Chicago Cubs make surprising history in road win vs. New York Yankees

The Chicago Cubs’ 3-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night was the first win in Yankee Stadium for the organization ever in its 147 years of playing in the MLB.

Before the game, the Yankees were 12-0 all-time against the Cubs in New York — by far the longest streak in MLB history, according to OptaSTATS on Twitter. That includes two 4-0 series sweeps during the 1932 and 1938 World Series and though the two teams don’t match up often, was a streak that was never resolved ahead of Friday’s series in the Bronx.

In fact, Chicago and New York have only faced each other in seven regular season series since the turn of the century. The Yankees still lead the series (since 2000) 15-5, are 8-1 at home and 7-4 at Wrigley Field.

The two organizations have met 28 times throughout their storied histories. The Yankees hold an overall record of 23-5 against Chicago including the World Series matchups. During that stretch, the Yankees won nine-straight games against the Cubs between Sept. 28, 1938, and June 6, 2003 — nearly 65 years before Chicago defeated New York for the first time.

Still, the 2023 Cubs aren’t worried about history and have been one of the scrappiest teams in the major league’s down the stretch this season. Holding a 41-46 overall record this season, Chicago sits in third place in the NL Central, seven games back from the red-hot Cincinnati Reds.

They’re the only team with a positive run differential (+26) in the division. Even though their record doesn’t show that on the surface, the Cubs have been relatively decent at the plate this season batting .247 as a team but have struggled out of the bullpen all season.

The starting pitching of the Cubs is where their strengths lie, however. Justin Steele (9-2, 2.56 ERA) and Marcus Stroman (9-6, 2.96 ERA) are both All-Stars and Kyle Hendricks is back to being ‘The Professor’ after returning from injury a couple of months ago.

It was Jameson Taillon that earned the starting nod during the history-making win over the Yankees on Friday, though. He pitched a masterful performance, throwing eight innings of one-hit baseball that saw him strike out four New York batters on 102 total pitches. Adbert Alzolay closed the game in the ninth, allowing one hit and striking out one more to finish off the combined shutout.

The two teams are back at it Saturday afternoon inside Yankee Stadium at 1:05 p.m. ET. and will air live on ESPN+.