Alex Bregman absolutely went off Wednesday night, dropping three homers and driving in seven runs, leading the Cubs to a series win against the Nationals. What a wild night of baseball, and frankly, it looks like Chicago is for real, pushing their way through the league.
Bregman’s Bomb Squad and Turnaround
Dude didn’t just go deep, he went deep three times! We’re talking three dingers, seven RBI, AND he still managed to snag a pair of walks in his other two trips to the plate. His first blast came in the fifth inning, pushing Chicago up 4-1. The second long ball was just the very next inning, a 383-foot rope off reliever Yovany Cruz that made it a 9-4 ballgame. Then, just for good measure, Bregman hammered his third homer of the game, his 16th of the season, in the eighth inning off Trevor Williams. That 91 mph four-seamer, up and away, got pulled 394 feet to left-center, pushing the Cubs to a commanding 12-5 lead.
This is the guy Chicago dropped five years and $175 million on this past offseason, and for a while, it was a rough ride. Bregman had a seriously uninspiring start to the season, but since mid-July, he’s been a completely different player. Before the All-Star break, his season OPS was a .696, even after a 3-for-5 game with a homer and four RBIs. Now? It’s sitting pretty at .758, thanks to him batting .327/.397/.644 with eight of his 16 homers coming in his last 25 games! That’s a serious surge. This dude’s now a well-above-average hitter for the year at third, and combined with his defense, he’s already stacked up 3.6 wins above replacement despite that slow start. No wonder the Cubs are looking like a World Series contender; they’ve totally turned things around.
Wild Card Woes and Extra-Inning Drama
While Chicago is soaring, the Nationals are sliding, falling to 59-63 on the season. They’re now five games back of the Diamondbacks and Phillies, who are deadlocked for the final wild-card spot. Sure, there’s still a ton of season left for Washington to turn things around, but they’ve slipped into that ugly tier of sub-.500 teams, lagging behind six clubs with winning records all fighting for those same three wild-card berths. That’s a tough spot to be in, and Bregman’s performance didn’t make it any easier.
Meanwhile, the Padres are out there trying to prove they belong in that wild-card hunt too, battling against the MLB-best Brewers. Robbie Ray, who the Padres snagged at the deadline, started for San Diego and gave them four innings, allowing two runs. The Padres got on the board first with a solo shot from shortstop Xander Bogaerts in the third, but then their bats went silent until the eighth. That’s when a crazy footrace between second baseman Jake Cronenworth and reliever Aaron Ashby scored a second run, tying the game up. The game stayed knotted and pushed into extras thanks to an incredible grab in center by Garrett Mitchell, who entered as a pinch-hitter. But in the end, it was the Brewers who took the lead in the top of the 11th, with catcher Gary Sánchez driving in his second run of the day on a double, after he’d already gone yard in the second.
The Cubs are going for the three-game sweep against the Nats on Thursday, and after Bregman’s performance, you gotta feel good about their chances. Can they keep this momentum rolling and truly lock in that contender status? We’ll be watching!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Fox Sports.
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