Cubs clinch MLB playoff spot: Chicago joins Brewers, Phillies on postseason bracket for first time since 2020

The Chicago Cubs are going back to the postseason. Wednesday afternoon’s win over the Pittsburgh Pirates (CHC 8, PIT 4) clinched Chicago’s first postseason berth since 2020, and their first in a full 162-game season since 2018.

Manager Craig Counsell’s team is the third National League team to clinch a postseason spot, joining the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies. The Brewers will soon clinch the NL Central title and the Phillies have already clinched the NL East, and both teams have comfortable leads over the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers. They are well positioned to finish with the National League’s top two records and thus secure Wild Card Series byes.

The Cubbies are five games up on the San Diego Padres for the top wild card spot, so, while none of this is official yet, we have a pretty good idea what the NL postseason field will look like with 12 days remaining in the regular season:

• BYE: Brewers (NL Central) and Phillies (NL East)
• WC: WC3 at Dodgers (NL West)
• WC: Padres (WC2) at Cubs (WC1)

The New York Mets currently sit in the third wild card spot with the D-backs, Giants, and Cincinnati Reds kinda sorta maybe making them sweat a bit. That really is the only mystery left in the NL. Can one of those teams catch the Mets? Otherwise we’re just talking about seeding, and the Brewers, Cubs, Dodgers, and Phillies are pretty well locked into their slots.

Outfielder Ian Happ is the only player on Chicago’s roster who has appeared in a postseason game for the Cubs. (Second baseman Nico Hoerner was on the 2020 Wild Card Series roster but did not play.) The roster has turned over significantly since then and so too has the front office. Theo Epstein left the Cubs in November 2020, when current POBO Jed Hoyer was elevated to replace him.

Within the last few years, Hoyer has added first baseman Michael Busch and outfielders Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker in significant trades, and the latter two could receive MVP votes this year. He also signed lefties Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga, and drafted righty Cade Horton. Those three could be Chicago’s three Wild Card Series starting pitchers.

The Cubs rank eighth in runs scored per game and are fractions of a run away from being in the top five. They have also allowed the fifth fewest runs per game. Counsell’s team is very good at scoring runs and very good at preventing them. Chicago’s plus-129 run differential is second best in baseball behind only the Brewers (plus-180).

Tucker (calf) and closer Daniel Palencia (shoulder) are nursing injuries. Once the Cubs lock up the top wild card spot and thus home field advantage in the Wild Card Series, they can take their foot off the gas a bit, and rest core players before October and audition others for postseason roles.

With the Cubs in, the Toronto Blue Jays are likely to be the next team to clinch a postseason berth. That should happen within a day or two.