Cubs' path back to the postseason wasn't a straight line - but that's not unique

Champagne showers and cigar smoke filled the air inside the PNC Park visitors' clubhouse on Wednesday afternoon as the Chicago Cubs celebrated clinching their first playoff berth since 2020. The season is still not over, with seeding yet to be set, but the Cubs still got to celebrate their ticket to the big dance.

Heading into Thursday's action, the Cubs have 88 wins with 10 games left. After clinching a spot in the postseason, they are close to winning 90 games for the first time since 2018, a year that also marks the last time they hosted postseason action at Wrigley Field in front of an audience. (As we all remember, the 2020 postseason was played without fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Point being, the 2025 Cubs have reached a level of success that has not been accomplished in Wrigleyville in some time. That might be funny to tell a pre-2015 Cubs fan, but the standards have changed on the North Side. Manager Craig Consell bluntly said last year that they should be building 90+ win teams on an annual basis.

2025 Cubs have already done something we haven't seen in years

Even with time still left, it's worth reflecting on the journey this team took to get back to October. It's easy to use a lot of the classic clichés, such as "rollercoaster", "ups and downs", etc., when describing the season. After all, every 162-game season is a marathon, not a sprint. That said, those clichés accurately describe this season, which has seen some great and somewhat bizarre stuff.

The first few months were so special. Kyle Tucker and Pete-Crow Armstrong were looking like MVPs, Seiya Suzuki was looking like a shoo-in All-Star, and the offense was relentless. They weathered the storm of a gauntlet schedule early better than many expected, even after losing ace Justin Steele. By June 18, they had built a 6 1/2-game lead in the division. However, as we saw, things started to slow up a bit mid-season. Extended slumps for Suzuki and Crow-Armstrong went from a few games to weeks to months. The brutal struggles of Tucker with the finger injury changed the dynamic of the offense, and it was not the same relentless unit in July and August. Slumps happen, but these were particularly rough.

As bad as it felt at times over the past few months, they still managed to stay afloat. The pitching staff really held down the fort for a while, helping them win close, low-scoring games. While it is easy to point out they have not gone on long winning streaks, they also avoided big losing streaks. At times, they bent but did not fully break, unlike in September 2023 when they completely broke down. This team is better than that.

What really caused many Cubs fans grief was the Brewers going on a historic run over several months, taking that multi-game lead away from the Cubs with an absurd level of play. That was the difference between a division title and a likely Wild Card berth. In the end, the Brewers' playing at a near 120-win pace for an extended time was out of the Cubs' control. Had we known the Cubs would be on pace to win around 93 games, it would have felt like winning the Central was a safe bet, not foreseeing what Milwaukee would do. That did not make it any less frustrating, but that's the reality.

In the end, it has been a ride. This team might not feel like the prime days of Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, and there are areas that we wish the front office could have beefed up more (closer, rotation depth), but they still did some very good things. They are not your father's "This is the Year!" Cubs, as that goat is off the back, but the fans still thirst for more hardware. It would be fun to observe deep playoff runs when there are no exorcisms to conduct. Can this team do it? Time will tell. The postseason can see a lot of craziness happen. Good or bad.