South Bend Cubs

• Location: South Bend, IN
• League: Midwest League 2015-2019; High-A Central 2021; Midwest League 2022-
• Affiliation: Chicago Cubs 2015-Present
• Ballpark: Four Winds Field

Team History

The South Bend Cubs, of the High-A Midwest League and briefly in High-A Central, were among the closest farm teams to their parent club even before MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization. The Chicago Cubs farmhands play their home games at Four Winds Field in South Bend, IN.

One of today's most successful farm clubs has a remarkable turn-around story, after spending years the ropes. On Veterans Day of 2011, Andrew Berlin of Chicago-based Berlin Packaging bought the South Bend Silver Hawks. The selling owners included former Illinois Governor Joe Kernan, who himself had kept the club in town in 2005 by lining up 50 investors to join him in buying it. Despite a league crown that very year, the franchise was already in financial trouble and had been the subject of moving rumors for several years. The sale to Berlin was reportedly for a loss and largely because he was the only suitor willing to promise to keep the troubled club in the Bend.

Berlin's purchase came in the middle of a two-year affiliation cycle, at the end of which the big Cubs left their eight-year stretch with the Peoria Chiefs for the much-closer Kane County Cougars - who play in a suburb just west of Chicago. By the time the next chance to change rolled around, after the 2014 season, Berlin had made many changes in both the ball club and the ballpark. Despite the fact that Four Winds is twice as far from Wrigley Field as the Cougars' home park in Geneva, IL, Berlin signed the Cubs away from Kane County. This would prove to be a turning point for both farm franchises: The SB-Cubs immediately became and remain an attendance juggernaut, while the Cougars - who had drawn similarly well even before their stint with the Cubs - ended up with the far-away Arizona Diamondbacks and ultimately were among the 12 full-season clubs MLB jettisoned in the 2021 reorganization. Berlin joined the big Cubs ownership group in 2015, effectively solidifying the relationship for as long as he is part of both ownerships.

The franchise Berlin bought had been founded in 1988 as a farm club of Chicago's other big-league club, originally playing as the South Bend White Sox. As such, and also because of the novelty factor, it was initially very successful. In 1994, the team localized its nickname to "Silver Hawks" - for the locally built Studebaker model. The Hawks' troubles would begin with losing their nearby parent after the 1997 season - through no fault of their own, as the ChiSox had simply decided to consolidate their full-season farm teams in the Southeast.

The reorganization raised the South Bend Cubs, and most of the MwL, one level.

They play Copa de la Diversión Hispanic engagement campaign games as 'Cabritos Maldichos de South Bend (South Bend Cursed Goats, a reference to the Chicago Cubs' Curse of the Billy Goat.[1])

Year-by-Year Record

Year	Record	Finish	Manager	Playoffs	Hitting coach	Pitching coach	Coach
2015	65-72	12th	Jimmy Gonzalez		Jesus Feliciano	Brian Lawrence	Osmin Melendez
2016	84-55	2nd (t)	Jimmy Gonzalez		Guillermo Martinez	David Rosario	Ricardo Medina
2017	75-64	3rd	Jimmy Gonzalez		Jeremy Farrell	Brian Lawrence	Jonathan Mota
2018	64-74	11th (t)	Jimmy Gonzalez		Ricardo Medina	Brian Lawrence	Paul McAnulty
2019	76-61	7th	Buddy Bailey	League Champs	Paul McAnulty	Jamie Vermilyea	Pedro Gonzalez
2020	Season cancelled
2021	52-67	11th	Michael Ryan		Paul McAnulty	Tony Cougoule	George Thanopoulos, Eric Patterson
2022	73-58	4th (t)	Lance Rymel	League Champs	Dan Puente	Tony Cougoule	D'Angelo Jimenez
2023	57-73	10th	Lance Rymel		Dan Puente	Clayton Mortensen	D'Angelo Jimenez
2024			Nick Lovullo		Nate Spears	Bruce Billings	Andrew Reuter, Marco Romero

Related Sites

• the South Bend Cubs on milb.com