Cubs Minor League News: Rookie League plays winds down

Jerry Lai - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 3 hours ago

For the final time in 2025, Cubs Rookie League Monday took center stage, and both DSL teams will see their season come to an end on Tuesday. In what was another challenging season across the board for most of the Cubs Rookie League squads, there was significant growth as the season went on, which is all you can ask for from your younger players.

Monday summed up the season as a whole for the Cubs Rookie League teams as they finished the day with a 1-1 record. That record came from a high-octane offensive output on one side and then an overall ugly performance on the other end, which sums up what the organization has gone through this season.

DSL CUBS RED 11 - DSL ATHLETICS 7

In what was a high-octane offensive showing across the board, it was the Cubs finding a way to get it done as they took care of the Athletics 11-7. This was mainly due to an offense that started fast with four early runs, before pushing across six runs in the final three frames to pick up the win.

When it comes to pitching, in particular, the starting pitching, Luis Ghisays was the ace of the DSL Red staff as he finished the season with a 4.09 ERA. In his final start of the season, Ghisays was tagged with four runs in five innings (3ER) as he struck out four. Trailing 1-0 after an Edgar Montero double in the first, it was Saul Ramirez going deep as the Cubs tied things up 1-1 in the second.

Then came the third inning when the Cubs pushed across four runs to open up a 5-1 lead, and they never looked back. A pair of wild pitches led to two of those runs, with an RBI single from Luis Leon pushing across another. Jeury Ramirez added the third of four runs in that inning with a sacrifice fly as the Cubs were off and running early.

Just as quickly as the Cubs grabbed the lead, they nearly let things get away as the Athletics responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to pull within 5-4. Two runs came off a pair of RBI singles from Azaeel Pacheco and Samuel Gonzaelz, while an error led to the final run to make this a one-run game.

Gonzalez was just getting started as he added a bases-loaded walk in the sixth to tie things up, only to have the Cubs' offense kick it into gear late as they scored six times over the final three frames to pick up the win. Saul Ramirez got the party started with a two-run double in the seventh to put the Cubs back on top 7-5.

That was followed by another Leon single in the eighth to push the lead to 9-5, as that would go down as the game-winning hit. Not about to give up quite yet, Samuel Gonzalez continued to carry the weight for his team, adding another RBI hit in the bottom of the eighth to pull the Athletics back within 9-7. That was as close as they would get as the Cubs added two more runs in the ninth to secure the 11-7 win.

Leon and Ramirez provided plenty of offense for the Cubs as they led the Cubs with three hits and combined for six RBIs. Luis Abreu added two more hits for DSL Red in what was another great offensive day.

DSL PIRATES 11 - DSL CUBS BLUE 2

Not long ago, the DSL Blue squad found themselves in first place and were in a position to make the playoffs for the first time in several years. Then came the final three weeks of the season, where the Cubs limped to the finish line with a 4-11 mark, anchored by an 11-2 loss to the Pirates on Monday.

This was one of those games where one bad inning did the Cubs in as the Pirates scored nine times in the third to seize control before capping things off 11-2. Leading 1-0 entering the third after scoring a first-inning run, it was the long ball that jump-started the Pirates' offense as Antonio Pimentel and Javier Acevedo connected for homers to break things open 7-0.

Pimentel provided the big blast as his Grand Slam went down as the game-winning hit in what was the biggest difference in the win. Following those homers came an Abdiel Feliz single and a Johan De Los Santos double that brought home three more runs as the Pirates opened up a 10-0 lead.

Both of the Cubs runs came in the bottom of the second as they did their best to battle back. Both runs came on one swing as the Luis Santos homer made this a 10-2 game, but that was it for the Red offense as the Pirates closed out the scoring in the sixth on a Yoander Santana single.