The Cubs didn’t just beat the Padres on Wednesday. They blew the roof off the box score.
Chicago rolled to a 23-3 win in San Diego, completed a three-game sweep, and kept humming with its 15th victory in the last 19 games. The outburst also put the Cubs in some rare company: their 23 runs were the most the franchise had scored in a game since 1995, and the eight home runs tied the club record.
Colin Rea made sure the avalanche came with a little bit of order behind it. He worked five innings, allowed two runs, and struck out five while the offense kept stacking crooked numbers.
The home-run barrage brought back a familiar feeling for Cubs fans. On July 4, 2025, Chicago had already set the franchise mark with eight homers in an 11-3 win over the Cardinals.
This time, the list of sluggers looked even more ridiculous. Dansby Swanson went deep three times for the first time in his big-league career.
Michael Busch, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki each added to the record chase, and Michael Conforto chipped in with a multi-homer game of his own.
June, in the end, turned into a strong month for Chicago. The Cubs went 16-10 and finished with the fifth-best record in MLB during the month, a sharp turn from where they were on May 31 at 32-28 and sliding.
Crow-Armstrong has been a huge part of that swing. In June, he put together a month that put him in the company of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. According to the numbers cited, Pete Crow-Armstrong of the @Cubs is one of three players in MLB history to have a month with:.375+ batting average.775+ slugging pct80+ total bases15+ walks10+ home runs5+ stolen basesThe others are Babe Ruth (June 1920, July 1920, May 1930) and Lou Gehrig (June 1930). pic.twitter.com/ud5bAyf4wq
His recent stretch has been just as loud. Over his last 30 games, Crow-Armstrong is hitting .390/.469/.797, and the production has helped drag the Cubs back into position. Chicago now sits five games behind the Milwaukee Brewers and owns the top Wild Card spot.
Suzuki has kept pace with the surge, and Wednesday gave him a milestone swing to remember. After hitting his 99th career homer in Milwaukee last weekend, he launched No. 100 against the Padres. The three-run shot was his 13th home run of the season and made him just the fourth Japanese-born player in major league history to reach 100 homers, joining Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, and Shohei Ohtani.
He’s not slowing down, either. Suzuki has hit .355/.371/.710 over his last seven games, and his season line is up to .274/.357/.466 with an .823 OPS.
The Cubs will now head into a Fourth of July weekend series at home against the Cardinals, just like they did last year. Friday’s opener is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. CT on Marquee Sports Network, Saturday’s game is set for 7:05 p.m. on FOX, and the finale will air at 1:30 p.m. on Peacock and NBCSN Extra as part of NBC’s "Star-Spangled Sunday" event.
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Alex Bregman May Have Sent Cubs Fans A Message
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Then came the swing that changed the mood. After launching a three-run homer, Bregman rounded the bases with a thumbs-down gesture that some fans took as a pointed response to the criticism he has heard, and ESPNs Jesse Rogers reportedly read it that way as well. Whether it was a message or just a reaction in the moment, it added another layer to a start that has already left Cubs fans watching Bregman a little more closely than they expected. [Read more 🡒]