{"id":985642,"date":"2026-08-07T00:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T00:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/985642\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T00:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T00:25:15","slug":"column-chicago-cubs-cap-manic-homestand-with-sick-comeback-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/985642\/","title":{"rendered":"Column: Chicago Cubs cap manic homestand with ‘sick’ comeback win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers and watching Pete-Crow Armstrong outduel Shohei Ohtani<\/a> in their MVP showdown seemed like the perfect way to end an exhilarating homestand for the Chicago Cubs.<\/p>\n

But the Cubs instead were forced to return to Wrigley Field on Thursday for a makeup game against the Toronto Blue Jays, and for most of the afternoon the electricity of the last week seemed missing with the New York Yankees and Dodgers \u2014 and all their stars \u2014 gone.<\/p>\n

The Cubs were clueless against Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease, who allowed two hits in seven shutout innings, and a loss to the underachieving Jays would\u2019ve felt like adding an extra chapter to \u201cThe Great Gatsby.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then everything changed on a dime, and a manic Cubs season went off the rails again.<\/p>\n

\n

Photos: Chicago Cubs 3, Toronto Blue Jays 2 (11 inn.)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Alex Bregman\u2019s two-out, two-strike, two-run home run into the wind off closer Louis Varland tied the game in the ninth, and the Cubs won 3-2 in 11 innings when Crow-Armstrong scored from second after stealing third and coming home on a throwing error by catcher Brandon Valenzuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve been wanting to add to my team the last few years,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cThat\u2019s my style of play, but I guess we\u2019re all getting to see me do a little bit of everything more and more often now.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was another wild chapter in a drama-filled season for the Cubs, who won their fourth straight and improved to 67-49 with their 11th walk-off win. They\u2019re now a season-high 18 games over .500.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re down to our last hitter and one last out and the wind is blowing in and Alex gets it out \u2014 incredible,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cThat was the big swing, and then from then it\u2019s the extra-inning madness, the craziness of extra innings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cease, the former Cubs prospect who signed a seven-year, $210 million deal<\/a> with the Blue Jays in November, struck out 10 and was dominant from the outset. Six of his strikeouts were called, including two by Crow-Armstrong on a changeup and slider.<\/p>\n

But Crow-Armstrong singled off Varland to start the ninth and was standing on second when Bregman took a 1-2 knuckle-curve and deposited it off the wall and into the basket near the yellow 358-foot marker near the foul pole. The 368-foot shot off Varland \u2014 who entered 24-for-24 in save situations this season \u2014 was almost the bare minimum necessary to leave the yard.<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs third baseman Alex Bregman watches his two-run home run to tie the game 2-2 in the ninth inning against the Blue Jays at Wrigley Field on Aug. 6, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Bregman admitted he was thinking home run and was \u201cfortunate enough to sneak that one out.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hit a similar drive to left in the seventh that wound up being caught. Did Bregman think this one would make it out?<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it should be,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cBut you never know here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bregman had one of the two hits off Cease on a day when the Cubs offense was comatose for long stretches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s who Alex Bregman is,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cHe\u2019s shown people that he\u2019s built for those moments. \u2026 That\u2019s where he belongs and where he thrives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Counsell said Bregman \u201cgot the best swings off Cease,\u201d and his home run off Varland was game-changing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a huge hit,\u201d he said. \u201cThat means everything. That\u2019s one that takes an L off the board and gives you a W.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs catcher Carson Kelly is tagged out at the plate by Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela in the 11th inning Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, at Wrigley Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The Cubs had a chance to win in the 10th when Carson Kelly lined a shot over second base with runners on second and third and two out, but Ernie Clement made a sensational leaping catch to send it to the 11th inning. Crow-Armstrong\u2019s single to center leading off the 11th sent Kelly, the ghost runner, home from second. But Kelly was barely thrown out at the plate, keeping the Jays alive for a brief moment.<\/p>\n

After an intentional walk to Seiya Suzuki, Crow-Armstrong took off for third and came around when the throw from Valenzuela glanced off Josh Smith\u2019s glove and into short left field. Crow-Armstrong didn\u2019t hesitate, tossing his helmet before he waltzed home, turning the scene into a mosh pit of celebrating Cubs in front of 39,476 delirious fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis group has a lot of talent, a great team on paper,\u201d starter David Peterson said. \u201cBut it\u2019s what the guys bring every single day, the work ethic, the competitiveness, the will to win and the confidence in the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong steals third base on his way to scoring on a throwing error by Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela for a 3-2 win in 11 innings Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, at Wrigley Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The Cubs faced four of the league\u2019s top starters in the last six days in the Yankees\u2019 Max Fried and Gerrit Cole, the Dodgers\u2019 Tarik Skubal and Cease.<\/p>\n

They managed only four runs off those starters in 24 1\/3 combined innings, striking out 28 times, but managed to win three of the four games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got tested against some great teams this homestand, some really good players,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cWe faced Fried, Cole, Skubal, Cease \u2026 that\u2019s a pretty good gauntlet of pitchers we faced.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the kind of pitching they\u2019re going to see if they make it into the postseason, which seems likely with a 33-15 mark since June 11, the best record in the National League and second-best mark in the majors.<\/p>\n

After the Yankees series<\/a>, the trade-deadline additions<\/a>, the Skubal game<\/a>, the PCA-Ohtani swing-off, the sweep of the Dodgers and then the last-gasp comeback against the Jays in the rescheduled game, the Cubs took a deep breath and headed to Kansas City, Mo., for the start of a six-game trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of a wild homestand towards the end of it,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cAnd it was supposed to be an off day. Just relief that we got a W there. Pretty rare you see a down-to-your-last-strike, game-tying homer. So that was pretty sick in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSick\u201d is the thematic motif of the Cubs season, and there is no cure in sight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers and watching Pete-Crow Armstrong outduel Shohei Ohtani in their MVP showdown seemed like…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":985643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[2730,17625,960,1271,1816,8336,67720,5386,1818,1277,8753,1272],"class_list":["post-985642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-alex-bregman","tag-carson-kelly","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-craig-counsell","tag-david-peterson","tag-dylan-cease","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-pete-crow-armstrong","tag-seiya-suzuki","tag-wrigley-field"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117051388834605734","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=985642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/985643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=985642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=985642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=985642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}