Playoff baseball returns to Wrigley Field for first time since 2018

Kamil Krzaczynski - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 9 hours ago

CHICAGO - For the first time in five seasons, seven if you count the last time fans were present, Wrigley Field will be hosting a playoff series as the Chicago Cubs (91-70) have clinched home field for the wild card round. It took 161 games to accomplish this, and the journey was marked by plenty of ups and downs, but the Cubs managed to achieve one of their goals this season: hosting a playoff series at home.

Entering Saturday with their magic number at one, the Cubs knew that all they had to do to clinch home field was to beat their bitter rival, the St. Louis Cardinals (78-83), as that would be the icing on the cake for what has been an enjoyable season. Backed by a fourth consecutive strong start from Jameson Taillon and Michael Busch's four RBI day, it was the Cubs taking care of business as they picked up the 7-3 victory.

After what seemed to be a lengthy amount of games without the long ball playing a role in their success, the Cubs' bats have started to heat up at the right time, especially when it comes to the long ball, as the Cubs belted four more homers after hitting five on Friday. All seven of the Cubs' runs came off the homer, and that alone made things easier for Taillon on the mound.

With Cade Horton officially heading to the IL and being unavailable for the Wild Card round, Taillon becomes the next option to pitch in that series, but given how he has looked since coming off the IL, that may not be a bad idea. Taillon picked the perfect time to deliver one of his best starts of the season, holding the Cardinals to one run on three hits across six dominant innings for his 11th win. He walked two and struck out eight as his ERA fell to 3.68 for the season.

Taillon was backed by some instant support as Busch connected for his 33rd homer of the season off Michael McGreevy to put the Cubs on top 1-0. Busch is arguably the hottest hitter in the Cubs lineup over the past few weeks, and had he been hit like this all season, he would be a 40-homer candidate. McGreevy had his issues in this one, especially in the early innings as Seiya Suzuki led off the second with a walk, only to have Pete Crow-Armstrong add a single to put a pair of runners with one out.

McGreevy managed to get out of the inning without damage off a double play as things remained 1-0. Apart from the first inning, where Taillon did have to pitch around trouble, he was about as dominant as the Cubs have seen him this year, retiring eight straight into the fourth, which came to an end on the Nolan Arenado homer that made this a 1-1 game. That was it for the Cardinals' offense off the big right-hander as he had them guessing from start to finish.

Apart from the leadoff homer from Busch to begin the game, McGreevy did a great job battling back as he managed to keep the Cubs' offense in check the next three innings. It was in the fifth when the Cubs finally got to him again, as a leadoff walk to Dansby Swanson put a runner on base to set things up for the offense once again. Two batters later, and it was that man again as Busch squared McGreevy up for the second time, going the opposite way for his second homer to put the Cubs on top for good, 3-1.

This was the type of game Busch has been waiting for as he went a perfect 4-4 at the plate and drove in four to spark the Cubs' offense. Homers continued to play a role for the Cubs in their half of the sixth as Suzuki connected for his third homer in as many days to push the Cubs' lead to 4-1. He is also the first Cub to have 30-plus homers and 100-plus RBIs in the same season since Javy Baez accomplished that feat in 2018.

With Taillon out of the game after six strong innings, Craig Counsell was in position to use his best relievers late as the Cubs looked to finish off the Cardinals once and for all. Caleb Thielbar has been one of the Cubs' best arms all season, but he has been struggling a bit as of late, which doesn't bode well heading into the postseason.

Those struggles continued in this one as Thielbar allowed a two-out single to Jimmy Crooks, only to have Jordan Walker follow that up with a two-run shot to pull the Cardinals to within 4-3. That was as close as the Cardinals' offense would get as the Cubs' offense continued to tee off on the Cardinals' pen and began to add to their lead in the late innings.

That all started with Busch in the bottom half of the seventh as Matt Shaw began the inning with a leadoff walk before racing home on the Busch triple to make things 5-3. Another walk to Suzuki to lead off the eighth had the Cubs threatening yet again as Pete Crow-Armstrong uncorked another long homer to cap off the scoring as Chicago took a 7-3 lead into the ninth.

With only three outs standing between them and home field, the pressure was on Brad Keller, who has taken over the closer role since the Daniel Palencia injury. There is no question that Keller has been the Cubs' best reliever all season, but there have been some cases where he has struggled to get outs.

This was one of those games as Keller allowed a pair of hits to Arenado and Crooks before a walk to Walker loaded the bases with the tying run coming to bat. As is often the case, when Keller needs an out, he tends to get the job done. He struck out Nathan Church to end the game, giving the Cubs home field in the Wild Card round with a 7-3 victory.

Now that the Cubs know where they will be playing on Tuesday, Javier Assad will likely get the start on Sunday, as this has the classic bullpen game written all over it. You can also see plenty of regulars taking the day off tomorrow, as things get real once again on Tuesday.