It has been a weird stretch for the Cubs lineup. The pitching has done its job, the vibes around Wrigley have been fine, but the bats had gone quiet enough that even diehards were starting to mumble. Then they showed up at Oracle Park and decided to start swinging like the season actually matters.
The relief was audible from the Cubs corner of the internet once the long balls started leaving the yard.
It’s nice to see the Cubs actually hit some dingers. It’s about time.
The signature swing belonged to Michael Busch, who turned on a Miller fastball and launched it clean over the right-field arcade and into the drink. 104.5 off the bat, Splash Hits counter ticking up, scoreboard flipping to 5-0 Cubs in the top of the 5th. If you are going to break out of a power funk, you might as well do it in the most cinematic ballpark in the sport.
Busch's ball clearing the arcade and into McCovey Cove, with the exit velo and a 5-0 Cubs lead stamped on screen.
That cushion held up, and the W flag went up over Wrigley for the second night in a row — which, as the man himself noted, shouldn't feel like a milestone for a team with this roster, but here we are. Back-to-back wins after a stretch of baseball that had Cubs fans checking the standings between pitches counts as legitimate progress.
Clark the Cub up on the rooftop watching the W get hoisted — the celebration that's been in short supply lately.
The real test starts now. Stringing two together is nice, stringing 10 together is how you stop being a frustrating .500-ish team and start being a problem in the NL Central. A splash hit into McCovey Cove is the kind of moment a hot streak gets built around. Whether the Cubs actually build one is the only question that matters.