Sparta
On an April night in 2025, White County paused. Televisions flickered on in living rooms, sports bars and back patios as the Chicago Cubs hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers in a nationally televised game on ESPN. For much of the country, it was just another early-season matchup between two storied franchises. For White County, it was something far more personal.
When Ethan Roberts stepped onto the mound in the seventh inning on April 22, 2025, it wasn’t just a pitcher entering a close game — it was a small-town dream taking center stage on one of baseball’s biggest platforms.
Roberts, a former White County High School Warrior and 2015 graduate, has been part of the Chicago Cubs organization since being drafted in 2018. His journey to that moment, however, was anything but smooth. After earning his way onto the Cubs’ 40-man roster and making his Major League debut in 2022, Roberts’ career was abruptly derailed by injury. Tommy John surgery in July 2022 cost him the remainder of his rookie season and all of 2023. Rehab, uncertainty, and even being non-tendered by the Cubs tested his resolve, but not his belief.
Less than a month after being non-tendered, Roberts re-signed with the Cubs in December 2023. Nearly two years removed from surgery, he clawed his way back, bouncing between Chicago and Triple-A Iowa in 2025, waiting for another call.
That call came on a night the whole world could see.
With runners on second and third and no outs against the Dodgers, Roberts was summoned from the bullpen. He induced a fly ball for the first out, limited the damage, then settled in. He forced Max Muncy into a pop out and struck out Enrique Hernández to end the inning. His line — one inning, one hit, one strikeout, no earned runs — told only part of the story. The rest was written in the pride felt back home.
All of White County watched one of their own live out his dream in front of audiences around the globe.
“I think for the community it shows you can climb that mountain, you can do the seeming impossible. When you’re out there you trust your training and your prep and show the world who you are,” Roberts said.
For those who have followed Roberts since his days in a Warriors uniform, the moment felt like a continuation of a story that began long ago. He was the small-town kid with a big-time dream, the White County pitcher who went on to star at Tennessee Tech, then grind through the Cubs’ farm system year after year. His first Major League call-up in April 2022 was emotional, life-changing — a moment when Cubs manager David Ross told him, “Good, you just made the team.” Roberts later summed it up simply: “Dad, we made it.”
Three years later, the stakes were different, but the meaning was just as powerful.
“Being able to play at a level to where people can see it come to fruition is a blessing, it’s a learning point for a lot of younger players in any sport. Small town Tennessee can do it too,” Roberts said.
In a year filled with unforgettable sports moments, Ethan Roberts pitching on ESPN stood as a reminder of why communities rally behind their own. It wasn’t just about baseball. It was about perseverance, belief, and the quiet confidence that dreams born in White County can shine under the brightest lights — even “the show.”
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