Renewed Dansby Swanson makes Cubs history with 15 RBI across 3 games vs. Mets, including 11 in doubleheader
The Chicago Cubs sat two-time All-Star shortstop Dansby Swanson earlier this month, keeping him out of the starting lineup so that he could take a step back and reset offensively. At the time, he was batting a putrid .139 in his previous 11 games, during which he piled up more than twice as many strikeouts (13) as hits (five).
Granted, that benching was interrupted by Swanson scoring the game-winning run as the Cubs' automatic runner in the 10th inning of a June 6 win over the San Francisco Giants, but it was still a reflection of a season that seemed to be getting away from the 32-year-old at the plate.
Swanson doubled in his first game back as a starter. Eight days later, he really began returning to form with his first homer since mid-May. And during this week's series against the New York Mets, Swanson's resurgence has manifested completely.
He has tallied 15 RBI across the first three games of a four-game set at Citi Field. Those are the most RBI a Cubs player has recorded in a series of fewer than five games since the RBI became an official stat in 1920. In 1932, Baseball Hall of Famer Kiki Cuyler logged 15 RBI for the Cubs, but that was in a five-game series. This is only the 18th time in MLB history — and the third time in the past 45 years — that a player has logged at least 15 RBI in a series. Danny Espinosa did so for the Washington Nationals in 2016, and Cody Ross accomplished the feat with the then-Florida Marlins in 2008.
That's all according to MLB.com's Sarah Langs, who also noted that Swanson is the first Cub to log four-plus RBI in three straight games, a streak that's tied for the longest by any MLB player in the RBI era.
Swanson authored most of this head-turning stretch during a Wednesday doubleheader in Queens, in which he went 5-for-9 with a pair of homers and 11 RBI.
He helped fuel a pair of victories for the Cubs (43-37), the first a 10-3 clobbering and the next a slightly closer 10-5 blowout over the Mets (34-46), who have dropped five in a row and are in the cellar of the NL East. New York committed six infield errors in Game 2 on Wednesday. On Saturday, the Mets allowed another historic offensive spectacle against the Philadelphia Phillies, with Kyle Schwarber launching three dingers and Bryce Harper hitting for the cycle during a 15-3 romp.
In Game 1 of the doubleheader, Swanson blasted a grand slam and a three-run homer. In Game 2, he knocked RBI singles in the fourth and ninth innings, with the latter scoring two, plus a go-ahead RBI triple in the sixth.
FIFTEEN, YA'LL. https://t.co/L80qDERxWtpic.twitter.com/TvFnCYhbLC
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 25, 2026
As a result, Swanson is tied for the third-most RBI (11) in an MLB doubleheader, two shy of the 13 Mark Whiten posted in 1993 for the St. Louis Cardinals and Nate Colbert notched in 1972 for the San Diego Padres, according to Langs. Swanson’s 11 RBI are the most a Cub has ever registered in a doubleheader. Baseball Hall of Famer Ron Santo stacked 10 of them for Chicago amid a July 6, 1970, doubleheader versus the Montreal Expos.
On Tuesday — during a 9-6, series-opening win for Chicago — Swanson accumulated four RBI, too: one on a sac fly, two on a homer and one on a double. Sammy Sosa is the only other Cubs player with at least 15 RBI in a three-game span, per The Associated Press, though his 16 RBI from Aug. 10 to 12, 2002, weren't all recorded in the same series.
Keep in mind, in a 24-game span from May 19 to June 16, Swanson nabbed just one RBI. Again, he has 15 in his past three games against the Mets. That's a sign of how much he was struggling and a testament to how massive this turnaround has been. Suddenly, Swanson's batting average is back above .200, and he has 11 homers and 46 RBI through 76 games.
"That's why the game sometimes, like, drives you crazy," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said, per the AP. "Because if you probably look at Dansby's season right now, it's kind of a normal season for Dansby. Maybe the batting average is a little bit low, but probably all the other numbers are right around where he's been the last couple years. It's just been peaks and valleys for him.
"The good times, you've got to take advantage of them. And when you have days like that, and you're kind of the primary driver of offense, that's going to win your team games."
