Cue the celebration, Chicago! The Chicago Cubs are going back to the playoffs. The North Siders officially punched their ticket to October baseball Thursday afternoon, beating the Miami Marlins 2-1 at Wrigley Field and securing a National League Wild Card berth. It is the Cubs’ second consecutive postseason appearance, something they haven’t accomplished since making four straight playoff trips from 2015 through 2018.
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And because apparently one celebration wasn’t enough, Pete Crow-Armstrong made some history of his own. The 24-year-old outfielder stole his 40th base in the first inning, joining his 45 home runs to become the seventh player in Major League Baseball history to reach the 40-40 mark. He is the first Cubs player ever to do it. Wrigley promptly let him know how Chicago felt about it, with fans chanting “MVP.”
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The game itself had plenty of drama. Seiya Suzuki tied things up with a solo home run in the fifth, and Ian Happ opened the sixth with a triple before Nico Hoerner brought him home with the go-ahead single. Matthew Boyd kept the Marlins in check with seven innings of one-run baseball, while Ryan Zeferjahn shut the door in the ninth.
The Cubs are now 88-71 with three regular-season games remaining, all against the Boston Red Sox. They still have plenty to play for, with their final Wild Card seeding and whether they will open the postseason at Wrigley or on the road yet to be determined.
But that can wait. For today, Chicago gets to enjoy the good news: the Cubs are in, October is on the calendar and Wrigley Field is about to get very interesting.
And with the White Sox also clinching a playoff spot Thursday, Chicago has something it doesn't get every year: both baseball teams are headed to the postseason.
Let the October countdown begin!
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