The Chicago Cubs will fight for their postseason lives on October 8, when they take on the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of their NLDS series.
The Cubs need to win three straight games against the No. 1 seed Brewers if they want to advance to the NLCS, as they were dominated by Milwaukee 16-6 in the first two games of this series, both played at the Brewers’ American Family Field.
The good news for Chicago is that they are now at home for Games 3 and 4. One would imagine that playing at legendary Wrigley Field would be a distinct advantage for this Chicago team, especially considering how they accumulated a 50-31 record in 2025 regular season home games before beating the San Diego Padres in a best-of-three Wild Card series of the NL at Wrigley.
However, those who have been to Wrigley Field understand how unpredictable this field can be.
Not only do they have the iconic ivy covering the outfield walls, which brings its own level of uncertainty and potential injury, but Wrigley Field’s wind regimes are even more perilous (as far as performance impact goes).
Every Cubs player (hitters and pitchers) has a story about the wind blowing away what was sure to be a home run, turning it into a harmless, easy-to-pull flyball. In fact, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers published an article on October 8 about the impact of Wrigley Field’s wind on this NLDS series and free agency, titled “MLB Playoffs: Why Wrigley Field is a hitter’s worst nightmare.”
And at one point in the article, Cubs star shortstop Dansby Swanson minced no words about the attitude that can come from playing at Wrigley.
“You can’t let it consume you, but that’s also the reality. You’d be stupid as a player to not take that into account when you’re going to play,” Swanson said of the wind direction at Wrigley Field.
He then added: “I can’t remember the last time I hit a double to right center. [at Wrigley]. This certainly caused its share of frustration. »
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Over the past two years, the wind has not been a friend to hitters at Wrigley. “It’s kind of confusing.”
On the elements, before match 3 (wind expected again): https://t.co/0SxSaFk6qC– Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) October 8, 2025
In the end, Swanson apparently resigned himself to the fact that he surely lost home runs to the wind at Wrigley Field. But he also understands that it impacts both teams, which he explains by saying: “[Juan] Soto and [Giancarlo] Stanton hit a few balls pretty hard last season that stayed in the park. You could see it on their faces. I laugh and I’m like, ‘Not here, buddy.'”
Swanson and the Cubs community are hoping the tide goes in their favor in Game 3 on Wednesday.
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