Who are the last 5 Cubs players with 100 RBI in a single season?

Earlier this morning, digging into Pete Alonso's performance in recent years for the Mets, I noted that he was about to cruise past the 100 RBI mark just one year after leading the league in that category and it got me wondering: who are the last 5 Cubs players with 100 RBI or more in a single season?

It seems unlikely anyone on this year's team is going to hit the mark. Cody Bellinger may have had he not missed an entire month with a knee injury. But he's the team's big power bat - and you have to go back a full five years already before you find a guy who knocked in 100 runs. Unsurprisingly, the Cubs haven't been all that competitive during that span, either.

Last 5 Cubs players with 100 RBI: #5 - Anthony Rizzo (2018, 2017, 2016, 2015)

Looking back over the last decade-and-a-half of Chicago Cubs baseball, Anthony Rizzo's name comes up a lot. Again, that doesn't come as a shock because he was, to many, this generation's 'Mr. Cub'. That is, until Jed Hoyer ended the idea of Rizzo spending the rest of his career with the team, trading him to the Yankees the day before the 2021 trade deadline.

But Rizzo's ascent to the national stage coincided perfectly with the Cubs' rise to the top of the baseball world. During his time in Wrigleyville, the four-time Gold Glover and three-time All-Star broke the century mark on four separate occasions: 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015.

In 2015, as the Cubs made a surprising run in October behind first-year manager Joe Maddon, Rizzo played in all but two of the team's games, driving in 101 runs and finishing fourth in NL MVP balloting. The following year, special for so many reasons, Rizzo again was a central cog in the machine, setting a career-high with 109 RBI - again finishing fourth in NL MVP voting and picking up a Silver Slugger, to boot.

Shaking off that World Series hangover, Rizzo did everything he could in 2017 to keep the train rolling, mirroring his output from the year prior with 32 long balls and 109 RBI. As we all know, the Cubs ran out of steam in the NLCS against the Dodgers, but it was still another solid campaign for the North Siders, all things considered.

The fourth and final time Rizzo drove in 100 runs came that very next season, when the Cubs crashed down the stretch, allowing the division rival Brewers to come in and take the NL Central crown in Game 163 at Wrigley. This year, though, Rizzo didn't lead the team has he did each prior time he drove in 100 - that honor went to NL MVP runner-up Javier Baez, who checks in next on our list.

Last 5 Cubs players with 100 RBI: #4 - Javier Baez (2018)

2018 Javier Baez was on a whole different level than anything we'd ever seen from El Mago. The excitement and jaw-dropping plays had always been a thing. The flair for the dramatics, a staple for the Puerto Rican-born infielder. Who could forget his extra-innings walk-off on Mother's Day weekend in 2016?

When you talk about putting a team on your back, Baez' performance in 2018 has to be part of the conversation. As Baez went, so went the Cubs. In Chicago victories that season, he slashed a ridiculous .326/.371/.624 - just shy of a 1.000 OPS. He and eventual MVP winner Christian Yelich traded blows back and forth all year long, with Baez tallying an OPS north of .900 in four of the six months.

He finished the year setting career-highs all over the board: home runs (34), RBI (111), stolen bases (21), doubles (40), triples (9) and hits (176). It was the El Mago show every single day - and it makes how bad he looks now with the Tigers even more shocking.

Last 5 Cubs players with 100 RBI: #3 - Kris Bryant (2016)

It must just be the romantic in me, but holy cow, how has Kris Bryant only driven in 100 runs ONE TIME? That's right. The former first-rounder and long-awaited North Side savior managed the task just once - during his NL MVP 2016 campaign, when he plated 102 runs en route to an NL Central title and eventual World Series championship.

The year prior, when Bryant won NL Rookie of the Year honors unanimously, he missed the mark by the narrowest of margins, finishing the year with 99 driven in. If only the Cubs hadn't held him back in Triple-A early in the year...

For those two years, though, Bryant could do no wrong. An All-Star in both of those seasons, he had a combined .900 OPS, taking 65 balls out of the yard and driving 201 runs in the middle of the Cubs lineup. Little did we know, that was the peak of his baseball brilliance.

Bryant earned two more All-Star selections before he was traded to the Giants two summers ago. But since leaving Chicago, things have gone from bad to worse for him in Colorado, where he's battled countless injuries and looked like a shell of his former self. Even worse news for the Rockies, there's still five years left on the $182 million deal he inked with them prior to the 2022 campaign.

Last 5 Cubs players with 100 RBI: #1 - Derrek Lee (2009)

Our final stop on this trip down memory lane is 2009, when slugging first baseman Derrek Lee drove in 111 runs (tying Baez and Aramis Ramirez for the most in a single season since Ramirez had 119 back in 2006).

After crushing the hopes and dreams of Cubs fans in 2003 as a member of the eventual World Series champion Marlins, Lee came to Chicago and quickly established himself as one of the game's premier run producers. His 2005 performance is the stuff of legends, yet somehow goes underappreciated nearly two decades later.

A two-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove (not to mention an MVP finalist in '05), Lee's name can be found all over Cubs franchise leaderboards. In 2009, his final full season with Chicago, he set a career-high with those 111 RBI, driving in 20 or more runs in June, July, August and September that year.

Growing up during the Steroid Era, 100 RBI felt like it was a commonplace achievement. But that's not necessarily the case any longer - and the fact I had to dig through 15 years of numbers just to get to five Cubs players who accomplished it says as much.