Ian Happ was a rookie when the Cubs beat the Nationals in the NLDS in 2017.
Now a veteran of nine North Side seasons, Happ’s big swing Thursday put the Cubs in position to win an NLDS for the first time since.
The left fielder’s two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning sent Wrigley Field into a frenzy and was the biggest blow in a 6-0 win that sent this NLDS between the Cubs and Brewers to a winner-take-all fifth game.
“That swing by Ian was just incredibly uplifting,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said after the game. “What a moment for him, for everybody. He made life easier for the rest of us, for sure, with that one.”
Life is only so easy, though. The Cubs are still facing elimination.
But now the Brewers are, too, after a swing in momentum between the division foes. After the first two games of the series went to the home team in Milwaukee, a scene change to the North Side allowed the same to happen in Games 3 and 4.
Game 5 — and an end to one of these rivals’ seasons — comes Saturday in Wisconsin.
“We get to pack our bags, man,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s all we wanted to do today was pack our bags.”
Happ, who carried a .095 postseason batting average into Thursday, hit the first of three Cubs home runs on the night. His second long ball of the series made the Cubs the first team ever to hit a first-inning homer in four consecutive games in the same postseason.
Stadium-shaking pandemonium ensued.
It wouldn’t be the only time, with designated hitter Kyle Tucker hitting just his second home run since late August in the seventh inning and first baseman Michael Busch continuing his torrid October with a solo shot in the eighth, his fourth blast of the postseason and third of the series.
Michael Busch now leads all of MLB with four home runs this postseason! pic.twitter.com/61YlsHYeh1
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 10, 2025
The trio of dingers perhaps stole some thunder from the arms on what was a banner night for Cubs pitching, with lefty Matthew Boyd and a quartet of relievers shutting out the Brewers.
Boyd rebounded from a hideous Game 1 of the series in which he didn’t make it out of the first inning, twirling 4⅔ scoreless innings Thursday and departing to a raucous ovation.
“This was kind of like the early version that we were accustomed to seeing early in the year,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said of Boyd. “He did an unbelievable job today and was able to set a tone early.
“It was a good time for him to be really good.”
Daniel Palencia, Drew Pomeranz, Brad Keller and Caleb Thielbar teamed for 4⅓ scoreless innings to finish off the shutout.
In addition to seeking the franchise’s first NLDS win since 2017, the Cubs are looking to become the first team since the 2017 Yankees to win a best-of-five series after losing the first two games.
If they can pull it off, they’d be just the third team ever to win an NLDS after going down 2-0, joining the 1981 Dodgers and 2012 Giants, who both went on to win the World Series.
But if this is going to turn into a championship run — like the one Thursday’s “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” maestros, Dexter Fowler and Jason Heyward, pulled off the year before Happ cracked the majors — the Cubs need to win Game 5 on Saturday.
The winner of that series-determining bout gets an NLCS date with the reigning-champion Dodgers, who won Game 4 of their series against the Phillies on a walk-off error in extra innings Thursday.
“It’s an even slate, Game 5,” Hoerner said. “Both teams have had great moments in this series. I love where our group’s at. We played well in all phases of the game [Thursday]. It’s something we take pride in. We’re definitely looking to do that again in Game 5.”
“We had to earn two hard-fought wins,” Counsell said. “We did that. Now we get the opportunity and the fun of getting to go close out a series.”
