This post is part of a series, where I look back on the Chicago Cubs teams that brought me the most enjoyment in my lifetime. I initially was going to go with a top 5, but realized I needed to make it 6.
Reliving some of these moments via box scores and Youtube videos has me excited for the possibility of another Cubs team making it to the playoffs.
Here are previous entries in this series:
Part 1 (2003) – My Favorite Cubs Teams – Part 1
Part 2a (1998) – My Favorite Cubs Teams – Part 2a – 1998
Part 2b (1989) – https://cubsin7.blog/2025/06/10/my-favorite-cubs-teams-1989/
There was a ray of hope when Theo Epstein had been brought in to run the Cubs, based primarily on his success with ending the Red Sox “curse”. To that effect, he was given a lot of leeway in efforts to rebuild a team with minimal major league talent, and an even worse minor league system. But his first three years were rough.
The Cubs were 61-101 in 2012, 66-96 in 2013 and 73-89 (still a last place finish) in 2014. But that initial sense of hope was strengthened by draft picks, trades and signings that would make 2015 a year to remember.
The Roster
From 2012-2014, Epstein and Jed Hoyer had made several moves to players that would help the cubs including:
–Anthony Rizzo
–Jake Arrieta
–Kyle Hendricks
–Pedro Strop
–Dexter Fowler
–Miguel Montero
–Addison Russell
–Tommy LaStella
–Justin Grimm
–Neil Ramirez
And here are some draft picks from those years – with a couple becoming almost immediate contributors:
2012 – Albert Almora and David Bote
2013 – Kris Bryant and Rob Zastryzny
2014 – Kyle Schwarber, Justin Steele and Dylan Cease
Free agent pickups before the 2015 season included Jon Lester, David Ross, Chris Coghlan, Chris Denorfia, Jonathan Herrera, Jason Motte, James Russell (who had been part of a trade for Victor Caratini the previous season) and Jason Hammel (who had been traded for Addison Russell in 2013). Edwin Jackson had been signed prior to 2013.
The Cubs had also picked up Hector Rondon in the Rule 5 draft before the 2013 season, one of the very rare times a Rule 5 player had made an impact. And Jorge Soler was a International signing in 2012
Some of the only holdovers from the previous regime in terms of players, draft picks or international signings were Starlin Castro, Matt Szczur, Junior Lake, Wellington Castillo
The New Manager
Rick Renteria seemed to do a good job in his initial season in 2014, and would finally have a more competitive roster to work with in 2015. But when Joe Maddon became available due to his boss in Tampa taking a new job, it was viewed as a unique opportunity to upgrade. Although, the Cubs would do something very similar 9 years later, when Craig Counsell became available, and David Ross was pushed out.
Joe Maddon seemed like a breath of fresh air, offering both strategic acumen in-game, as well as strong people management skills off the field. And he seemed like just the right fit to take over this team that seemed on the precipice of contention.
I felt bad for Renteria, as he really had done nothing to deserve to get fired, but sometimes you lose your job because there is someone better there to take your place.
It would not turn out to be completely rosy with Maddon in his tenure with the Cubs, as at some point, I think he swung too far with trusting his own instincts versus balancing it with data. But in 2015, he was the perfect hire.
https://www.espn.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/11815376/chicago-cubs-introduce-joe-maddon-manager
The Rookie and Service Time Manipulation
One of the biggest stories heading into 2015 was around Kris Bryant, and when he would be brought to the major leagues. While he seemed more than ready, teams were commonly leaving players in the minors at the beginning of their rookie season, to avoid them getting a full year of service time, postponing when they would be able to become a free agent.
However, when Mike Olt, who was keeping the hot corner warm for Bryant suffered a broken wrist, Bryant was finally brought up: https://www.espn.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/12705857/chicago-cubs-call-kris-bryant
Bryant would later file a grievance against the Cubs, which he ultimately lost: Kris Bryant loses service time grievance
This led to Bryant becoming a free agent in 2021, which coincided with the free agent year of Javy Baez and Anthony Rizzo, contributing to the timing of the great World Series roster sell-off that summer.
