PITTSBURGH — Champagne sprayed across the visitor’s clubhouse at PNC Park, catching Chicago Cubs players, coaches, support staff and any other people inside the room.

Smoke filled the air, and the loud, distinct POP of a champagne bottle uncorking was as rhythmic as the party music that blared over the speakers.

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The celebration of a team making the MLB playoffs is a common sight – but is it just like you see it on TV?

“I didn’t think I’d be so cold,” a shirtless Pete Crow-Armstrong said as the Cubs celebrated their first playoff berth since 2020. “Like my feet are cold and it’s making my upper body cold.”

A shivering Crow-Armstrong broke away from the scrum of Cubs players and staff in the middle of the clubhouse that were dousing themselves the most to answer questions. But that didn’t mean he was free from being drenched.

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Assistant hitting coach John Mallee shook a champagne bottle and sprayed it at the Cubs’ breakout star as he spoke.

A few feet away, Carlos Santana held court with some of the younger Latino players like Kevin Alcántara and Moisés Ballesteros between breaks of the occasional champagne shower and posing for photos. 

Yes, it’s not the Cubs end goal, but getting to October baseball is an accomplishment to cherish, he told the youngsters. 

“This is so important, the celebration, especially since you don’t know when you’ll go back to the playoffs. Especially me that has experience in this,” Santana said. “For me it was positive, the boys have done a good job. With God willing, we’ll keep going forward.”

And behind Crow-Armstrong stood members of the front office — vice president of player personnel Matt Dorey, vice president of baseball operations Greg Davey and assistant GM Jared Banner, among others, watched the celebrations in champagne-soaked clothes. 

Behind them and near the entrance to the clubhouse stood chairman Tom Ricketts, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, manager Craig Counsell and others, also observing the grown men behaving like children with water guns on a hot summer day. 

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“It’s a fun thing to do,” Counsell said. “You don’t get to do this in regular jobs, you know what I mean? Where you just get to celebrate and throw champagne on each other. You just don’t get to do it, right? 

“And so you take advantage of it and have fun with it, and enjoy each other and celebrate each other.”

“I learned with champagne that instead of drinking it, you should absorb it with your skin; it feels better.”

Shota Imanaga is the best 🙌 pic.twitter.com/bOmRLzcRrd

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And at the center of the room were players, yes, but also some of the clubhouse staff and coaches. The workers who get there at noon for a 7:10 p.m. game and are the last ones to walk out many hours later. They’re the coaches who pour over hours of film looking for the most minute detail to unlock something in Crow-Armstrong’s swing or helping Nico Hoerner know exactly where to stand on defense when the clean-up hitter comes to bat in a clutch situation. 

“I feel like I really gravitate towards the people that have been here for a long time,” Hoerner said. “[Major League coach] Jonathan Mota and all the clubhouse staff and trainers and everyone that’s been in this organization for so long. It’s people that appreciate baseball and the Cubs in general. 

“I’m super lucky to be in an organization with close relationships and today’s a great day to celebrate that.”

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It’s the celebration of the players and names you’ve come to love — Crow-Armstrong, the guy who might put up a 30-30 season, Hoerner who might win a batting title and Cade Horton the rookie phenom who has ascended into a frontline starter in the second half and could wind up as the NL Rookie of the Year.

But it’s also a time for those members of the team who put in work but don’t see their results on a box score or a highlight reel. 

“It takes a lot to do what [athletic trainer] Fumi [Nakata] does, to do what [interpreter] Edwin [Stanberry] does, to do what [assistant hitting coach Juan] “Pipi” [Cabreja] does,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Everybody’s got such a big hand in being here right now. It’s nice having Jed and [general manager] Carter [Hawkins] and [Banner] here, but it’s Fumi, it’s Mota being out there every day with our infielders. It’s [major league strategy coach Alex Smith] and [staff assistant] AJ [Lewis], behind the scenes on the computer. It’s everybody.

“That’s the best part about this, is that this represents who the Chicago Cubs are as a whole, and not just us that are out there playing. And yeah, everybody’s got such a big hand in this, for sure.”