The Chicago Cubs clinch their first postseason berth since 2020 with an 8-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday. They celebrated in the clubhouse for the first time since winning the NL Central in 2017. The coronavirus pandemic limited celebrations in 2020 and they held off in 2018, hoping to win the division but finished second to the Brewers.
Ian Happ homered and drove in three runs, and the Chicago Cubs clinched their first postseason berth since 2020 with an 8-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Chicago has won four in a row and seven of eight overall. It leads the NL wild-card standings with an 88-64 record. Nico Hoerner had two hits and scored three times for the Cubs. Justin Turner hit a pair of RBI singles after entering in the sixth. The Cubs grabbed control with three runs in the sixth, helped by errors on Pirates reliever Yohan Ramírez and catcher Joey Bart. Aaron Civale pitched three scoreless innings for the win.
Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz had the hardest-hit ball since Statcast started tracking in 2015, a home run off Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson that left the bat at 122.9 mph and splashed into the Allegheny River. Cruz’s leadoff drive to right in the third inning on a 92.2 mph fastball traveled 432 feet and cut the Pirates’ deficit to 3-1 in a 6-5 loss. Cruz had the previous hardest-hit ball, a 122.4 mph single on Aug. 24, 2022. Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton had the prior hardest-hit home run at 121.8 mph, a drive off Gio Gonzalez at Washington on Aug. 9, 2017.
