The Chicago Cubs are officially heading back to the postseason. With a narrow 2-1 win over the Miami Marlins on Thursday, the Cubs clinched an MLB playoff spot for the second straight season.
The Cubs secured their postseason spot just minutes after their cross-town rivals, the Chicago White Sox, who are back in the playoffs after a five-year break and three 100-loss seasons.
It’s just the fourth time in MLB history that both the Cubs and the White Sox have made the playoffs in the same year, with the pair both earning postseason berths in 10906, 2008, 2020 and now 2026, via MLB’s Sarah Langs. Thursday also marks the first time that both Chicago teams clinched on the same day.
Though Miami got on the board first with an RBI single in the third, Seiya Suzuki pitched in with a solo homer in the fifth inning. An RBI single from Nico Hoerner in the sixth ended up being enough to pull off the win, with reliever Ryan Zeferjahn closing out the game with a hitless ninth inning.
During the game, star outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong continued his MVP campaign by stealing his 40th base of the season; the mark made him the seventh player in MLB history to achieve a 40-40 season.
The Cubs’ victory secures a wild card berth in the postseason. Most likely, they will face off against the San Diego Padres in the first round, though the two team’s close records mean they will be jockeying for the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds through the final games of the season.
The Milwaukee Brewers clinched the NL Central earlier this month, leaving the Cubs to finish second in that division.
A Cubs-Padres wild card round would mimic last season, when Chicago returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and then defeated San Diego in the first round. The Cubs fell to the Brewers in the NL Division Series after losing a deciding Game 5.
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