WASHINGTON – Alex Bregman was deep down a rabbit hole of video archives during the Cubs’ off-day on Monday night, comparing clips from different points in this season to other moments throughout his career. That included pulling up footage from a decade ago before he even reached the Majors.
“I mean, we were watching Corpus Christi, Double-A video,” Bregman said.
On Wednesday night, the results of Bregman’s work were on full display at Nationals Park, where the Cubs third baseman launched three home runs and collected seven RBIs to power a 12-6 win over the Nationals. Both the home run total and RBIs marked career bests for the veteran, who has been turning a sharp offensive corner at the right time for Chicago.
With the victory, the Cubs (71-50) pulled within three games of the National League Central-leading Brewers (74-47). The North Siders have rattled off eight wins in the past nine games while averaging 7.1 runs in that span. Bregman has been a central part of the offense, following a search for consistency over his first three-plus months with the Cubs.
“It’s a credit to how he works every single day,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said, “and is just relentless with his search to be himself and to be the best version of himself. He will never give you an inch on that.”
With a pair of walks in his first two plate appearances of the night, Bregman became the first player in Cubs history to collect at least two free passes as part of a three-homer game. Will Smith of the Dodgers was the last player to enjoy a game with two walks and three blasts, doing so on July 5, 2024.
For the Cubs, Bregman became the 29th player to connect for three home runs in a game – a feat that has been achieved 44 times overall in the franchise’s history.
Dansby Swanson also had a three-homer game with eight RBIs on July 1 this season. Bregman and Swanson are the first teammates in the NL (since RBIs became an official stat in 1920) to have a game in the same season with at least three homers and seven RBIs. That has happened twice in the American League (Yankees teammates Aaron Judge and Jasson Domínguez in 2025 and Yankees teammates Paul O’Neill and Mike Stanley in 1995).
“The track record speaks for itself,” said Swanson, who also homered and had an RBI double in Wednesday’s win. “For him, it’s about being able to be convicted and believing in something that he’s doing. I feel like he’s finally found that.”
During that Monday night video session, Bregman was working with Ben Martin, an assistant director of Major League development with the Cubs. Martin pulled up KinaTrax metrics on Bregman from this season, and they went to work on identifying a flaw within the load of the third baseman’s swing.
Notably, Bregman said they found that his hips and shoulders were disconnected at the start of his swing. The shoulders were closed off, while the hips were open. The goal for Bregman was to get things better aligned so he could cover pitches to all parts of the strike zone.
“I woke up in the morning thinking about it,” Bregman said. “Got here, right in the cage, trying to think about the same things that we talked about.”
Bregman saw 20 pitches in his first two plate appearances combined in Tuesday’s 8-6 win against the Nationals and then belted a home run in the sixth. That reinforced that Bregman was focused on the right things. And then what took place on Wednesday night really solidified that confidence.
“Honestly, that’s the most important thing,” Bregman said. “I’ve had days this year where it’s gone all right and I had a few extra-base hits, and the next day you wake up and you get to the ballpark and it feels completely different, because maybe that cue wasn’t the one that was actually correct.”
Bregman went deep off a sweeper from Jake Bird in the fifth inning for a three-run blast and then ripped a first-pitch slider out to left against Yovanny Cruz for a two-run shot in the sixth. The third baseman added another two-run shot in the eighth – this time on an elevated fastball from Trevor Williams.
Dating back to July 27 – when Bregman borrowed Swanson’s bat and churned out four hits against the Cardinals – he has slashed .388/.419/.776 with six home runs, eight doubles, 17 RBIs, seven walks and 19 runs scored in 74 plate appearances. His season slugging percentage has climbed to .412 from .351 in that span, with his OPS jumping to .759 from .682 in the process.
Bregman was asked if he ever had doubt he would turn a corner this season.
“No,” he said. “But you’ve just got to keep going. You’ve got to figure out what’s going on and address it. I feel like the last month or so has been a step in the right direction, but really the last two days have been a real step in the right direction.”