Alex Bregman is doing things no Cubs hitter has done in over two decades. The veteran third baseman blasted three home runs Monday night in a 17-3 demolition of the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field, helping Chicago set a franchise single-game record with nine home runs as a team. It was Bregman’s second three-homer game of the season, a feat that hasn’t been matched by a Cubs player since Aramis Ramirez in 2004.
Bregman signed a five-year, $175 million deal with Chicago over the winter, and his first months in a Cubs uniform were anything but smooth. He entered the All-Star break hitting just .241 with a modest .696 OPS, leaving plenty of fans and analysts wondering whether the big free-agent investment was going to pay off. Since the break, that narrative has flipped entirely — Bregman has turned into one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball, and Monday’s outburst was the loudest exclamation point yet on a remarkable turnaround.
A Franchise-Record Night at Wrigley
Bregman went 3-for-6 with four RBIs and three runs scored against Milwaukee, launching a 376-foot two-run shot in the second inning before adding a solo blast later in the game and capping the night with his third homer to set the Cubs’ single-game franchise record. The nine total home runs Chicago hit as a team broke the previous mark, which had been set in 2025 and matched earlier this year. The barrage also punctuated a historic month for the Cubs, who set a National League record for home runs in a calendar month with 62 in August. Bregman and NL MVP front-runner Pete Crow-Armstrong became the first teammates in Major League Baseball to combine for 25-plus home runs, 25-plus walks, 50-plus RBIs and 50-plus runs scored in a single calendar month since Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle did it for the Yankees in July 1961.
The three-homer game was also Bregman’s second of the month — he did it once before on August 12 in a win over the Nationals, going deep three times in that contest as well. That makes him just the fourth Cub in franchise history to record multiple three-homer games in a single season, joining Ramirez, Sammy Sosa and Dave Kingman. For fans tracking the National League power surge, the current live MLB odds boards have started to reflect just how dangerous Chicago’s lineup has become down the stretch.
From Slow Start to Second-Half Surge
The turnaround has been dramatic by any measure. Bregman now sits at 23 home runs on the season, with 14 of them coming since the All-Star break — the second-most in all of baseball over that stretch. His per-game numbers since the break tell the story of a hitter who has completely reshaped his season: a stretch that once looked like a disappointing first year in Chicago now reads as one of the best half-seasons of his career. Bregman leads MLB in plate appearances this season with 720, a testament to both his durability and his continued presence at the top of Chicago’s lineup even through the early-season struggles.
For a player who built his reputation as a postseason menace and one of the game’s most disciplined hitters during his years with the Houston Astros, the second-half surge in Chicago has quieted any doubts about whether his skills would translate outside of Houston. The Cubs’ front office bet big on Bregman as a difference-maker who could stabilize the infield and provide thump in the middle of the order, and after a shaky start, that vision is now playing out in full view at Wrigley Field.
What It Means for the Cubs Down the Stretch
Chicago’s timing could not be better. With the calendar flipping to September and the postseason picture coming into focus, a Cubs lineup that is clicking on all cylinders — anchored by Bregman’s resurgence and Crow-Armstrong’s MVP-caliber season — gives the club a legitimate power threat heading into the most important weeks of the schedule. The Brewers series victory pushed Chicago’s power numbers to historic heights for the month, and if Bregman keeps hitting the way he has since the break, the Cubs will enter the stretch run as one of the most feared offenses in the National League.
Bregman’s next few weeks will be worth watching closely. A player who signed one of the offseason’s richest free-agent contracts and spent the season’s first half fighting through doubts has flipped the script entirely, and Chicago’s playoff push may hinge on just how long this power surge can last.