The MLB realized this was not ideal for the players, the teams (who were almost forced to do this financially) or the fans. So, rules were put in place to try to prevent service time manipulation. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33761266/the-end-mlb-service-manipulation-how-kris-bryant-paved-way-next-kris-bryant
Early Season Mediocrity
The Cubs started a respectable 5-3 without Bryant to start the season, but by May 10th were at 15-15 after an 11th inning walk-off loss to the Brewers, 6.5 games out of first. By June 5th, they were only 3 games over .500 at 28-25, 8 games out of first and 2.5 games behind the 2 Wild Card spots. They briefly climbed into 2nd place in the Central from Jun 9th to the 11th, but went back to 3rd on the 12th, where they would eventually finish behind the Cardinals and Pirates.
At the All-Star break, the Cubs were 47-40, only 1 game behind Washington for the 2nd Wild Card spot. But they slumped a bit in late July, and after losing 4 of 5, they were at 52-47 on July 28, 11.5 games out of first and 2.5 games behind San Francisco for the 2nd Wild Card. https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap/_/gameId/350728116
Another Rookie Arrives Ahead of Schedule
As Bryant was on his was to winning Rookie of the Year, the Cubs had another rookie debut on June 16th against Cleveland. He was a catcher and outfielder named Kyle Schwarber. He struck out in his first at bat pinch hitting and playing catcher in a home game, but had a much better time in his debut DHing, going 4 for 5 with 3 runs and 2 RBIs. Without a DH in the NL, Schwarber spent the rest of the year, playing 21 games at catcher, 41 in left field and 4 in right field.
I was able to see Schwarber in his 4th, 5th and 6th games in Minneapolis, as the Cubs played the Twins. It was not a great series for Schwarber, as he had 2 singles and a walk in 13 plater appearances. But he did knock in two runs in the final game, as the Cubs won 8-0 to take 2 out of 3.
For me, an Illinois-transplant in Minnesota, it was a great chance to see a team starting to come into it’s own. I had been to a couple of Cubs-Twins games since they started interleague play, but playing only once every six years made it tough. The move to have teams play every year has been fantastic for me, although it has decreased the number of in division and in league matchups. Ultimately, I do think it has been good for baseball. And I’ve been to every Cubs-Twins game in Minneapolis since 2015.
Back to Schwarber — he would finish his impressive rookie campaign with 16 HRs 43 RBIs, a 1.2 WAR, and .842 OPS and a 130 OPS+. Plus there were some serious heroics in the postseason.
Crushing August
After the loss on the 28th, the Cubs ran off a 6-game win streak, lost 1 games, and then won 9 more in a row, to take their record to 67-48. A 3-game losing streak was followed by a six game win streak, taking the team to 73-51, 22 games above .500, the third best record in the NL.
Unfortunately, the two best teams in the NL were the Cardinals and Pirates. Even after all the winning, the Cubs were still 6.5 games out of first and 2 games out of second. They had opened a sizable lead in the 2nd Wild Card spot, 7.5 games ahead of the Giants.
In that stretch, Jake Arrieta won 5 games and Hector Rondon had 12 saves.
September was not as kind, with the Cubs have 2 3-game losing streaks and a 4-game losing streak. But they countered that with a 5 game win streak, and 8 wins in a row to end the regular season. The Giants never got closer than 4.5 games from the Wild Card spot, and the Cubs were headed to the playoffs.
Cy Arrieta
In those last couple months of the season, Jake Arrieta took his dominance in 2015 to a whole new level, pitching a no hitter, and allowing only 2 earned runs, over his last 8 starts over 57 innings.
His numbers in 2015 are probably the best of any Cubs’ pitcher in my lifetime: 8.3 WAR, 1.77 ERA, 34 Complete games, 3 shutouts, a 0.965 WHIP, 4.92 SO/BB ratio, and a 22-6 record. While he did win the Cy Young, Zach Greinke of the Dodgers had a historic year as well, with a 8.9 WAR, a 1.66 ERA and a 0.844 WHIP. And Clayton Kershaw actually took 3 first place votes that year: https://www.mlb.com/news/battle-for-nl-cy-young-award-was-amazing-race-c160834140
But the night that may have cemented the Cy Young occurred on August 30, where he struck out 12 and walked only 1, no-hitting a potent Dodgers lineup, the team that would win the NL West: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN201508300.shtml
Wild Card Dominance
With the Cardinals running away with the division, and the Pirates also over 100 wins, the Cubs 97-win team was relegated to the second Wild Card team, meaning they would have to play on the road in Pittsburgh for a one-game, winner take all.
