The Cubs have the best run differential (+107) in MLB. Friday’s 11-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals was just another example of what one of the league’s most prolific offenses can do.
A combined nine home runs later — eight for Chicago and one for St. Louis — here are three things we learned as the Cubs (53-35) downed their NL Central rival Cardinals (47-42) in the series opener at Wrigley.
Fireworks on the Fourth
For the second straight season, the Cubs rocketed four home runs off of Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas.
But then they kept hitting them. And the records kept coming.
Today is the first time in franchise history the Cubs have hit 6 home runs in the first 3 innings of a game 🤯 pic.twitter.com/yJqWOfmCLi
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) July 4, 2025
Complete with multi-home run games from Michael Busch (Nos. 14, 15 and 16) and Pete Crow-Armstrong (Nos. 22 and 23) and solo shots from Seiya Suzuki (No. 24) and Carson Kelly (No. 10), the Cubs suddenly were just one home run away from their single-game high of seven. They collectively hit seven bombs four times before, most recently on Aug. 1, 2023 in a 20-9 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Then, Dansby Swanson (No. 15) struck gold in the seventh inning with a two-run shot to make it 10-1. The record was tied.
And then, Busch hit his third home run of the season to make franchise history, which will now list eight home runs as the single-game record for the Cubs.
The Cubs also hit six home runs in the first three innings of a game for the first time in franchise history. It was a tough go for Mikolas, who became the starting pitcher to surrender the most home runs in a game this season.
Step Brothers? More like Bash Brothers
You’ve probably seen many a Cub sporting a hilarious t-shirt depicting Crow-Armstrong and Suzuki as the main characters from the 2008 movie “Step Brothers.”
It’s a meme born out of the two Cubs stars’ brotherly relationship, fueled in part by their ability to one-up each other every time one of them goes deep. Entering Friday, Crow-Armstrong and Suzuki had homered in the same game five times this season.
On Friday, they wasted no time in doing it again.
Suzuki got the scoring going when he crushed a 413-foot solo shot in the bottom of the first inning. Naturally, Crow-Armstrong responded with a dinger of his own, going back-to-back with Suzuki. That’s now six times this season that Crow-Armstrong, who was named an All-Star starter Wednesday, and Suzuki, who leads MLB in RBI (74), have used their dual power as a lethal weapon on this Cubs offense.
Suzuki also matched his career-high RBI count with his home run — with the All-Star break still two weeks away. That break is one that Suzuki is looking more and more likely to spend in Atlanta, with the Japanese slugger slashing .262/.318/.554 (.872 OPS) this season. He’s heating up at the right time, mashing six home runs and 13 RBI with a .956 OPS over his last 15 games.
Crow-Armstrong notched his fourth multi-home run game of the season Friday, continuing his hot-hitting July trajectory after a cooled-off June, which saw him hit just .240 with a .742 OPS.
Kept ‘em quiet
While the Cubs’ offense was having a field day, Colin Rea was making sure the Cardinals didn’t get the same luxury.
Rea was coming off a rough two starts against the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros, allowing a combined nine earned runs on 16 hits over those 10.1 innings.
When the Cubs were in St. Louis, the Cardinals exploded for eight runs in each of the first two games of the four-game set. They hit a combined seven home runs off Ben Brown and Jameson Taillon.
This time around, Rea limited the Cardinals’ long ball to just one, coming on a solo shot to Brendan Donovan in the fourth.
That was the only hit and the only run Rea allowed. He finished out his day after 6.2 innings of one-run ball, striking out four and lowering his season ERA back down to 4.13.
The rivalry continues Saturday at 1:20 p.m. CT. In the wake of Jameson Taillon’s IL stint, the Cubs will work a bullpen game while lefty Matthew Liberatore (6-6, 3.70 ERA) is slated to take the mound for the Cardinals. Game coverage begins at noon on Marquee Sports Network.