Kyle Tucker was left off the Astros¡¯ postseason roster in 2018 after a brief, first taste of the Major Leagues, but he¡¯s known nothing but baseball seasons stretching into October since then. The 27-year-old outfielder has already played in 64 postseason games spanning 15 series, with five trips to the American League Championship Series and three World Series, including a championship in 2022, when Tucker was immortalized in Houston highlights forever by catching the final out.

What better way for the Cubs to announce their intent to end a four-year postseason drought than by trading for a player with Tucker¡¯s pedigree and star power?

¡°Going back to 2021 or ¡®22, it wouldn¡¯t have made a lot of sense to make this deal,¡± said Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer. ¡°I think it made a lot of sense for us to do it with where we¡¯re at right now.¡±

Tucker knew a trade was possible as he headed toward a contract year, but Friday¡¯s Cubs-Astros swap still managed to take him off guard, because it came in the middle of teammate Myles Straw¡¯s wedding weekend. Tucker did his best to balance groomsman duties while learning details of a deal that sent infielder Isaac Paredes, right-hander Hayden Wesneski and third baseman Cam Smith, MLB Pipeline¡¯s No. 73 overall prospect, to Houston for the outfielder.

Among the calls and texts that flooded in were from Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, second baseman Nick Hoerner and right-hander Jameson Taillon, all of them welcoming a three-time All-Star whom Chicago hopes can take the team to the next level.

¡°I know in Houston, as a team our expectation has been winning our division, getting to the playoffs and winning the World Series, and I view that on a more personal level as well, so I¡¯m just going to continue that in Chicago,¡± Tucker said. ¡°I¡¯ve always said I¡¯m not going to show up just to go out there and play and lose. If I¡¯m going to show up, we might as well win.

¡°That¡¯s the mindset I take into every game, every single day, and I try to express that throughout the team as well. That¡¯s how the vibe in our clubhouse has been in Houston and I¡¯m hoping to try to replicate that the exact same way in Chicago.¡±

Chicago¡¯s talks about Tucker¡¯s availability go all the way back to last summer after the Cubs acquired Paredes, a player long of interest to Houston. At the time, the Cubs were hovering below .500 under new manager Craig Counsell, when their own projections suggested they should have been better. By the time the playoff field was set, Hoyer looked at the construction of those clubs and it confirmed his thinking: The Cubs needed some star power.

¡°We have a lot of good players on our team, we¡¯re very balanced,¡± Hoyer said. ¡°But it did feel like we lacked that kind of ¡®consolidation of WAR¡¯ on our roster.¡±

That¡¯s the unpoetic way to describe a star player like Tucker, who has an .869 OPS over parts of seven Major League seasons and who has twice reached 30 home runs, twice exceeded 100 RBIs and twice exceeded 24 stolen bases. He¡¯s also exceeded four wins above replacement for four years running with the Astros, whether you prefer the FanGraphs formula of that metric or the Baseball-Reference version. The closest the Cubs had to that level was Swanson, who has a three-year run of four-plus WAR that bridges his final season with the Braves and his first two with the Cubs.

Now they have Tucker, at least for next season. Hoyer hinted at an openness to talking with Tucker¡¯s representatives at Excel Sports Management about an extension -- ¡°Chicago sells itself really well,¡± he said -- but didn¡¯t commit beyond that.

¡°I¡¯m always open to talk and see where that leads,¡± Tucker said.

The Cubs also moved Tuesday to solve what appears to be a logjam in the outfield, where they had Ian Happ in left, Pete Crow-Armstrong in center and Cody Bellinger, Seiya Suzuki and Tucker in right before trading Bellinger to the Yankees. It was one of two trades on Tuesday for the busy Cubs, who also shipped catcher Matt Thaiss to the White Sox for cash.

The next task could be third base, since trading Paredes left a vacancy at third for the Cubs. And Wesneski¡¯s departure took away a potential starter.

¡°We¡¯re not done,¡± Hoyer said.

But landing a star like Tucker pushed the Cubs closer to where they want to be.

¡°I think if we can all just get on the same page and everyone does their own job and is supportive and pushing each other to get better,¡± Tucker said, ¡°I think this team can go as far as we want, really.¡±

The only Wrigley Field experience of Tucker¡¯s career came last April in a Cubs three-game sweep. Tucker¡¯s memories of that week? It was cold, but lively.

¡°I don¡¯t think I could have gone to a better organization than the Cubs,¡± Tucker said. ¡°Those fans love their Cubs, love the neighborhoods and surrounding areas of Wrigley Field. I feel like they¡¯re sold out every game, win or lose. That¡¯s how it felt from the visiting side, and now I get to experience it from the home side, get to experience the love that the city and the fans show their Cubs. I¡¯m excited to get out there and start playing in front of them, and kind of show what I can do to help them.¡±