These days, when Seiya Suzuki steps to the plate for his first at-bat of a game at Wrigley Field, there’s a new song playing:
Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”
The Cubs’ right fielder took a listen at the suggestion of his trainer. He liked what he heard. He liked how it made him feel.
“It’s very calming,” Suzuki said through an interpreter Wednesday night. “Your first at-bat, when you’re walking up to hit, you get excited and you get your nerves going. It kind of settles everything down.”
It sure worked Wednesday, with Sinatra settling Suzuki in enough that he smacked his 17th homer of the season.
But are Suzuki’s days blasting balls into the bleachers numbered?
Like several of his Cubs teammates, Suzuki faces potential free agency on the other side of the 2026 season.
“And now, the end is near,” Ol’ Blue Eyes croons in the slugger’s new walk-up tune, “and so I face the final curtain.”
After five years on the North Side, it’s difficult to imagine this Cubs lineup without the 31-year-old Suzuki, especially as his latest hot streak powers a team seeking a deep October run.
“We know,” said center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, asked what sort of offensive presence Suzuki is for the Cubs. “It’s been the last five years. It’s fun watching him hit a ball 110 miles an hour.
“When he’s producing and putting the ball in play hard, good things are usually happening for us. … When Seiya’s going, it’s really fun to watch. Usually, he can be a one-man wrecking crew.”
Right now, Suzuki is showing his ability to carry a lineup, with a 1.192 OPS and four homers during an ongoing 11-game on-base streak.
That sort of thing would seem like a hard piece of the puzzle to do without.
Jed Hoyer’s front office has the trade deadline to worry about before thinking about the offseason. This Cubs team is trying to win the World Series with Suzuki this year and isn’t moving onto future championship chases just yet.
But it’s a decision that Hoyer & Co. will have to face at some point: After handing out big-money contract extensions to Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner, as well as the $175 million free-agent deal to land Alex Bregman, last offseason, will there be enough room in the budget to bring Suzuki back?
Suzuki has been nothing short of terrific in his five seasons since arriving from Japan, with a 129 OPS-plus overall, making him 29 percent more productive than the average major league hitter. He’s been good enough this season to be approaching a career best in that category, at 132 after Wednesday’s homer.
His defense — at one point a source of consternation, given that infamous dropped fly ball at the end of the 2023 season — has noticeably and dramatically improved. While he’s maybe not a Gold Glover like many of his teammates, he’s closer to matching the defensive excellence found all over the field.
That combination figures to earn him a raise from the $19 million he’s making in the final season of his current contract.
But will the Cubs be willing to squeeze in another hefty salary?
Bregman is due $35 million in 2027. Dansby Swanson will make $28 million. Hoerner will be at nearly $24 million. Crow-Armstrong’s salary will jump from the sub-$1 million he’s making this year to north of $10 million.
And Suzuki is not the only free-agent-to-be on the current Cubs roster, with Shota Imanaga, Ian Happ and Jameson Taillon all slated to hit the market. There’s a mutual option on Matthew Boyd’s contract, potentially sending him to free agency, as well.
The Cubs need pitching now as the trade deadline approaches. Boy, will they need pitching if 60 percent of the rotation leaves for free agency.
Could it all end with Suzuki wearing another uniform next season?
Should things play out that way, it would figure to be a sizable problem for the Cubs, who have spent five years witnessing the sort of impact he can make with his bat.
If these next few months do prove to be the end of Suzuki’s Cubs tenure, at least he, like the Chairman of the Board, can say:
“I did it my way.”
