The Cubs have a ritual of sorts after wins this season, one during which the clubhouse floor is open.
From their stalls in the circular locker room, players — any of them — can shout out teammates for things done well. Some days, there are more of those things than others. Lately, there have been too many to count.
The shout-out list was long Thursday after an 8-7, 10-inning walk-off victory against the Phillies that sent the Cubs westward on a nine-game winning streak, the longest in the majors this season.
“Even if it takes five minutes after the game, I think that’s what brings this group close,” catcher Carson Kelly said.
Close? That’s what you want.
Hot? It’s getting ridiculous.
The pitchers — in particular the starters — are on fire, with the Cubs (16-9) posting the majors’ lowest ERA since the start of the winning streak on April 14.
The offense is in binge mode, piling up 66 runs (with a plus-39 differential) over that span. Double-digit hit totals — the Cubs had 18 on Thursday — have become the norm.
After slow starts, right fielder Seiya Suzuki and first baseman Michael Busch are getting back to wielding the lineup’s most explosive power. Suzuki, who homered to left in the eighth inning for a 7-6 lead, had three hits and has now gone deep in three straight games for the second time in his career. Busch, whose three-run shot off Christopher Sanchez in the third was the swing of the game until Dansby Swanson gapped one in the 10th to end it, has homered in back-to-back games.
Ian Happ also homered three times on the Cubs’ first 7-0 homestand since 2015 and leads the team with seven thus far. Hitting from the right side, Happ lit up a fourth-inning slider off Sanchez and deposited it onto Waveland Ave.
The nine-game overall streak — all of it against the Phillies and Mets, who were supposed to be good but instead have the worst records in the National League — is the Cubs’ first since the 2016 World Series winners pulled off an 11-gamer. A four-game sweep of the Phillies (8-17) was the first by a Cubs team since 1973.
“You can say they’re struggling, but hopefully we’re part of that,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s what I would like to say, that we’ve made it tough on them.”
With three games upcoming against the Dodgers followed by three against the Padres, the Cubs are about to step up in competition. Good news: At Dodger Stadium, they’ll avoid starting pitchers Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow. Luck like that never hurts.
“I think it’s always a good time to go there,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “It’s one of the great venues in our sport, you get great crowds and it’s always exciting to see how you stack up with another good team.”
The Cubs’ defense has been hot, too, and it was again in this game — with sparkling plays by Swanson, Busch and Hoerner and an impressive pounce on a bunt by long-legged starting pitcher Edward Cabrera — until things fell apart in the seventh. Suzuki couldn’t squeeze a ball in his glove on a reasonably difficult play in deep right, then third baseman Alex Bregman fielded a grounder and threw wildly to first, leading to two unearned runs.
And yet another injury bit the Cubs’ pitching staff, this time with lefty reliever Caleb Thielbar — one of the team’s most leaned-on players to this point — having to exit the game in the ninth with tightness in his left hamstring. He’ll be evaluated further on Friday.
But Riley Martin came into a 7-7 game and kept it there, and Javier Assad found what he needed to get the Cubs through the top of the 10th.
“It’s a complete group,” Happ said. “We’ve done it in different ways. Wind blowing out, wind blowing in, great defensive days, great pitching performances, and the offense has been exceptional.”
That’s a whole lot of good going on. The Cubs deserve a shout-out, no doubt.
