PITTSBURGH — Not since they won the NL Central crown in 2017 had the Cubs experienced a true postseason celebration before Wednesday.
The team was limited to high-fives and fist bumps after clinching the National League Central title during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, and two years prior, it elected not to party after locking down an NL Wild Card spot, still hoping it could play its way to a division crown that never came. Suffice to say, after punching their ticket to play postseason baseball for the first time in five years with an 8-4 victory over the Pirates Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park, the Cubs made sure to soak in the moment.
While understanding the team still has everything to play for — including a quest for its fourth World Series title — manager Craig Counsell highlighted before the game the importance of acknowledging the accomplishment with a proper party.
“The celebration part is just us having fun together,” Counsell said. “What’s wrong with that? It’s celebrating that you have accomplished something, and it’s celebrating us being together. That’s what it’s about. That’s what you celebrate. It’s an appreciation for each other and the work we’ve done to get to this point.
“You know, of course every team that’s in this situation is thinking ahead to a certain extent and wants to do more. We’re in the same boat.”
The Cubs scored four runs in the top of the first inning Wednesday via four hits — including back-to-back home runs by Ian Happ and Moisés Ballesteros — a walk, a wild pitch and a balk. Matthew Boyd allowed a three-run blast in the bottom of the first to Joey Bart, and he walked in a run to tie the game in the second.
In the sixth, Dansby Swanson reached on a throwing error and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Michael Busch. Consecutive base hits by Nico Hoerner, Happ and Justin Turner drove home two more runs to open up the lead to three. That supplied more than enough insurance for the Chicago bullpen, as Porter Hodge, Aaron Civale, Drew Pomeranz and Taylor Rogers combined to pitch six innings of scoreless ball.
With 10 games remaining in their regular season, the Cubs (88-64) still have plenty more to play for. They are 4 1/2 games back of the Brewers (92-59) in the NL Central and hold the tiebreaker over Milwaukee in the event of a tie after all 162 games have been played.
