Well, dang.
The Chicago Cubs made it to the 2025 National League Division Series versus the Milwaukee Brewers - something that hadn't really occurred before. We lost two games, then won two games, but lost the fifth game in Milwaukee.
But I'm calling it a great season.
We started with the Tokyo Series, and then played lights out through the All-Star Game. The back half of the season was more uneven, but we pulled out of a nose dive to make the play-offs.
Our Wild Card round was against San Diego, and I wasn't sure how we'd do, but the answer was "just fine". I guess we had never played the Brewers before in the NLDS, so that's neat. And we did pretty good against a team who had a lot more rest than the Cubs did coming in.
The team this year was so much fun to watch, which, really, is all you can ask for. Pete Crow-Armstrong (PCA to fans), and my guy Seiya Suzuki, were in a weird pairing as the two outfielders wound up with dozens of home runs each, often keeping up with one another in the homerun count. Pete would get one, then Seiya would get one the same game or the next. Crow-Armstrong wound up with 31, and Suzuki ended up with 32 - not exactly Roger Maris, but pretty good!
Dansby Swanson was phenomenal as Short Stop, and we got lucky with Michael Busch at first base. Work horses Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ produced consistently all season on offense and defense. Kyle Tucker was solid as both a fielder and at bat. Carson Kelly delivered as both catcher and at bat, too. And having Justin Turner in the dugout and playing sometimes was really cool.
Pitching could be spotty. We lost Steele immediately. Imanaga suffered an injury that he didn't fully recover from. And the rest of the rotation was up and down and unpredictable. But, hey, they got us where they got us.
Anyway, great season, Cubs! Would have been fun to have made the NLCS, but I'll take a 3-2 game NLDS series against a team as good as the Brewers are this year.
