CHICAGO – It’s happening again, that bounce around Wrigley Field when the Chicago Cubs are relevant. It’s the drama building as fog rolls in and darkness falls over the neighborhood, culminating in a walk-off victory under the lights. It’s the party atmosphere for day games on weekends, with an explosive offense and a wonky bullpen generating so much back-and-forth action.
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Ballpark vibes and entertainment value will only take a team so far. Nearly 75 percent of the season is still unwritten. Wednesday night’s 3-1 loss to the Miami Marlins will not make the highlight reel for the 2026 Cubs Convention. Still, this very much appears to be a connected group with staying power, in a place where any sense of momentum can suddenly multiply.
“It allows for moments to be just bigger,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “They feel bigger when the stadium’s full. We all feel that.”
Feel is an essential guide for Counsell, who’s a far more nuanced personality than his poker face shows in the dugout. On some level, Counsell is an extension of the Jed Hoyer/Carter Hawkins front office, which talks about the marginal value of a win and the importance of outperforming projection systems. Counsell has an accounting degree from the University of Notre Dame, and his decision-making process always involves data.
Yet, Counsell didn’t approach the Tokyo Series as strictly a business trip, instead viewing the start of the season abroad as a chance to bring the team closer together. After a year of observing Wrigley Field’s shifting weather elements, Counsell pushed the Cubs to play more small ball in certain situations. And following the club’s first walk-off win in April, Counsell appreciated the significance beyond just one game.
“That is a really good experience for teams to have early in the season,” Counsell said. “Those are important experiences. You’re going up against bullpens, and you’re going up against the best that the other team has to offer. Finding wins in that area is resilience-building. It’s a step in that direction.”
The 110th year of Cubs baseball at Wrigley Field has already featured a wacky 13-11 game never seen here before. The Cubs gave up 10 runs in an inning (the eighth!) and still beat the Arizona Diamondbacks. Five days after that instant classic, the Cubs completed a two-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning two one-run games against the defending World Series champs.
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Just last week, Ryan Pressly became the only reliever in major-league history to allow eight-plus earned runs in a game, not get an out and take the loss, in what ended as the Cubs’ largest extra-inning loss in franchise history.
Two days later, after the election of Pope Leo XIV, the Wrigley Field marquee declared: “HEY, CHICAGO, HE’S A CUBS FAN!” Soon enough, video surfaced of Robert Prevost on the South Side attending the 2005 World Series. The new pope’s brother, John, also told WGN that the new head of the Catholic Church was “always a Sox fan.”
Only in Chicago.
The Cubs-Sox rivalry will be on display this weekend at the Friendly Confines, where Cade Horton will make his first major-league start on Friday afternoon – Counsell used an opener for his major-league debut in New York – and Moisés Ballesteros will get another chance to show why he’s regarded as one of the best hitting prospects in the entire sport.
That is how it worked when the Cubs advanced to three straight National League Championship Series in 2015, 2016 and 2017, annually calling up elite young talent from Triple-A Iowa during the season for reinforcements.
“It’s part of what Jed and Carter have built,” said Cubs outfielder Ian Happ, whose oblique injury opened a spot for Ballesteros. “There are pieces that are ready to fill in and be a part of it. You see it with Cade. You saw it with Porter (Hodge) last year. Every team needs that. Every team needs players to come up and make an impact at the big-league level.
“We’re happy to welcome them in and support them.”
Even a veteran pitcher such as Matthew Boyd – who’s 34 years old and in his 11th major-league season and new to Chicago – can immediately notice the difference. With the nondescript Marlins in town, the Cubs still drew a crowd of 38,083 on Tuesday night, and the fans were treated to a 5-4 walk-off victory. That marked the club’s 11th comeback win in a season that is only just beginning.
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“I say this with no knock to the previous places I played,” Boyd said. “But to have the energy in April and May for those games early in the week – and have it be no different than a Friday or a Saturday – I was telling Ben (Brown): ‘This isn’t the norm. This is the outlier.’
“Every time you get to go out there, it really is a blessing to put on this uniform, to be a Cub and get to play at Wrigley Field in front of this amazing fan base for this amazing organization.”
(Photo of Dansby Swanson at bat against the Miami Marlins: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
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