The Chicago Cubs’ 2025 season already has felt like a roller-coaster ride.

Next on board the Rockin’ WrigleyCoaster? Nicky Lopez.

The former White Sox middle infielder, who spent spring training with the Cubs before being released on March 21, signed a major league contract with the team Wednesday.

[MORE: Cubs make a flurry of roster moves before Wednesday’s game]

“It’s definitely been a wild path, definitely a path that you can’t really plan out,” Lopez told reporters about his journey to rejoin the Cubs. “You just kind of have to ride the roller-coaster, but that’s what this game is.”

Lopez replaces recently DFA’d Gage Workman, a 25-year-old Rule 5 pick who was one of the players who made the Cubs’ MLB Tokyo Series roster over Lopez.

“Gage is as good as a human as it gets,” Lopez told reporters before Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field. “It’s a tough business, this game of baseball. Obviously, I’ve been in clubhouses where you see people going out, and in spring training, I was that guy going out. I was that guy getting told the news. But he has a really bright future ahead of him.”

Lopez signed with the Los Angeles Angels on March 25 and was 0-for-6 with one strikeout in five games before being designated for assignment on April 18. The Naperville native said he has been following the Cubs, and he even was watching Tuesday’s wild win over the Dodgers when he received the call.

“I’ve watched a lot of Cubs games during the year so far, just keeping up with all the boys,” Lopez said. “But I’ll probably just get my work in at third and bounce around and try to make [Cubs manager Craig Counsell’s] life easier and go from there.”

Lopez, who starred at Naperville Central High School before playing collegiately at Creighton, said this opportunity meant so much to him and his family. 

“It’s been a dream to be in this clubhouse,” Lopez said. “To fulfill that dream is special. It was one thing telling them I was going to spring training with the Cubs. This one is a little bit different. Just because it’s kind of real now, I’ll be putting on a big-league uniform, I’ll be sitting in the third base dugout.”

[MORE: MLB stats: Cubs off to historic start in 2025]

Lopez mentioned his grandfather, Larry, is a huge Cubs fan.

“I’ll have to get him out here for a game and have him see all this,” Lopez said. “He’s as big of a Cubs fan as it gets.”

Now Lopez hopes he can find a home, not just at third base, but at The Friendly Confines in 2025 and possibly beyond.

“To be able to put this uniform on every single day is going to be something very special,” Lopez said, “and something that I hopefully I get to do for a while, and maybe years to come. Who knows?”