How two suburban guys built Chicago’s favorite Cubs podcast

They might be the hottest baseball team in Chicago.

One guy starts, the other finishes. When the other leads off, the other brings him home.

It’s complementary-style teamwork at its finest.

One wears his baseball cap backward and brings Pete Crow-Armstrong energy and tenacity day in and day out. The other is equally effective, only less thunderous, with a Kyle Tucker demeanor, neat haircut, and tidy appearance befitting a Christian-school teacher.

The Cubs have been one of the best teams in Major League Baseball this year, and “Locked On Cubs” podcast partners Matt Cozzi and Sam Olbur have kept up by delivering a winning brand of their own. The duo provides commentary and postgame analysis after every game, home and away, as part of the Locked On Podcast Network, even doing shows, on average, three times a week during the offseason.

Their rise has coincided with that of the Cubs.

Who saw this coming when Cozzi and Olbur took over the podcast, which had become almost dormant, three years ago?

Olbur.

“Sam called this pretty early, I would say even before we pressed ‘record’ on the ‘Locked On Cubs’ version of the show,” said Cozzi, 34, whose cousin Nick Cozzi introduced him to Olbur, 31, who calls Nick his best friend.

Cozzi, a 2009 Prairie Ridge graduate, and Olbur, a 2012 graduate of Stevenson, made their “Locked On Cubs” podcast debut July 5, 2022, during a season that ended with the Cubs losing 88 games, after they bumbled through a 91-loss campaign in 2021.

“When we took over the show, we were at about 500-800 listens/views [per episode],” Cozzi said. “And now we’re up to about 10,000.”

They count more than 15,000 subscribers on YouTube, a number that grows daily and is fueled no doubt by the Cubs’ success and their fans’ desire for content.

Perhaps more significantly, in The Athletic’s sports media survey, which fans voted on in July, “Locked On Cubs” finished first in the “Favorite Non-Bears Podcast” category, despite being a write-in.

Olbur, who does his fair share of criticizing and praising on social media and isn’t shy about giving his opinion, won “Best Follow” on X/Twitter.

“Some people think I’m way too optimistic. Some people think I’m way too pessimistic,” Olbur said. “Which is how I know I’m doing something right.”

Olbur believed from the start that his partnership with Cozzi had potential. Cozzi plays more of the “point guard” role on the podcast, often allowing the backward-cap-wearing Olbur to shine with his personality, opinions, and ability to articulate.

“He just knows the Cubs the best,” Cozzi said. “There’s no one better.”

Olbur speaks with conviction, another one of his strengths. He predicted early this season that Crow-Armstrong would be an All-Star. He’s criticized manager Craig Counsell often for continuing to bat Dansby Swanson fifth in the order.

“I’m not an arrogant person,” Olbur said. “I have plenty of weaknesses. But this is what I do, and I knew that Matt, we were just a perfect team. Like, the things that I don’t provide, he provides – the knowledge of the industry, the details, the preparation. And the things that I provide, or what I’m good at – the energy, the commentary, the comedy – it just felt like it was a perfect match. We talk so much in person. We’ve done ‘podcasts’ just hanging out."

True. When they met, Cozzi and Olbur were just two regular guys in their 20s hanging out (with Nick), talking sports, watching sports, and having a couple of cold pops and laughs.

Every “Locked On Cubs” podcast starts with either Cozzi or Olbur saying they are “lifelong fans taking our passion into a discussion with you on all things Cubs.”

Cozzi, who grew up in Cary, was a member of Prairie Ridge’s 2008 Class 4A state-champion baseball team, which included two guys who made it to the big leagues. Nick Martini is a veteran MLB outfielder and former Cub, while Kevin Kaczmarski played briefly for the New York Mets.

Cozzi graduated from the University of Iowa with a journalism degree, worked as a sportswriter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen for three years, and later coached baseball at his high school alma mater and Cary-Grove for seven years.

