Cubs are on pace to do something they haven't accomplished since 2019

Heading into Sunday's disastrous series finale against the Seattle Mariners, the Chicago Cubs were on pace to eclipse 3,000,000 fans in home games this year - something they haven't managed since the 2019 season.

It comes with a bit of an asterisk thanks to the two games in the Tokyo Dome to open the season back in March counting toward their home total on the year, but I'm sure Tom Ricketts and Crane Kenney are quite pleased with the early-season trend regardless.

According to ESPN, the Cubs rank seventh in MLB in home attendance this year, trailing the likes of the Dodgers, Yankees, Padres, Phillies, Mets and Braves. Last year, Chicago finished the season ranked sixth, averaging just under 36,000 per game at Wrigley.

The two games against the Dodgers in Japan certainly aren't hurting matters as more than 42,000 fans filed into the Tokyo Dome for that two-game set, which counts toward the team's current figure. Assuming Jed Hoyer and the front office delivers the needed reinforcements ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, there's no reason to think attendance will go any direction but up as summer takes hold in Chicago.

Cubs ran off eight years of 3,000,000+ fans at Wrigley from 2004-2011

Looking back, as I noted, the Cubs last cracked 3,000,000 fans back in 2019 - the final year of the Joe Maddon era when a September swoon pushed the club out of the postseason picture and ushered in change in Wrigleyville. Chicago eclipsed the 3,000,000 mark annually from 2016 to 2019 - something they hadn't done since 2011, which marked the end of an eight-year run with at least that many fans going through the turnstiles at Wrigley.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, though, it's been a slog to get back to this point. Of course, there were no fans in attendance in 2020 and it was mid-season before fans were back at Wrigley the following summer, which cut attendance down to 1.97 million that year. Over the last three years, though, it's been slowly building - and the arrival of Kyle Tucker (not to mention Pete Crow-Armstrong becoming something you have to see to believe) have fans flooding to the Federal Landmark in a way we haven't seen in years.

Next up? Bringing postseason baseball back to the corner of Clark and Addison. If the club is seeing this level of enthusiasm in April and May, playoff baseball will have Wrigley Field rocking come October.