“How can you not be romantic about baseball?”

Sunday marked the end of Craig Counsell’s 1st season as manager of the Cubs and while there will be plenty of time for reflection in the coming months, one thing is for certain:

He is a big believer in the magic of Wrigley Field.

Counsell grew up in Wisconsin going to Brewers games when his dad worked for the organization. Then as a player, he had 2 separate stints with the Brewers (6 years total) before joining their front office and then taking over as manager for 9 seasons.

But he still understands the draw of Wrigley Field, as he stated when he was first hired as the Cubs manager last fall.

That appreciation has only evolved after spending 81 games at “The Friendly Confines” in 2024.

“I still feel that,” he said. “The weekends here are magical, to me. That’s what I checked 2025’s schedule for – the first thing. I think the weekends here are incredible because of the day games.

“The place still holds that. If anything, it’s grown for me. That feeling doesn’t go away – it’s grown. And that – as much as anything – kinda fires me up. It’s like an internal thing that gets you going.

“Because it’s a great place to come. That means that you naturally envision wanting to be great for all the people that love coming here as well.”

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The Cubs are the only team in Major League Baseball that plays almost all of their weekend games (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) in the day, at the famous 1:20 time slot.

“It’s how this place was meant to be showcased,” Counsell said. “It’s how the neighborhood was meant to be showcased.”

The Cubs missed the playoffs again this year, marking the 4th straight season without a postseason game at Wrigley Field. The Cubs last won a playoff game in 2017.

With an added appreciation for Wrigley Field and the fans, Counsell is driven to help guide the Cubs back to the postseason.

“[I’m] motivated as much as ever by this place,” Counsell said. “It’s become even more special, just to be a part of this place. And that’s really motivating to try to get this to a really good place.

“We won 83 games. That wasn’t enough to make the playoffs. That wasn’t enough to give our fans October baseball. That’s what we should be striving to do. That’s what we should do on a consistent basis, in my mind. And that means we got work to do.”

The Cubs drew 33,792 fans for the final game of the season Sunday against the Reds. That brings the total attendance at Wrigley Field in 2024 to a shade under 3 million (2,909,794).