More Than Magic: Suzuki and Kelly's Blasts Point to Something Special Brewing

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Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images

The romance of playoff baseball cannot be understated, and what we witnessed unfold on Tuesday afternoon in Game 1 of the Cubs' Wild Card series versus San Diego proved it emphatically. No one should be surprised by a breakout performance from Seiya Suzuki or Carson Kelly, two Cubs that anchored the middle of one of the best lineups in baseball through much of the season.

But, with Chicago royalty like Jake Arrieta and Eddie Vedder on hand along with a deafening cast of thousands of Cubs faithful, it's certainly how and when it happened that has put the rest of the postseason field on notice. This team has a chance to go all the way, and if they do, it will be in no small part due to what the Cubbies' star players were able to accomplish in the bottom of the 5th inning of this opening postseason contest.

To say nothing of the rest of their mutually impressive teammates, Suzuki and Kelly are not unlikely heroes; they both slugged over .400 in the 2025 regular season, and wielding that kind of power in their bats played a major factor in their respective home-run-yielding plate appearances. But there's more to it than that—it was their mental reserve. For months now, I've waxed poetic how special this team could be, and among the most paramount reasons why is because they play with joy, not fear. On a day when one of your mighty aces, Matthew Boyd, turned in an absolute gem, the Cubbies were denied by Padres' pitcher Nick Pivetta in one of the most efficient outings from a major league pitcher you're likely to see for years to come. So, in these two particular at-bats, what did they do differently? They made him work. 

By playing the thing patiently and spitting on balls they didn't like, Suzuki and Kelly stayed alive long enough to find the right pitch, which is necessary in order to do damage against the elite pitchers you'll find in October (or, in this case, September 30). Though the subsequent performance from the bullpen was magnificent, the back-to-back bombs by Suzuki and Kelly announced to all those invested that the Cubs are here to play. That moment stole any confidence or bravado that may have manifested in the Friars' dugout, and it showed. 

Suzuki and Kelly unlocked the formula for success, paving the way for the rest of the lineup to enjoy more disciplined, grind-it-out at bats that eventually produced an insurance run that put the game on ice with the bullpen motoring in the manner it was. One could get chills just thinking about it. 

Listen, this may sound hyperbolic, but yesterday's playoff game at Wrigley Field was the best live sporting event I've ever attended. And there could be many more before the end of the month. It doesn't matter that this was North Siders first playoff victory since 2017. This team is playing for right now; it's playing for each other. The rest of the playoff field certainly has to take notice of a game like that, but the Cubs are so good that if they truly get hot, there might not be a whole heck of a lot those other teams can do about it. All that will be left is a Cubbies team built for the playoffs, with 40,000 blue towels waving in triumph.

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