Cubs mark 150 years as a National League franchise with a look back at franchise history

The Chicago Cubs are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the club’s time as a National League franchise this weekend, and MLB’s official team coverage is using the milestone as a prompt to revisit what the franchise has meant to the league over generations. In a new Cubs piece published by, the anniversary is framed not as a single year’s storyline, but as a collection of moments that helped define the organization’s place in National League history.

Rather than offering a full catalog of 150 items, the feature takes a shorter approach, presenting six “fun facts” meant to give casual readers a way into the Cubs’ past. The structure suggests a deliberate mix of themes, likely spanning different eras and aspects of Cubs baseball, from the franchise’s early days through later chapters that fans recognize as part of the team’s modern identity.

The release also underscores how the Cubs’ anniversary is being treated within MLB’s own media ecosystem. is not simply running a generic anniversary greeting, it is packaging the occasion as curated context, which reflects how milestone weekends often become part of the broader storytelling calendar of the season.

For Cubs fans, that matters because team history in baseball is not only background, it is part of how today’s roster is interpreted. A franchise’s long timeline can shape expectations in subtle ways, influencing how players are remembered, how ballpark culture is discussed, and how the organization’s relationship with the National League is described.

For the league, a franchise anniversary also offers a chance to reinforce continuity. The National League identity is a key part of the Cubs’ brand, and the fact that MLB is spotlighting the club specifically as a “National League franchise” points to the league-based lens the anniversary is using, rather than focusing only on city, ballpark, or fan traditions.

Looking ahead, the main thing to watch during the weekend is whether the “six fun facts” format becomes a springboard for more team history content, such as additional features or broader MLB storytelling tied to Cubs milestones. Baseball anniversaries can quickly turn into a larger media moment, and the way MLB frames the Cubs’ 150th could influence what kinds of legacy conversations show up throughout the rest of the season.