Week In Review: The Long-Awaited Return Home Caps Impressive Week For Cubs

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Wrigley Field has brought out the best in the 2025 Cubs. The good vibes are rolling after a dominant showing this week.

Image courtesy of © Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

Writing for this Cubs team of ours is a funny thing, as the inner struggle between ourselves as both diehard fan and objective observer rages on. After a week in which the Cubs put more runs on the board than Walter Payton, it's excessively difficult not to side with the whims of the former.

For droves of Chicago Cubs baseball supporters, the last handful of days showed you everything that will catapult this squad to the top of the baseball mountain, and everything that could send it cascading down. Without a doubt, the most impressive gear spinning for the North Siders right now is the middle of the lineup. Squaring off against the Athletics, who will eventually call Las Vegas their home but currently play in Sacramento, the Cubbies' offense teed off.

Over the course of the three-game set, Chicago plated 35 runs, recording hits from nearly everyone in the lineup. Kyle Tucker, Michael Busch, and Seiya Suzuki absolutely mashed. Tucker closed out a four-game home run streak, Suzuki recorded a muti-homer game, and Busch appears to be picking up where he left off from his excellent rookie campaign. On the topic of Kyle Tucker's hopeful extension, I will bluntly say this: the team needs him in town in order to open a serious window of contention. The longer he hits like this, the more the price tag is going to go up. Especially with all of the extensions flooding baseball in recent weeks, now is the time for the front office to get negotiating, assuming they haven't laid the groundwork already.

It's easy to celebrate the club's victories when they're winning, and, in turn, that winning covers up some of the more unsightly blemishes out there. Sadly, I'm talking about Craig Counsell's bullpen. While lingering injuries to players like Julian Merryweather complicate the here and now, the pen has labored out of the gate.

Though young whip Porter Hodge has enjoyed moderate success on the mound, newly-acquired veteran Ryan Pressly apparently can't throw strikes. Now, the good guys did prevail in the North Siders' home opener, but Pressly immediately helped the Padres put traffic on the bases. Mr. Pressly, there's a particular song we here on the North Side of Chicago like to sing at the end of games—please don't let the sound operator and the rest of us down by throwing balls in the dirt. Maybe he figures it out, but in the wake of another sensational outing from Shota Imanaga, the Cubs can continue to get by with their offense and starting pitching for now. If they're still in contention come July, a reliever (or two or three) will be high on the trade deadline shopping list.

Thousands of baby-blue clad Cubs fans flooded the shops in Gallagher Way and the surrounding retail establishments, rocking the new "Alternate Blues" attire. Aside from wanting to look good, enthusiasts of this squad are no doubt handing over their hard-earned funds because the team is playing well. Your Chicago Cubs just took a series from an outstanding San Diego team, brimming with some of the game's most elite hitters. Matthew Boyd looks like one of the biggest steals of the offseason. Ben Brown and his Padre counterpart racked up a staggeringly high pitch count early in what was an uneven series finale, but experience over the course of the season will do him good, especially when the bats hit an inevitable skid. 

Outside of handing San Diego its first few losses of the season, the Cubbies provided substantial justification for the excitement surrounding this year. They have found the top of the standings. Let's see how long they can keep it.

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