One of the big things is having a real, honest belief that you can win the whole thing, and there’s no doubt we believe that.
“I don’t think that’s super, super common around the league, to fully, honestly believe that you can win the whole thing. That’s another thing that’s special about this group.”
The Cubs inked the veteran outfielder in the spring, and he impressed by happily taking on a part-time role.
“When you sign a player of his stature and they come in and they accept a role that’s not something they’ve done before, it builds things around the room,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Mike’s been a real connector for this group. His production and his leadership from that perspective has been really important.”
All season long, Conforto has received those kinds of compliments for the part he’s played behind the scenes. The Cubs have cited him as a key ingredient to this year’s mixture, one they hope will yield big things.
Dodgers-style, championship-type things.
“I’ve felt more like I’ve come in here and kind of joined the party,” Conforto said. “The big thing is coming in here and being honest: At this point in my career, I just want to win games. That was just a great fit from the beginning.
“A lot of these guys, maybe it resonated with them that you can get to a place in your career where, maybe, it’s not so much about the money and the playing time and all that stuff but it’s about being a part of something special.
“I was lucky enough to be somewhat a part of that last year. I just want to do my part to help us get there.”
But Conforto has been more than just a cheerleader, with vastly better production than what he did in 2025. He came into Tuesday with a .799 OPS that among Cubs hitters trailed only center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and right fielder Seiya Suzuki.
Back-to-back games with a home run – including a three-hit effort Monday against the Diamondbacks – helped him break free from a lull at the plate that saw him hit just .145 over 26 games.
“He’s been incredible on the field, just some of the big, clutch hits he’s had, plus the consistency,” left fielder Ian Happ said Tuesday. “But as a teammate, he’s next level. He’s an all-time teammate.”
Conforto starts plenty, but he’s shone off the bench, entering Tuesday with a 1.202 OPS and a franchise-record four home runs as a pinch-hitter.
That’s no small amount of success as the Cubs look forward to the postseason, where having someone like that to call on late in games could perhaps be the difference between advancing to the next round and heading home for the winter.
Conforto’s seen what makes those sorts of differences. He’s seeing it again with these Cubs.
“I’ve said quite a bit how committed to winning everybody is here, going the extra mile in everything that they do,” he said. “I’ve been really impressed to see the attention to detail in their routines and how disciplined they’ve been in sticking to everything they’ve been doing since February.
“It seems to be a culture here, and it makes you want to be a part of the professionalism and the way that everyone goes about their business. That’s one thing that really stands out about this group [when compared to the teams I’ve played for] over the course of my career. There’s a lot of discipline here, and there’s people who really, really want to win.
“There’s one goal, and it’s winning games.”