Cubs Clinch It: From Jefferson Park to Wrigley, October Baseball Is Back

By Dr. Cliff Potts, Editor-in-Chief, WPS News

BAYBAY CITY, Philippines — September 25, 2026, 21:05 PHT

There are news stories, and then there are stories you have been waiting most of your life to hear.

The Chicago Cubs are going back to October.

For this writer, that story doesn’t really begin with Thursday’s 2–1 victory over the Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field. It begins in 1968, when I became a Cubs fan and a Northsider, growing up in Jefferson Park on Chicago’s Northwest Side.

That makes this personal.

From Jefferson Park to Wrigley Field

Jefferson Park has been Chicago for a very long time, but not forever. The neighborhood was once part of Jefferson Township, an independent political unit that existed from 1850 until 1889, when the territory was incorporated into the rapidly expanding City of Chicago (Keating, n.d.).

So there is some history underneath this little hometown celebration.

Chicago changes. Neighborhoods change. Baseball changes.

But there are certain things a Northsider understands instinctively: the Red Line eventually gets you to Addison, Wrigley Field belongs at Clark and Addison, ivy belongs on an outfield wall, and hope is a dangerous but unavoidable occupational hazard of being a Cubs fan.

Those of us who were around before 2016 understand that particularly well. Winning the World Series didn’t erase the decades that came before it, but it changed what Cubs fans could expect from the future.

And now we get another October.

Cubs Clinch It

The Cubs defeated Miami 2–1 Thursday at Wrigley Field, improving to 88–71 and mathematically securing one of the National League’s three Wild Card positions. It is Chicago’s second consecutive postseason appearance, something the Cubs hadn’t accomplished since their four-year postseason run from 2015 through 2018 (Associated Press, 2026).

Thursday wasn’t simply about securing another ticket to October. One of the most remarkable individual seasons ever produced by a Chicago Cub added another chapter.

PCA Makes History

Pete Crow-Armstrong stole second base in the first inning.

Normally, that is one line in a box score.

This one goes into baseball history.

It was Crow-Armstrong’s 40th stolen base of the season. Combined with his 45 home runs, PCA became only the seventh player in Major League Baseball history to produce a 40-home-run, 40-stolen-base season (Associated Press, 2026).

The Wrigley crowd knew exactly what it had witnessed.

“MVP” chants followed.

Crow-Armstrong is also the first Cub ever to reach the 40–40 milestone.

And because apparently that wasn’t enough excitement for one afternoon, Seiya Suzuki hit his 26th home run of the season. Ian Happ tripled in the sixth and scored on a Nico Hoerner single to put Chicago ahead for good. Matthew Boyd worked seven innings, allowing only one run, and Ryan Zeferjahn closed it out (Associated Press, 2026).

Final score: Cubs 2, Marlins 1.

Postseason berth: clinched.

This One Is for the North Side

Baseball statistics can explain what happened Thursday.

They can’t quite explain what the Cubs mean to Chicago.

I became a Cubs fan in 1968. Then came 1969, 1984, 1989, 1998, 2003, 2007 and 2008—years when Cubs fans learned repeatedly that believing was part of the deal, regardless of how things ended.

Then 2016 finally ended the 108-year wait.

That history remains, but today’s Cubs don’t have to carry it. They aren’t responsible for goats, black cats, collapses or generations of heartbreak. They get to make their own history.

Pete Crow-Armstrong just made some.

And the 2026 Chicago Cubs have earned themselves another chance to make considerably more.

There are games still to play. There is seeding still to settle. And clinching a Wild Card berth guarantees absolutely nothing once postseason baseball begins.

But that’s tomorrow’s problem.

Tonight, from Jefferson Park to Wrigleyville—and even all the way across the Pacific to an old Northsider sitting in the Philippines—we get to enjoy this one.

The Cubs clinched it.

October baseball is coming back to Wrigley Field.

And after becoming a Cubs fan in 1968, I know exactly what we’re supposed to say next:

Go Cubs Go.

APA-Style Sources

Associated Press. (2026, September 24). Cubs clinch 2nd straight playoffs trip by beating Marlins 2-1 as Crow-Armstrong joins 40-40 club.

Daily Herald. (2026, September 24). Pete Crow-Armstrong becomes the 1st Cub with a 40-40 season — and 7th player in MLB history.

Keating, A. D. (n.d.). Jefferson Township. Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago Historical Society.