It took longer than expected Tuesday night, but the Chicago Cubs got their 50th win of the season. Kris Bryant drove in the go-ahead run and Javier Baez hit a grand slam in the 15th inning to give the Cubs a 7-2 win over the Reds.
The Cubs have reached 50 wins 76 games into the 2016 season. It’s the fastest the Cubs have made it to 50 wins since 1918, when they won 50 of their first 71 games. The 1918 team finished the season with the best record in the National League but lost to the Boston Red Sox 4-2 in the World Series.
Here are a few more times the number 50 has come up in Cubs history.
Maddon mixes it up
Fifty players saw action in games in 2015, Joe Maddon’s first season as manager. In their 141-year franchise history, the Cubs have used more players in a season just three times. The 29 pitchers used by the 2015 Cubs were the third-most in franchise history.
Slammin’ Sammy
Sammy Sosa led the majors with 50 home runs for the Cubs in 2000. That was one more than Barry Bonds hit in the season before the Giants slugger hit a single-season record 73 homers.
It was the only time in his 18-year career that Sosa led the majors in home runs.
Lee’s doubles spree
Derrek Lee, who was Sosa’s teammate on the Cubs in 2004, hit 50 doubles for Chicago in 2005, good for fourth-most in a season in Cubs history. The only players who hit more in a season were Billy Herman (57 in 1935 and 1936) and Mark Grace (51 in 1995).
Lee hit 253 doubles playing primarily for the Cubs from 2004-10, fourth in the NL behind Albert Pujols (288), Jimmy Rollins (261) and David Wright (258) in that span.
Clarkson surpasses 50 wins
Hall of Famer John Clarkson won 53 games for the Chicago White Stockings in 1885. That is a record for the franchise now known as the Cubs. Clarkson threw 68 complete games in 70 starts that season.
He is one of three pitchers who recorded 50 wins in a season. The others were Old Hoss Radbourn, who won 59 games for the 1884 Providence Grays, and Guy Hecker, who won 52 games for the 1884 Louisville Eclipse.