Presto! In one year, the Cubs went from a thrilling night to an unrecognizable sight

Cubs catcher P.J. Higgins makes the final out of the first game of Monday’s doubleheader, which was swept by the Brewers. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)

For the Cubs, nothing about the 2021 season was easy. After a while — the trade deadline looming — every day became more awkward than the last. What would happen to the team’s core? Was it really going to be goodbye? It was all just too much.

But May 31 at Wrigley Field was magical. It was afternoon baseball, the weather was right and the red-hot Padres — the talk of the league at the time — were in town. The game itself would deliver so much on top of all that.