It is, I suppose, a testament to the 2025 Cubs season that all five of these games — plus one of the two “honorable mention” games — were in the season’s first half.
That’s when the Cubs offense was cruising
and they put together a division lead. Of course, you know about the struggles in the second half that, along with two massive Brewers winning streaks, left the Cubs in a wild-card spot.
Still, it’ll be fun to remember these! Also note, I’m limiting this to regular season games.
March 31: Cubs 18, Athletics 3
This was the A’s home opener and the very first MLB game ever played in West Sacramento.
And the Cubs weren’t very nice guests. They pounded A’s pitching all over the yard.
They hit four home runs (Michael Busch, Dansby Swanson, Kyle Tucker and Carson Kelly) and Kelly hit for the cycle, becoming the first Cub to do that since Mark Grace in 1993. Here are Kelly’s cycle hits:
It was the first of a Cubs five-game winning streak.
April 18: Cubs 13, Diamondbacks 11
This wasn’t actually that good of a Cubs game, not pitching-wise, anyway, though they took a 2-1 lead into the seventh and a 7-1 lead to the eighth.
Then all heck broke loose. Jordan Wicks, Porter Hodge and Ethan Roberts allowed eight hits and two walks in the eighth inning and all 10 runners scored, giving Arizona a four-run lead heading to the bottom of the eighth.
But Arizona couldn’t hold their lead, either. Nico Hoerner was hit by a pitch leading off the eighth, then Pete Crow-Armstrong walked. Carson Kelly smashed a three-run homer and the Cubs were within one.
After Justin Turner struck out, Ian Happ singled and Kyle Tucker homered to give the Cubs the lead [VIDEO].
Seiya Suzuki homered for an insurance run, and Ryan Pressly set the D-backs down scoreless in the ninth for the win.
Not an artistic masterpiece, but a memorably good win, and here is how rare scoring 10 runs in an inning and losing is:
April 22: Cubs 11, Dodgers 10
Just four days after a wacky Wrigley Field game where both teams scored in double digits, the Cubs did it again, this time against the Dodgers.
Shōta Imanaga served up a three-run homer to Tommy Edman in the top of the first, but the Cubs took the lead in the bottom of the inning with a five-spot that included RBI hits by Seiya Suzuki, Dansby Swanson, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Miguel Amaya — no homers!
PCA homered in the fifth to make it 7-4 Cubs, but Brad Keller, in one of his rare bad outings, allowed five in the seventh, which gave L.A. a 10-7 lead.
Kyle Tucker smacked a two-run homer in the eighth to bring the Cubs to within one, and after the first two Cubs in the ninth were routine outs, Miguel Amaya hit a game-tying home run [VIDEO].
Porter Hodge set the Dodgers down in order in the 10th and Ian Happ hit the very first pitch of the bottom of the inning into right field for a game-winning single [VIDEO].
Again, not a great game pitching-wise, but a lot of fun back-and-forth.
May 2: Cubs 10, Brewers 0
The Cubs were in first place and the Brewers at .500 when this series, the first between the two teams, began in Milwaukee on a Friday evening.
And the Cubs played like they wanted to dominate the division. They scored a pair in the first and then had a seven-run second highlighted by this grand slam by Michael Busch [VIDEO].
Ben Brown threw six shutout innings, his best game of the year, and Chris Flexen (remember him?) threw three scoreless frames for a save.
The Cubs did wind up winning the season series from the Brewers seven games to six. They were the only NL Central team to do that this year — and the Brewers took all six regular-season games they played against the Dodgers, before being swept in the NLCS.
July 4: Cubs 11, Cardinals 3
The Cubs’ franchise record of seven home runs in a game had been set in 1967 and matched in 1970, 1977 and 2023.
That mark was broken on this day, as the Cubs smashed eight home runs and demolished the Cardinals. The homers were hit by Seiya Suzuki, Dansby Swanson, Carson Kelly, a pair by Pete Crow-Armstrong and three by Michael Busch, the first three-homer game of his career.
Busch’s three-homer game also led to this fun fact:
Here are all eight home runs [VIDEO].
Also in that game, PCA made one of his five-star catches [VIDEO].
The final score could have been 11-0, but with the game well in hand, Craig Counsell let Jon Berti throw the ninth inning. Berti was pretty bad as a pitcher, but did make this athletic play in the field [VIDEO].
Honorable mention games: Cubs 16, Dodgers 0, April 12 at Dodger Stadium, a two-homer game for PCA, and Cubs 12, Cardinals 1, Sept. 26 at Wrigley Field, the day PCA joined the 30-30 club.
Which was your favorite?
