In 2001, the Cubs were coming off a 97-loss season. The Dodgers were good, but hadn’t made the playoffs in four years.
That was the backdrop to what began as an ordinary Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field. The Cubs, off to a good start that year, entered the day at 17-11, two games in the lead in the NL Central. They had shut out the Dodgers the day before, 4-0, led by seven strong innings by Kevin Tapani. The Dodgers were 17-12, also in first place in the NL West.
And the game was fairly ordinary
— for a while. Sammy Sosa and Todd Hundley hit two-run homers in the fourth off Darren Dreifort for a 4-0 lead. The Dodgers were shut out by Julian Tavarez for five innings before future Cub Eric Karros hit an RBI single in the sixth to make it 4-1.
That’s where things stood going to the bottom of the seventh. A perfectly ordinary game…
Damon Buford and current Cubs radio announcer Ron Coomer singled, followed by an RBI single by Eric Young Sr.., making it 5-1. Ricky Gutierrez attempted a sacrifice bunt (remember those?), but wound up safe on a fielder’s choice, loading the bases.
Bill Mueller singled in a pair of runs, now it’s 7-1. RBI hits by Sammy Sosa and Rondell White made it 9-1. Hundley struck out, but Julio Zuleta smashed a three-run homer and the Cubs had an eight-run inning, leading 12-1 heading to the eighth.
In the bottom of the eighth, Gutierrez hit a one-out double, followed by a walk by Mueller. A comebacker by Sosa to Dodgers pitcher Jose Nuñez was thrown away, with Gutierrez scoring and runners winding up on second and third. Another walk loaded the bases and Hundley struck out.
Now there are two out, the bases loaded and the Cubs with a 13-1 lead.
Cubs pitcher Courtney Duncan walked, forcing in a run. Buford singled in two runs, now it’s 16-1. Another single by Coomer re-loaded the bases again, and Augie Ojeda hit a grounder to third that could have ended the inning, but it was booted by Dodgers third baseman Dave Hansen (another guy who briefly played for the Cubs). Two runs scored on the error, making it 18-1.
A single by Gutierrez, batting for the second time in the inning, scored Coomer to make it 19-1. Mueller walked, loading the bases, and Sosa drew a walk, scoring the 20th run.
The Dodgers went out meekly in the ninth and the Cubs had their 20-1 victory, with back-to-back eight-run innings. Sadly, no extensive highlights survive from this game, though the first minute or so of this highlight video from that day show a few plays from the game:
It was just the eighth time the Cubs had scored 20 or more runs in a game since the 1945 pennant season (and, of course, they lost one of those, the famous 23-22 game against the Phillies in 1979). It would be more than 20 years before they’d do it again, a 21-0 win over the Pirates April 23, 2022. The Cubs have scored 20+ runs once since then, a 20-9 win over the Reds Aug. 1, 2023.
The Cubs swept that 2001 series against the Dodgers, winning the final game 3-2 on a walkoff hit by Hundley, and eventually led the NL Central by 3.5 games before losing eight in a row later in May. They followed the eight-game losing streak with a 12-game winning streak, going back into first place where they’d stay until mid-August. Their final record of 88-74 was a 23-game improvement over the previous year, but they missed the then-single wild card spot in the NL by five games.
The Cubs’ 20-1 blowout of the Dodgers happened 25 years ago today, Saturday, May 5, 2001.