Fortunately, Jake Arrieta would be pitching for the Cubs. I had not been this confident about a Cubs pitching in the playoff game since Rick Sutcliffe was going to the hill in 1984 against the Padres for a decisive Game 5. Unfortunately, that confidence turned out to be misplaced.
But in 2015, things turned out much much better:
Arrieta was fantastic, and Kyle Schwarber provided all the offense the Cubs would need against Garritt Cole.
I had forgotten that there was a beanball situation in the game, where the Pirates hit Arrieta after he hit a couple of their players. This happened after the melee:
A Playoff Series Against our Biggest Rivals
I’ve disliked the St. Louis Cardinals ever since I started watching baseball. I could write a whole separate book on this, but growing up in Central Illinois the rivalry was even more intense, as the region was pretty evenly split between Cubs and Cardinals fans.
Certainly, some of the hatred was due to jealousy of the Cardinals’ success. But the reverence of Cardinals fans being “the best fans in baseball” and the hubris of claiming that fundamental baseball was somehow the “Cardinals Way” has contributed to this general dislike. I think only Yankees fans are more annoying, but they are not a division rival. The way that Jack Buck would say the word “Ozzie” with just a little too much stress on the AH still makes me cringe a little.
Of course, the reward for beating the Pirates in the Wild Card was a best of 5 NLDS series against the team with the best record in the NL, the Cardinals. The Cubs were fairly heavy underdogs, and while the season would have already been considered a success for the young Cubs, losing against the Cardinals would be a painful way to end things.
Game 1 was rough. With Arrieta already used in the Wild Card, the Cubs would go with Jon Lester against known red-ass, John Lackey. It was a pitchers duel, with only 1 run scored (by the Cardinals) through 7 and a half innings. In the bottom of the 8th, Tommy Pham got a home run off of Lester, and then Steven Piscotty hit a two-run shot of of Pedro Strop, who had come in to relieve.
The Cubs only had 3 hits and 2 walks, striking out 10 times. And were now only 2 losses away from ending the season.
But the Cubs turned things around in Game 2. After Kyle Hendricks had surrendered a solo home run to Matt Carpenter in the first, the Cubs knocked Jaime Garcia around for 5 runs in the 2nd inning, including a 2-run blast by Jorge Soler. Hendricks got touched up for 3 home runs that day, and only lasted 4.2 innings. But they were all solo shots, and a combination of Travis Wood, Trevor Cahill and Hector Rondon were able to provide 4 and a third innings of scoreless relief.
Game 3 was back at Wrigley for the first playoff game since 2008, where the Cubs had lost the first 2 games to the Dodgers on their way to a 3-game sweep. But this time, the Cubs had Jake Arrieta going, one game after his masterpiece against the Pirates.
Unfortunately, Arrieta was not great, giving up 4 runs in 5.2 innings. He was picked up by the Cubs offense, with 6 players going deep.
The Cardinals touched up Rondon for 2 runs with 2 outs in the 9th on a Piscotty home run, but he got Matt Holliday to ground out to second to end the game. And now the Cubs were only one win away from vanquishing the Cardinals and moving on to their first NLCS since 2003.
The Cardinals decided to go with John Lackey on short rest in the elimination game, while the Cubs went to their #4 starter, Jason Hammel, saving Jon Lester for a potential game 5.
Initially, it looked like Maddon had made a poor decision, as Piscotty hit his 3rd homer of the series, touching up Hammel for a two run shot in the first. But the Cubs struck back for 4 in the 2nd, including this home run from Javy Baez:
The Cardinals tied it, getting two runs off of Travis Wood and Trevor Cahill in the top of the 6th. but had the potential lead run thrown out at the plate by Jorge Soler.
But the Cubs were not done smashing home runs into the bleachers. First, Anthony Rizzo regained the lead:
And Kyle Schwarber provided the insurance cherry on top, destroying a ball onto the Budweiser sign.
Fernando Rodney and Pedro Strop – the kings of the slightly off center baseball cap — got through the 7th and 8th, allowing only one baserunner between them. The Cubs wasted a leadoff triple in the 9th. And hen Rondon faced Piscotty (who finished with 6 hits, including a double and 3 home runs in the series – a slash line of .374/.444/1.000) as the tying run at the plate.
