How will Bregman fare for Cubs at windy Wrigley Field?

Posted January 27, 2026 3:44 pm

By Sahadev Sharma

Regardless of the season, the weather seems to be a topic in Chicago. Most get used to the fact that it is best to just expect the unexpected. That is especially the case with those who have played for the Cubs. During the spring and summer months, one of the first things Cubs players do when heading to Wrigley Field is check what direction the flags are blowing as they try to judge what type of day it may be.

It’s become such a topic of discussion in recent years, particularly the wind blowing in, that team president Jed Hoyer felt compelled to shoot down the idea, that Wrigley is a poor place to hit, in October’s year-end news conference.

“I don’t really understand the focus on the ballpark,” Hoyer said. “I’ve been here for 14 years. It’s been a mix of seasons, honestly. In 2023, it was one of the best hitting ballparks in baseball. The last two years, it happened to have blown in. I don’t think anything has changed dramatically that will lead us now to having this happen over and over. So I think we’re dealing with randomness.”

Perhaps Hoyer was concerned that this narrative would take hold and the Cubs would suddenly struggle to lure top-tier free agents. That obviously wasn’t the case. The Cubs were able to bring Alex Bregman on board with a five-year, $175 million deal. But during the negotiation process, Wrigley Field and the weather did come up.

“It was a part of our Zoom conversation,” general manager Carter Hawkins said. “Just saying, ‘Hey, look, there’s been this narrative that Wrigley’s a tough place to hit.’ Obviously, it has been the last couple of years because of the wind. But when the wind’s blowing out, it’s not that tough a place to hit.”

Looking at FanGraphs Park Factors data, Wrigley Field was the worst place for offense in 2024. It was 18th last summer, tied with Atlanta and Houston. In 2023, it was ninth. In general, the data over the past decade shows a very scattered pattern in how offenses fare at Wrigley Field each year. Like the weather in Chicago, it seems impossible to predict and, like Hoyer said, very random.

If Bregman had any concerns, they seemed to be quickly quelled.

“One of the first things that we talked about on the Zoom was (overlaying) my batted-ball spray (chart) to Chicago,” Bregman said. “It’s definitely a good place to hit. Pulling the ball in the air here to left-center is awesome.”

Bregman pulled the ball 47.4% of the time last season, which would have ranked 21st in baseball if he had enough plate appearances to be eligible. That should go well with a team that pulled the ball more than any other last season and had one of the more potent lineups in baseball.

There is a myth that pulling the ball is bad at Wrigley. That’s true if it’s an extreme pull hitter who only goes directly down the line. Both foul poles are the deepest in baseball. Those types of hitters are actually rare. Most pull hitters use the gaps, and at Wrigley, the left-center and right-center gaps are the shallowest in baseball.

Bregman would have benefited greatly from hitting at Wrigley and rifling balls into the left-center bleachers. He may have lost a few that he poked around Pesky’s Pole in Boston, but ultimately, he’s going to really benefit from the shallow left-center gap.

“If you have an approach that’s able to hit the ball right-center, left-center field — and you can break the wind with the scoreboard too,” Hawkins said. “(We) just showed how with Alex’s middle-field approach, he’s not a guy that’s hitting home runs down the line at the same clip as some other guys may be and how that can play into his ability to be the elite type of player that he wants to be.”

The wind, of course, impacts all of this a bit more than Wrigley Field itself. The wind data, which goes back to 2010 according to FanGraphs, paints an interesting picture. Last season, Wrigley Field had more plate appearances (2,498) with the wind blowing than in any of the past 16 seasons. The 2024 season actually ranked 10th with 1,802 plate appearances, which appears to be about average.

Crosswinds are also incredibly impactful at Wrigley Field. But that impacts lefties (blowing right to left) much more often than it does righties (left to right) over the course of the past 16 seasons. Which follows logical sense because that means the wind is coming off Lake Michigan. The larger video board in left field is also a factor, as Hawkins pointed out.

In general, the Cubs have seemed to embrace the madness of Wrigley Field. Craig Counsell has insisted they do so. Instead of worrying about what direction the wind will blow, Counsell has told the team they need to accept that on each day, they may have to play a different type of game.

“He’s the first manager we’ve had here that really embraced talking about it,” Hoyer said. “Talking about the days the wind blows in, you do have to have a different mentality. Low ball flight, play good defense, throw strikes. He really understands it.”

The wind’s impact on offense is inevitably going to be a topic of concern once again in 2026. But wondering whether Bregman pulls the ball too much to be a success at Wrigley Field need not be a worry. This is a player who, even if the wind blows in more than normal, should still thrive. That’s what Bregman and the Cubs both believe. And it’s what they’ll need to fully reach their ceiling.