The Chicago Cubs didn’t have a big celebration when they clinched the National League Central five years ago.
COVID-19 protocols prevented them from having a clubhouse blowout, and with all they went through in the pandemic-shortened season, it was more of a relief that the 2020 regular season was over and the playoffs were finally in sight.
“Just a huge exhale to win the division, especially the way it’s been the last couple of years,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said that day.
Little did anyone know that it would be their last postseason appearance for quite a while, or that most of the players — and manager David Ross — would be gone the next time it happened.
While the 2020 season had nothing to do with this year’s Cubs, who were on the verge of clinching a postseason spot with the magic number for a wild-card spot at one heading into Wednesday’s game in Pittsburgh, it was a turning point for a franchise that ultimately paved the way to this year’s success, and the stars of that ’20 team could provide some lessons for the current team.
The core players weren’t hitting like they were capable of as the postseason neared, and Rizzo called a meeting with Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Javier Báez to discuss their situation. No one, they agreed, was going to finish with the kind of offensive numbers they were accustomed to putting up, so it was time to forget about what had happened and start from zero.
“Knowing when our whole lineup comes together, we’re really scary,” Rizzo said. “We’ve seen Kris carry our team for a long stretch. We’ve seen Schwarber do it. We’ve seen Javy do it, and myself. … A couple of us get hot and heat up at the right time, that’s what it’s all about.”
The Cubs didn’t get hot at the right time and were swept in two games at home by the Miami Marlins.
Chicago Cubs third baseman Matt Shaw, left, and center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong celebrate after Shaw hit a game-winning RBI sacrifice fly for a 1-0 win in 10 innings at Wrigley Field on July 3, 2025. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
This year’s team faces a similar dilemma, with stars Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki going into second-half slumps and Kyle Tucker out with a calf injury just as he seemed to be coming out of his recent struggles.
We’ve seen what they can all do together. We know one or more of them can carry the team for a long stretch.
But with the postseason only two weeks away, do they have enough time to heat up together? The pitching has been the strength of this club for a couple of months, but the stars of the offense must shine if the Cubs plan on making any noise in October.
Either way, the Cubs will party down when they finally clinch, and deservedly so.
It’s been a long time since 2020, and the down times that followed the dumping of Schwarber that winter and the summer sell-off in ’21 were difficult for players, especially ones like Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ who went through it all — the purge of ’21, the rebuilding season of ’22, the late-season collapse of ’23 and being out of contention by the All-Star break in ’24.
“Sometimes as a player you don’t realize until you look back on it that those were challenging years for sure,” Hoerner said of the journey. “You’re always focused as a player on how you can make the most of that day, always keeping the playoffs in mind. But looking back on it now, compared to the roster we have now, it’s impressive how much progress we’ve made.”
President Jed Hoyer will get some much-deserved credit for putting together this team, which lost an ace in Justin Steele in the opening weeks, watched its offense sputter in the second half, and then lost Tucker and closer Daniel Palencia down the stretch. Both are expected to return, but will they be able to replicate their earlier successes?
Hoyer, who received a contract extension on July 28 without having made the postseason in his first four years at the top of the food chain, never got the benefit of the doubt from Cubs fans like Theo Epstein did when he arrived in Chicago in 2011 with a plan of his own. Non-tendering Schwarber, a fan favorite who rebounded from his 2020 struggles to become an elite slugger, is a move Hoyer will surely never live down.
Chicago Cubs fans in the left field bleachers celebrate after a Cubs victory over the Atlanta Braves at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Sept. 2, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
But Hoyer also made quite a few moves that weren’t originally lauded but have worked out quite well — from the acquisitions of Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch, the signings of Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, Carson Kelly and Brad Keller, and the drafting of Cade Horton.
The whole may be greater than the sum of the parts, but a $340 million payroll can still get humbled in a pennant race, as we’re witnessing right now with the New York Mets. Hoyer had to keep his budget in mind when making key moves, which didn’t make him popular with anyone but Chairman Tom Ricketts and his co-owner siblings, Laura Ricketts and Todd Ricketts. But he did what he had to do with the cards he was dealt, and in the long run, maybe the conservative approach to spending was the right call.
It hasn’t been an easy season for Hoyer, who could’ve gone under the proverbial cone of silence and avoided the media this summer when his team went into its post-All-Star malaise and his trade deadline deals were widely panned by fans and the media.
The fact that he didn’t shy away from the heat wasn’t lost on his players, as Dansby Swanson explained.
“Just with any great leader, they’re always at the forefront and willing to have any and all types of conversations,” Swanson said. “Whether it’s with players, coaches, the media, no matter who it is, just being able to honestly give their opinion about things and lead from the front. Knowing that someone like that is on our side at all times is pretty cool.”
Once the Cubs clinch a wild-card spot and the celebration ends, it will be back to normal for Cubs fans, which means worrying about October.
Will Tucker be healthy enough? Can the bullpen continue to mesh without its closer? Can the Cubs emulate the postseason run of the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks, a wild-card team no one believed in but themselves?
One thing to understand about this team is that the Cubs believe they know the feeling of October baseball, even if most of them have never experienced it firsthand.
“We’ve been playing some games recently that have felt like playoff atmosphere,” Kelly said. “Playing at Wrigley, with Cubs fans, it feels like a playoff game every day. That’s one thing to our advantage as we get closer.”
This journey has had its share of potholes, but getting there is what really matters.
Cue the DJ.