PITTSBURGH — The Chicago Cubs, which hadn’t been to the postseason since the 2020 season, were in the mood to party Wednesday afternoon — and so they did.
After clinching a National League playoff berth with an 8-4 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cubs players and coaches high-fived and hugged each other on the field before taking the celebration up a notch in the visitors’ clubhouse.
With tarps in place and most wearing protective eyewear, a jubilant bunch doused each other with champagne and beer while others puffed victory cigars. Some did both.
“You don’t get to do this in regular jobs, where you get to celebrate and throw champagne on each other,” manager Craig Counsell said. “You just don’t get to do it, right? So you take advantage of it, have fun with it, enjoy each other and celebrate each other.”
ABSOLUTE CINEMA. pic.twitter.com/vUoKjrNMTP
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 17, 2025
FLY THE W, CHICAGO. pic.twitter.com/9Zc3CY6g1j
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 17, 2025
Ian Happ homered and drove in three runs as the Cubs won their fourth straight for their seventh victory in eight games. Chicago leads the National League wild-card standings with an 88-64 record.
“This is the right group to do it with, and I love being a Chicago Cub,” Pete Crow-Armstrong said. “I love being able to celebrate with these people, specifically.”
Nico Hoerner had two hits and scored three times for the Cubs. Justin Turner hit a pair of RBI singles after entering in the sixth.
The Cubs grabbed control with three runs in the sixth, helped by errors on Pirates reliever Yohan Ramírez (1-3) and catcher Joey Bart. Michael Busch drove in Dansby Swanson with a tiebreaking sacrifice fly, and Happ and Turner added run-scoring singles.
Aaron Civale (4-9) pitched three scoreless innings for the win.
The Cubs then got down to the business of partying, but while they were on the road, Counsell was thinking about their fans back in Chicago.
“You want the fans to be able to experience October baseball and be a part of that and take them on a journey with the team. That’s so much fun,” Counsell said. “Those are the people you think about when this stuff happens — everybody that puts in the work, everybody that shows up at 12 o’clock for a night game and all the fans that come every day to Wrigley.
“We want them to be able to enjoy the best of baseball, which is October.”
Chicago scored four runs in the first before Pittsburgh recorded an out. Busch walked and scored on a balk before Happ hit his 23rd homer, a two-run drive on a curveball from Johan Oviedo that prompted an early mound visit. Moises Ballesteros drove the next pitch over the wall in right for his second career homer.
Bart answered with a three-run shot off Matthew Boyd in the bottom half. Andrew McCutchen‘s bases-loaded walk in the second tied it at 4.
Boyd permitted seven hits and walked two in a season-low three innings.
“We’re not done yet. There’s still a mission to be accomplished, lots of steps in that,” Boyd told reporters. “We’re all well aware of that. But you want to take these moments to celebrate and reflect on the long journey that it has been, because it’s been a special year and you want to enjoy that.”
Chicago went 10-3 against Pittsburgh in the season series.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
