CHICAGO -- The fans out in the Wrigley Field bleachers on Sunday afternoon continued their season-ending tradition of holding a potluck dinner prior to the final home game of the year. The Cubs’ grounds crew took the field for the seventh-inning stretch and led the crowd in a singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
And after the Cubs wrapped up their 162-game slate with a 2-0 victory over the rival Cardinals, players, staff, coaches and manager Craig Counsell headed up the dugout steps to raise their caps collectively to the crowd.
For the past several years, these would be signs that the season was coming to a close. This year’s Cubs squad, however, is not finished. Sunday’s game was mere formality to conclude the regular-season portion of this Chicago team’s journey. The playoffs arrive on Tuesday.
“I haven’t been able to do that with guaranteed more games in a while,” Cubs veteran Ian Happ said of taking a moment to thank the fans. “Being able to finish at home, being able to finish at home on a win, and knowing that those people are coming back to see baseball on Tuesday is pretty special.”
With the win over St. Louis, the Cubs put the period on a 92-70 showing that secured the National League’s top Wild Card spot. The North Siders are set to host the Padres in the best-of-three NL Wild Card Series, beginning with Game 1 on Tuesday at 2:08 p.m. CT at the Friendly Confines.
In the regular-season finale, Seiya Suzuki launched a solo homer in the fifth, marking his 32nd blast of the year and his fifth in the past four games. Rookie Moisés Ballesteros contributed a run-scoring single in the seventh inning for some added insurance, helping Chicago to its highest win total since collecting 95 in 2018.
“When you look at a season, it’s the playoffs first,” Counsell said of the team’s goals. “Ninety-two wins, that’s a great season. I mean, 92 wins, that’s a big number to put on the board. It just speaks to how well a lot of people have done their job, so you're proud of that.
“When there’s a ‘9’ in front of your team’s win-loss record, man, you’ve done a heck of a job and had a heck of a season. And you almost, for sure, are given the opportunity to do the next thing. And that’s where we're at right now.”
The Cubs will be playing in the postseason for the first time since 2020, when Happ’s solo homer in Game 1 of a Wild Card Series against the Marlins represented Chicago’s lone run in its two-game exit. The Cubs have not played on the October stage with fans in the stands since the NL Wild Card Game against the Rockies on Oct. 2, 2018.
You have to go back to the 2017 postseason to find the last time the Cubs won a playoff game: Game 4 of the NL Championship Series against the Dodgers on Oct. 18 that fall. That Cubs team was coming off the ‘16 World Series championship and Happ was learning the ropes as a rookie.
“When you win here -- I’ve been lucky to be a part of it early in my career -- it’s really special,” Happ said. “I have that kind of special experience with those guys of being able to share in the aftermath [of the ‘16 World Series win], and I’d love to do it again.”
This Cubs team got here with a mix of star-level production and plenty of unsung heroes.
Pete Crow-Armstrong burst onto the scene with the first 30-homer, 30-double and 30-stolen base season in Cubs history. He joined Suzuki and Michael Busch in the 30-homer club, marking only the second time a Cubs team had at least three players with that many blasts in one year. Kyle Tucker was an All-Star and put up MVP-caliber numbers early on before injuries in the second half.
Righty Cade Horton emerged as an NL Rookie of the Year contender, veteran lefty Matthew Boyd made his first career All-Star team and a group of unheralded arms (led by Brad Keller, Daniel Palencia, Caleb Thielbar and Drew Pomeranz) turned Chicago’s bullpen into a formidable unit.
And the Cubs’ defense has arguably been the backbone of the team with Gold Glove-level performances all over the diamond, but especially up the middle with Dansby Swanson at short, Nico Hoerner at second and Crow-Armstrong in center.
“It’s amazing,” Swanson said. “You work so hard during the season to get to this point. This group has done so many special things along the way. It’s nice to get rewarded with some extra baseball.”
That added a new layer to the moment the team took the field to thank the fans.
“I was like, ‘Should we do this? We hope to do it a lot,’” Counsell said. “It’s fun. The reaction the fans give you back, that’s what you love about it.”