In 1885, the American Association champion St. Louis Brown Stockings met the National League champion Chicago White Stockings in a best-of-seven series that served as a precursor to the World Series. After a tie due to darkness in Game 1, Game 2 ended in controversy: With Chicago ahead in the sixth, St. Louis manager Charles Comiskey called his team off the field in protest of an umpire's ruling, forfeiting the game to the White Stockings. When the series eventually ended in a 3-3 tie, Comiskey claimed the championship for St. Louis, arguing that the earlier forfeit didn't count — and just like that, one of baseball's fiercest rivalries was born.
Nearly 150 years later, just about the only thing that has changed between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals is the names on the front of the uniforms. This is a feud passed down through generations, steeped in regional pride and years upon years of bad blood. You can make the argument that no two teams in all of American sport are better at hating each other.
But as they renew acquaintances for the first time in 2025 at Wrigley Field this week, just what are the most heated moments in the history of this rivalry? We're glad you asked.
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7. Hack Wilson sets off a riot at Wrigley Field (1928)
Lest you think that headline is hyperbole, rest assured: We mean it as literally as possible. Hack Wilson blossomed into one of the best players in the sport after the Cubs acquired him off waivers following the 1925 season, slashing .322/.412/.590 over six years on the North Side. But he also had one heck of a temper, as a particularly unlucky fan found out in June of 1928.
In the ninth inning of a doubleheader against the Cardinals, Wilson finally decided he'd had enough of a fan who'd been heckling him all day. So he took matters into his own hands, jumping into the stands and immediately throwing punches. According to reports at the time, some 5,000 fans eventually swarmed Wrigley Field before police were able to break things up.
6. Ted Lilly runs over Yadier Molina (2008)
Of course, a division crown doesn't have to be on the line for these teams to go at each other. The Cubs had the Central already well in hand when they showed up in St. Louis for a mid-September set against the Cardinals in 2008. But Chicago manager Lou Piniella wasn't one for resting on his laurels, urging his team to "get your shirts rolled up and go out and kick somebody's ass".
Ted Lilly took his skipper literally, trying to run over Yadier Molina while getting tagged out at home plate during an eventual 4-3 Chicago win. The Cardinals didn't take too kindly to the move, with manager Tony La Russa grumbling after the game that “I’ll let the other team talk about him."
5. The Cubs get some long-awaited revenge (2003)
Chicago hadn't won the NL Central (or even won a playoff game) since 1989. The Cardinals, by contrast, had won the division in two of the last three years, and were coming off an appearance in the 2002 NLCS.
But in 2003, the script began to flip, largely thanks to the Cubs' dynamic duo of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. Led by their twin aces, Chicago trailed St. Louis in the standings by just 2.5 games entering a massive five-game set at Wrigley. And with so much on the line, it's no surprise that things almost immediately got heated.
In the opener, Wood hit Cardinals starter Matt Morris with a pitch on a bunt attempt. A day later, St. Louis' Dan Haren beaned Chicago's Matt Clement, who responded by hitting Haren with a pitch of his own. Even the managers started chirping: Tony La Russa accused Chicago of intentionally throwing at Cardinals batters, to which Dusty Baker simply replied, "if you're going to bark, you have to be ready to bite."
In the end, it was the Cubs' bats that did most of the talking. Chicago won four of the five games, punctuated by a Sammy Sosa walk-off homer that propelled the Lovable Losers to a long-awaited NL Central title.
4. The first postseason meeting (2015)
Despite more than a century of hostility, the Cubs and Cardinals had never met in the postseason. Until 2015, that is, when the teams collided in an instantly iconic NLDS. Tempers began to flare weeks before Game 1, when then-Chicago manager Joe Maddon accused St. Louis of being “vigilantes” after Matt Belisle hit Anthony Rizzo with a pitch (Belisle was maybe or maybe not retaliating for teammate Matt Holliday getting beaned in the head earlier in the game). Rizzo nearly charged the mound, but ultimately the Cubs decided they'd get their revenge in October.
On paper, the roles were familiar: St. Louis had won two of the last four NL pennants, while Chicago hadn't seen playoff baseball in seven years. But after the teams split the first two games at Busch Stadium, the Cubs' young bats made clear that this was their time. Chicago launched a Major League record six dingers in Game 3, and the next night Kyle Schwarber nearly sent a baseball into low orbit.
The Cubs took the series in four games, a crucial step on their road to a World Series title the next season.
3. The Lou Brock trade (1964)
On June 16, 1964, Cubs fans everywhere were celebrating an all-time heist. Chicago had just acquired starter Ernie Broglio from St. Louis, who had just posted a 2.99 ERA the year prior and was exactly the pitching depth the Cubs needed as they geared up for a run at the NL pennant. And all it cost them was a little-known 24-year-old outfielder by the name of Lou Brock.
There was no way to know at the time that this deal was about to become one of the most infamous in baseball history; after all, Brock slashed just .258/.307/.392 over his first three seasons in Chicago. But the Cardinals acquired him just in time to watch him blossom into a Hall of Famer: He hit .348 with 33 steals down the stretch in 1964, the first of 10 seasons in which he'd earn MVP votes. St. Louis went on to win it all in 1964, while Ernie Banks and the Cubs spent the rest of the decade just one more piece away from capturing that elusive World Series title.
1. An all-out brawl (1974)
Of course, every good rivalry needs a benches-clearing brawl, and the Cubs and Cardinals just happened to provide us with one of the wildest of all time.
St. Louis closer Al Hrabosky wasn't known as the Mad Hungarian for nothing, from his outrageous mustache to his even more outrageous pre-pitch routine: After getting the ball back from the catcher, he would walk behind the mound, turn his back to the batter and slam the ball into his glove before hiking back up to the rubber. In September of 1974, though, Cubs infielder Bill Madlock decided he wasn't going to play along, stepping out every time Hrabosky would finally come set for his windup.
Back and forth the two went, Hrabosky spending 30 seconds getting ready only for Madlock to step out. Home-plate umpire Shag Crawford eventually felt compelled to intervene, ordering Hrabosky to start pitching regardless of whether Madlock was ready. But that just made things worse: Chicago manager Jim Marshall came out to argue, and after Hrabosky delivered strike one with both Marshall and Madlock nearby, it was on.