After four seasons ending in either abject failure or mediocrity, the Chicago Cubs are back in the playoffs.
The Cubs recorded their 88th win Sept. 17, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-4, at PNC Park to become the second club from the National League Central to qualify for the playoffs.
It’s highly likely the Cubs will enter the playoffs as a wild card; they trail the Milwaukee Brewers by 4 ½ games with 10 to play. Yet it’s equally probable Chicago will host the best-of-three wild card series at Wrigley Field, likely against the San Diego Padres.
Their return to October baseball is the culmination of investing in both brain power and one big bat: A five-year, $40 million contract to lure manager Craig Counsell down from Milwaukee turned the page on desultory years spent under David Ross’s leadership. And a major trade to land All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker from Houston galvanized the lineup.
Tucker remains both a near- and long-term question mark: He’s been out with a calf injury and his status for the postseason is unknown. In the bigger picture, he is a free agent after this season and will truly test the Cubs’ commitment to winning should the club pursue him for the long haul.
In the clincher, the Cubs got home runs from Ian Happ and rookie Moises Ballesteros to make up for another lackluster start from lefty Matthew Boyd, who has struggled since the All-Star break as his innings count coming off injury-plagued seasons has risen.
Still, the Cubs will have time to line up their pitching for the postseason, with lefty Shota Imanaga and top rookie Cade Horton likely to come out of the gate 1-2 in the early round.
The Cubs last advanced in the playoffs in 2020, when they qualified for the expanded field in the COVID-19 season but were swept by the Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field. Their last full-season berth came in 2018, when they lost the NL wild-card game to the Colorado Rockies – after losing a one-game tiebreaker to Milwaukee for the Central title a day earlier.
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