» May 13, 1996: Cubs' P Steve Trachsel allows a lead off double to Brian Hunter, but shuts down the Astros without a hit after that to win, 6–0. Sammy Sosa homers for his 3rd consecutive game.

» September 7, 1996: In the Phils 4–2 win over the Cubs, Phils 3B Scott Rolen suffers a broken wrist when he is hit by a Steve Trachsel pitch in his 2nd at bat. Rolen has exactly 130 at bats, which means he is still technically a rookie next year.

» April 29, 1997: The jokes have stopped. The Cubs win their 4th in five games beating the Expos, 14–8. Brooks Kieschnick, recalled on April 11, tallies six RBIs on two homers and a single to lead the Cubs back from a 5–0 deficit. Steve Trachsel picks up his first win despite giving up seven runs in five innings.

» July 19, 1997: The Cubs sweep two from the visiting Rockies, 7–0 and 6–5, to hand Colorado its 15th loss in 16 games. Steve Trachsel tosses seven shut out innings in the opener for the win, and the Cubs score the winning run in the nitecap on Mark Grace's sac fly. The Rocks have 13 hits in the nitecap, but strand 14 runners. Larry Walker is 0-for-9 for the afternoon, dropping his average 10 points to .392.

» July 27, 1998: Sammy Sosa hits his 248th career homer—and his first grand slam—as the Cubs beat the Diamondbacks, 6–2. Sosa went to bat 4,428 before drilling the sacks–full homer. His 247 homers without a slam is a ML record: the previous mark was 210 homers by Bob Horner. Sosa also tops the 100 RBI mark with his four ribbies, to back Steve Trachsel's (10–5) pitching.

» August 7, 1998: Mark McGwire lines a single against the Cubs, driving in two runs. For Big Mac, they are his first runs driven in without a homer since June 7. The Cards roll over the Cubs, 16–3 as Kent Bottenfield allows just three hits in seven innings. Ray Lankford has a 3–run homer in the 1st for St. Louis off Stevens, in relief of Steve Trachsel who lasts just 1/3 of an inning.

» September 8, 1998: Mark McGwire breaks Roger Maris' single–season home run mark by clouting his 62nd of the year off Steve Trachsel in the 4th inning of the Cardinals' 6–3 win over the Cubs in St. Louis.

» July 1, 1999: The Brewers defeat the Cubs, 19-12, as SS Jose Valentin hits 2-run home runs from each side of the plate. 2B Ron Belliard and C Dave Nilsson each get four hits for Milwaukee, while Belliard drives home five runs. The Brewer light up Steve Trachsel for 10 runs in 3.2 innings pitched, hanging his National League high 11th loss on him. The Brew Crew collects 21 hits for the 2nd times in three nights. There are eight homers in the game, including a pair by Cubs Mickey Morandini. Not homering after four straight games in which he went deep is Sammy Sosa, who singles twice.

» September 1, 1999: Sammy Sosa hits his 56th homer, off Sterling Hitchcock, to give the Cubs a 1–0 win over San Diego. Steve Trachsel is the winner with seven shutout innings. Glenallen Hill's single is the only other Cub hit.

» October 3, 1999: It lasts just five innings, but the Cardinals (74-88)defeat the Cubs (67-95), 9-5, as both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa homer in their last game of the season. McGwire takes Steve Trachsel deep in the 1st and finishes with 65 home runs, with Sosa next in line with 63, homering in the 3rd. McGwire's home run is his 522nd moving him past Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 10th place on the All-time list finishes with 147 RBIs on 145 hits, the first player ever to have more ribbies than hits; Jay Buhner, in 1995, came closest with 121 RBI on 123 hits. Last year McGwire drove in 147 runs on 152 hits. Starter Larry Luebbers earns the win for the Cards with just four innings of work, a rarity. Rick Ankiel saves it after Luebbers pitches to three batters in the 5th. More than 145,000 fans watched the 3-game set with the cubs, giving the Cards a franchise-record 3,230,356 for 79 dates.

» January 13, 2000: The Devil Rays sign free agent P Steve Trachsel to a one-year contract. Trachsel (8-18) led the Cubs in innings pitched (206) and was expected to ink a multi-year contract.

» May 6, 2000: The Devil Rays defeat the Red Sox, 1-0, ending Pedro Martinez's 13-game winning streak. Martinez strikes out 17 Devil Rays in a losing effort. Steve Trachsel goes the distance to win for Tampa Bay.

» May 11, 2000: The Devil Rays defeat the Yankees, 1-0, behind P Steve Trachsel, who hurls the first seven innings. Trachsel, who defeated the Red Sox, 1-0, in his last start, becomes the 1st AL pitcher in 24 years to win back-to-back 1-0 games.

» July 31, 2000: The Blue Jays obtain pitchers Steve Trachsel and Mark Guthrie from the Devil Rays for two minor leaguers.

» December 11, 2000: The Mets sign free agent P Kevin Appier to a 4-year contract, and free agent P Steve Trachsel to a 2-year contract.

» May 17, 2001: Desi Relaford of the New York Mets became the third position player this year to take the mound as he pitches the ninth inning of a 15-3 blowout by the San Diego Padres. Relaford displays a 91-mph fastball as he fires a perfect inning. Starter Steve Trachsel takes the loss and sets a club record by serving up four homers (to Alex Arias, Rickey Henderson, Ryan Klesko, and Bubba Trammell) in the 3rd inning. The Pads set a team record with 11 extra base hits.