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History Shows Season Finales Have Not Favored The Chicago Cubs

Originally posted on Chicago Cubs on SI | By Scott Conrad | Last updated Sep 26, 2025 6:00 PM ET

The Chicago Cubs have been stumbling as of late since guaranteeing their return to the postseason. Coming at the worst time possible, the NL Wild Card leaders have dropped six of their last seven games.

To make matters worse, both teams that the Cubs lost to (the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Mets) are vying for that third and final Wild Card spot in the NL. Chicago could potentially see either one of those two teams again in the playoffs should division leaders fall during the postseason.

While the NL Central Division winners, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Philadelphia Phillies hope to finish the regular season strong than the other to earn the top seed in the NL, the Cubs are fighting to keep a hold of the top Wild Card spot. The fourth seed in the playoffs hosts the fifth seed for all home games in the best-of-three series.

No matter how the weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field turns out, the Cubs will be playing the San Diego Padres in the opening round of the playoffs. Should Chicago fail, like history has shown us before, it could be the Padres hosting the Cubs.

The Cardinals have had the Cubs number as of late in series finales

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The good news is that this series will be played at home. Since the 2016 regular season, Chicago has been swept twice by St. Louis in four-game series before. Both times, in 2019 and 2021, it was the last series played at Wrigley Field in that year.

In 2019, the Cubs swept the Pittsburgh Pirates at home, then dropped the next series against the Reds. Chicago hosted the St. Louis Cardinals for a four-game set after that, only to lose four more in a row.

That became part of a nine-game losing streak for the Cubs. To make matters worse, all four losses to the Cardinals were in one-run games, including the series opener going ten innings.

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Two seasons later, the Cubs not only lost three out of the four games at Busch Stadium in mid-July, but Chicago also suffered four more losses to St. Louis in the last series played at Wrigley Field that regular season.

As part of their eight-game losing streak in September 2021, the Cubs dropped all four games against the Cardinals at home, including the first two games in shortened seven inning games. Chicago gave up at least eight runs to their NL Central rival in the three of those four defeats.

Furthermore, the Cubs have dropped the final game of the season the past two years. Not only were both contests against NL Central foes, Chicago's offense failed to produce runs as their pitching staff only allowed three runs in both losses.

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This weekend, the Cubs can't risk getting swept, much less losing the series, against the Cardinals, as the Padres could overtake the top NL Wild Card spot and earn home-field advantage in the first round. Regardless, the MLB Playoffs start on Tuesday for the Cubs.

This article first appeared on Chicago Cubs on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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