On the eighth day of Cubsmas
My true love gave to me
Eight home runs on the Fourth of July
Seven walk-off wins
A six (and a half) game lead
A five game winning streak
Four playoff wins
Three Schwarbombs in the first All-Star Game Home Run Swing-Off
A $2 scorecard
And an Anthony Rizzo retirement for the ages
The 2025 season wasn’t exactly the year of the rabbit ball like 2019, when the Cubs and numerous other teams set their franchise record for long balls. That said, it was much better than the 2024 season when Wrigley Field was abnormally stingy for home runs. Just how much of a swing was there? We can see it by comparing single season park factors on Statcast. In 2024 Wrigley Field’s park factor for home runs was 85 and in 2025 it was 111. That’s quite the swing (pun maybe intended) and there was no day it was more apparent than on the Fourth of July.
The Cubs played the Cardinals on a brilliant Friday afternoon that was just not Miles Mikolas’ day. By the end of the first inning Seiya Suzuki and Pete Crow-Armstrong had hit back-to-back home runs [VIDEO].
Mikolas would pitch three more innings without giving up a home run, but the Cubs were not done yet. In the eighth inning Dansby Swanson would get in on the home run action with this shot just to the left of the batter’s eye [VIDEO].
It was a picture perfect Fourth of July with the Cubs putting on a fireworks display for the ages.