The 2015 Chicago Cubs season was the 144th season for the franchise, the 140th in the National League and the 100th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs were managed by Joe Maddon in his first year as Cubs manager and played their home games at Wrigley Field as members of the National League Central Division.
They began the season on April 5, 2015, in a first-ever night-game home-opener against the St. Louis Cardinals at partially renovated Wrigley Field, and finished the regular season on October 4, 2015, on the road against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Cubs finished the season with the third-best record in baseball (97–65) which was also the third-best in their division, finishing one game behind the Pittsburgh Pirates (98–64) and three games behind the division winner, the rival St. Louis Cardinals (100–62). As a result, they qualified for the second wild card spot for the postseason, their first postseason appearance since 2008, and defeated the Pirates in the National League Wild Card Game to advance to the National League Division Series against the Cardinals. The Cubs defeated St. Louis three games to one to advance to the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets, the Cubs' first appearance in the NLCS since 2003. However, they were swept in four games.
In 2015, Forbes valued the Cubs at $1.8 billion, ranking them 17th out of all sports franchises in the world, and the fifth highest in all MLB. The Cubs attendance for the regular season was 2,959,812, up over 300,000 from the previous year.
Previous season
The Cubs finished the 2014 season 73–89 to finish in last place in the Central Division. Following the season, the Cubs fired manager Rick Renteria and hired former Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon.
Offseason
Stadium changes
On Monday, September 29, one day after the conclusion of the 2014 season, a $575 million four-year renovation project to Wrigley Field began. The bleachers in left and right field were expanded, the stadium was extended further onto both Waveland and Sheffield Avenues, and seven new outfield signs were installed along with a 5,700-square-foot jumbotron scoreboard in the left field bleachers and a 2,400 square foot video scoreboard in the right field bleachers. The parking lots along Clark Street were excavated for underground players' locker rooms and lounges.
Coaching changes
The Cubs decided not to retain Mike Brumley as the assistant hitting coach. Bill Mueller, the hitting coach, resigned over the decision. On October 9. 2014 John Mallee, formerly the Astros hitting coach, was hired as his replacement. Eric Hinske was the assistant hitting coach and Doug Dascenzo was signed to replace him as first base/outfield coach. In late October 2014, quality assurance coach Jose Castro resigned to work with Atlanta Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer.
On October 31, the Cubs fired first year manager Rick Renteria. On Monday, November 3, The Cubs announced the signing of Joe Maddon to a five-year contract as manager of the team. Former Cub Henry Blanco was hired to be the quality assurance coach on November 22. At the start of the 2015 season, Brandon Hyde went from 2014 season bench coach to first base and Doug Dascenzo was the outfield coach. Dave Martinez was bench coach. On February 24, 2015, Manny Ramirez was hired as a batting consultant, splitting time between Chicago and AAA Iowa. Also, Kevin Youkilis was given a part-time job as a scouting and player development consultant.
Broadcast changes
In June 2014, the Cubs announced an end to their radio play-by-play history on WGN (720-AM) radio which dated back to 1924. In a new partnership with CBS Radio, the radio broadcast of their games moved to WBBM (780-AM) for the 2015 season.
The Cubs finalized a new television broadcast agreement with long-time over-the-air carrier WGN-TV (Channel 9), in which the station would carry a reduced slate of 45 games per season. The team also signed a new broadcast agreement with ABC-owned station WLS-TV (Channel 7), in which they will show 25 games annually; this deal replaced WCIU-TV as the Cubs' secondary over-the-air television outlet. Both agreements with WLS and WGN run through the end of the 2019 season. Play-by-play announcer Len Kasper and color commentator Jim Deshaies became employees of the Cubs rather than WGN-TV.
As a result of a new programming strategy implemented by Tribune Media for WGN America, the cable superstation ceased televising Cubs games (as well as that of the Chicago White Sox and Bulls) to a national audience as of January 2015. This marked the end of a 36-season run of Cubs games televised on the national version of WGN-TV.