With fireworks, Anthony Rizzo gets engaged

Anthony Rizzo is officially off the market.

On Thursday night, Rizzo proposed to girlfriend Emily Vakos on Lake Michigan and arranged a fireworks display to mark the occasion.

“It was great,” Rizzo said before the Cubs’ 3-2 victory over the Cardinals on Friday at Wrigley Field. “She was totally surprised. That’s what I wanted. Somehow kept that under wraps.”

Rizzo said he and Vakos have yet to set a wedding date. Rizzo also was relieved he didn’t lose the ring.

It’s the latest big event for Rizzo, who has had an eventful 12 months.

“It was great,” Rizzo said. “She was totally surprised. That’s what I wanted. Somehow kept that under wraps.”

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“It’s something in life that you want to find someone to spend the rest of your life with,” Rizzo said. “I’m lucky enough to have that.”

Former teammate and current Cardinal Dexter Fowler said he saw the fireworks from his hotel room.

Rizzo announced his engagement on social media late Thursday, and by 5:30 a.m. Friday his tweet with a photo of him and Vakos had been retweeted almost 9,000 times and liked by about 71,000 people.

Kris Bryant, who got married in January and had Rizzo at his wedding, tweeted his teammate and wrote “Congrats to these two,” with an emoji of a diamond ring. Rizzo also posted the photo on Instagram, and it was liked more than 127,000 times.

The celebration spread from social media to the Cubs’ party room, where Rizzo was presented with a cake Friday.

“He loves that stuff. That’s him, that’s his personality,” Jason Heyward said. “He’s very much of an open book, and he likes sharing stuff with the team, the organization, franchise, all of that stuff. That’s why he’s perfect for his role. Team captain, one of the faces of the city. You just want to celebrate everything you can with someone like that because he gives to a lot of people.”

Some of his current and former teammates congratulated Rizzo on Twitter.

Follow me on Twitter @BrianSandalow.

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