The Cubs had vanquished the hated Cardinals, and were back to the NLCS. They would be playing the New York Mets, who had upset the Dodgers, and actually had a worse regular season record than the Cubs. Anticipation was very high.
The Devil, Daniel Murphy
The timing of the first game of the NLCS was not great for me, personally. I happened to be on my first out of town trip with my girlfriend, and we had dinner reservations that conflicted with game 1. Fortunately, my buddy who is also a Cubs fan sent me texts during the game, and I tried not to be to conspicuous about receiving them.
I ended up marrying the woman I was at dinner with, and the Cubs won the 2016 World Series so everything did work out in the end. But I’m not sure if it would have been better to watch the Cubs lose versus getting the text updates.
Game 1 actually turned out to be the closest of the series, with the Cubs tying the game at 1-1 in the 5th, before the Mets scored runs in the 5th, 6th and 7th. Jon Lester was OK, but allowed 8 hits, 4 earned runs and 2 homers (including one to Daniel Murphy in the 1st) in 6.2 innings.
But the real story was Matt Harvey. He want 7.2 innings allowing 4 hits and 2 earned runs. Kyle Schwarber his an 8th inning home run to cut the lead to two, but Jeurys Familia closed the door in the 8th and 9th.
In Game 2, the Cubs had Arrieta going, so my expectation were high about the Cubs evening up the series. But the the Mets had 3 runs on the board (including another Daniel Murphy homer in the first inning) before a single out was recorded, throwing a bunch of cold water on my hope. Noah Syndergaard pitched well, giving up just 1 run over 5 and a third, and the Mets bullpen allowed only 2 baserunners in the final 3 and a third innings. The Cubs had only 3 runs on 10 hits in their two games in New York, and things were not looking great.
Game 3 back in Wrigley was the first home game in an NLCS since 2003, and hopes were high that they could get back into the series. But Daniel Murphy hit yet another home run off of Kyle Hendricks. The Cubs tied it up on homers by Schwarber and Soler, with the latter being probably the highlight of the series for the Cubs.
But Hendricks was pulled after 4 innings and the bullpen gave up 3 runs in the 6th and 7th. Jacob DeGrom settled down, and he and the Mets bullpen shut the Cubs out in the final 5 innings.
Game 4 almost felt like a afterthought, as it seemed very unlikely that the Cubs could take 4 in a row against the Mets’ great pitching. A 3-run home run by Lucas Duda, and a sol shot by Travis D’Arnaud against Jason Hammel in the first inning put an exclamation mark on the series for the Mets. Two more runs in the 2nd added salt to the fatal wounds. And a 4th homer run in four games by Daniel Murphy in the 8th was the Mets beating a dead horse (or in this case, Cubby Bear).
The Cubs magic in 2015 had run out in the NLCS, but for the Mets, the magic ran out in the World Series, losing 4 games to 1 to the Royals. heir bullpen, that had dominated the Cubs, lost 3 of the 4 games, including 2 in extra innings.
The New Hope
While the 2015 season ended in disappointment, it still is very high on the list of my favorite Cubs teams for two main reasons.
First,, getting to an NLS was not at all expected for this team. While I was still bought in to the rebuilding process of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, the first few years of their regime had been tough to watch. And despite Joe Maddon talking about going to the playoffs as soon as he was hired, I was still skeptical that this team was ready. A slow start to the 2015 season lowered expectations even more
But the way the team closed the season, and eliminated two of our division rivals – including the Cardinals – made it almost a dream come true, even with the fact that they did not even make it to the World Series. I often feel like there is more joy from the unexpected, which the Cubs’ success in 2015 certainly was.
The other big reason why 2015 was so enjoyable was that it felt like the Cubs were at the beginning of something. They had so many young players who contributed that it felt they they could truly become what Epstein envisioned…a perennial contender that would not have to go through another “rebuild”. There were no doubts in my mind that the Cubs would be back to the playoffs, and I could not wait to see what they would do in the off-season.
So many of the Cubs playoff teams felt a bit fluky, like so many things needed to go right for them to make it to the postseason. But 2015 felt very different. It was a harbinger of great things to come, and that sense of expectation may have made it the best time in my lifetime to be a Cubs fan.
Cubs in 7 
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