He now teaches English, communications, and broadcasting at Wheaton Academy, lives in Wheaton, and on June 1,0 he and his wife, Kyra, became parents to Bennett. Olbur, the good teammate, bought Bennett a Cubs onesie, of course.

“I have an extra coffee now,” Cozzi joked when asked how he balances being a full-time teacher, daily podcast host and new daddy.

“I don’t know how he does it. I give him a lot of credit,” said Olbur, who graduated from Loyola University with a sports management degree. The Wheeling resident stays plenty busy himself, working full-time for Hot Shot Sports based out of Chicago.

Olbur has been a Cubs fan since going to a game at Wrigley Field when he was little with his dad, Drew, a former Cubs season ticket holder, and meeting relief pitcher Joe Nathan. Likewise, Cozzi has been a Cubs fan for as long as he can remember and has fond memories, like many Cubs fans, of walking up the concrete steps from the concourse level and seeing Wrigley’s green grass.

While Olbur had no media background before his podcast partnership with Cozzi, journalism-major Cozzi had internships with the Northwest Herald and The Score, as well as his sportswriter stint in Iowa. In April 2020, Cozzi started a podcast he called “Eavesdrop.” He talked about anything and everything, even interviewing his former college roommate, who was drumming for rock-and-roll band Judah & the Lion at one point.

Later that summer, Cozzi and Olbur launched a podcast called “Anything Goes,” with the subjects ranging from the Cubs to the Bears to lifestyles.

Then, in 2022, right after Opening Day, a chance encounter at a Subway restaurant in Crystal Lake led to an opportunity that resulted in Locked On hiring Cozzi and Olbur to host one of the network’s 200 or so podcasts.

“I noticed the ‘Locked On Cubs’ host [Andrew Belleson] left,” Cozzi said. “Periodically, I would check the feed, and there were never any new shows. I just figured they had somebody lined up for that show. So the summer rolled around, and I was starting to wonder if we should reach out to them.”

At Subway, Cozzi saw a guy wearing a Locked On hat.

“I go, ‘How do you know Locked On?’ ” Cozzi said. “He introduced himself as Jack Bushman, the ‘Locked On Blackhawks’ host. I asked him if he knew if the Cubs’ opening was still open. He said it is.”

By that point, Cozzi and Olbur had done almost 100 shows together. About a month later, they had the Cubs gig.

“I had a desire to do exactly what I’m doing now, but I needed somebody to push me a little bit,” said Olbur, who’s a natural behind the mic. “[Matt] was the one who had [the podcast] and presented this.”

Fast forward three years. The Cubs are sizzling. “Locked On Cubs” is sizzling.

Chemistry fuels both teams.

Fly the “W.”

“I think one of the larger reasons why the show has taken off is because we’re good friends and we care about each other,” Cozzi said.

“The show,” Olbur said, “has blown up.”

As their popularity has grown, so has their credibility.

Cubs pitcher Justin Steele, who’s out for the season with a left elbow injury, joined “Locked On Cubs” for a watch-along podcast this year.

Before he sang the seventh-inning stretch during the Cubs-Royals game July 22 at Wrigley Field, TV personality and Chicago native Chris Jacobs gave a shoutout to Cozzi and Olbur, mentioning them by name and telling the crowd that “Locked On Cubs” is his favorite podcast.

Cozzi and Olbur now get recognized in public, like when they attended a Cubs game in April of last year.

“The entire day, we got stopped,” Cozzi said, “literally on the walk from where we parked our car to the stadium.”

Two regular guys. Two massive Cubs fans.

Cozzi said five Cozzi weddings in a two-year period all had Cubs references. At Matt and Kyra’s wedding reception (Dec. 31, 2023), those in attendance sang “Go Cubs Go” and “Take Me Out To The Ballgame.”

At Nick Cozzi’s wedding, Sam, the best man, closed his speech with “Go Cubs.”

The passion is genuine.

And as The Athletic survey implies, Cubs fans have taken notice.