Chicago 365 Playoff Central: Four Days In October

     On October 17, 2004, the Boston Red Sox found themselves with a big problem on their hands. They were down 3 games to nothing in the American League Championship Series to their hated rival, the New York Yankees. Improbably, they managed to win 4 games in a row, reach the World Series, and excise the Curse of the Bambino once and for all. Eleven years later, Theo Epstein's team finds itself in the same position. Except this time that team is the Chicago Cubs. Last night's loss at a rainy Wrigley Field put the Mets up 3-0 in the NLCS. Defensive lapses, an offense that still looks anemic compared to last week, all of them have led to where we are now. Also, simply the fact that the Mets are a good team.

     We are now left with but a few things: young players who (hopefully) remain blissfully ignorant of history, a manager who hasn't been rattled by anything all season, Jason Hammel on the mound, and something Cubs fans have plenty of: hope. Hope that the Cubs will pull off what has only been done once before. Hope that Ernie, Ronny, Harry, and all the other departed Cubs greats will look down and provide us some good mojo. Hope that tomorrow will not be the final game of the magical 2015 Season. All of these hopes culminate at 7:07 PM tonight, when the Cubs take the field for Game 4 of the National League Championship Series

Chicago 365 Playoff Central: The Bash Brothers 2.0

     Going into tonight's game, everybody and their brother had come to expect great things from Jake Arrieta. And they were right to. Unfortunately, this was not to be a good night for our ace. The Cardinals got to him for 4 runs, matching his total for the past 2 months. Luckily, we were the beneficiaries of an offensive explosion. It all started off when the Schwarbino went deep to get us on the board first. Then after Arrieta gave up the first two runs in the 4th, Castro went yard as well to draw us even. After we got another man on base, Bryant cleared the bases to put us up 4-2. That one chased the St. Louis starter. Next Batter: Anthony Rizzo. Another Home Run. The Bash Brothers are back, and this time they're clean. Arrieta then gave up 2 more runs, and his night was over. At this point we're leading the Cardinals 5-4, which isn't exactly the most comfortable of leads. Luckily, Jorge Soler proceeds to hit another ball over the fence, scoring 2 more runs. This also means that he has reached base in each of his first 9 postseason plate appearances(in case you were curious, yes this is a record). 2 innings later, Dexter Fowler decides to join the party and hits one out as well. After rolling through a few relievers, the Cubs handed the ball to Rondon to put the game away. Bad news: Rondon serves up a 2-run homer with 2 outs already recorded. Good news: Rondon then puts the next batter away to render that homer meaningless and make the Cubs a winner.

     With all of that craziness, not only was Arrieta still the pitcher of record, but he actually got a win for this one. As so much digital and real ink has been devoted to saying already this season, these Cubs are different. On a night where Arrieta served up 4 runs, the offense hit six homers, more than have been hit in over 1,400 postseason games. The Cubs now enter Game 4 at Wrigley with a 2-1 series lead, and a chance to do something that hasn't been done ever: win a playoff series at Wrigley Field. Who knows how things will shake out, but it definitely will be historic.

Chicago 365 Playoff Central: We're Going To Win Tonight.

     After Friday's loss, the Cubs were down 1-0 in the NLDS. Did they let that get them down? Of course not! Saturday's Game 2 saw the ball handed to Kyle Hendricks, who closed out the regular season on a tear, at one point hurling 12 scoreless innings between 2 starts. Things didn't start out too good, as the Cardinals jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Then the Cubs made their presence known in the top of the 2nd with an offensive explosion that featured two squeeze bunts which made Maddon look like some sort of mad genius, and continued with a 2 run homer by Jorge Soler that brought the boys home and capped off a 5-run inning(incidentally, Soler replaced the Schwarbino in the lineup. Good call.) Eventually, the Cardinals managed to hit 2 over the fence, which ended Hendricks' night. Our periodically quixotic bullpen actually held together quite well after that, with Travis Wood throwing 2 1/3 innings and Hector Rondon holding on to save a 6-3 Cubs win.

     Where does that leave us now? In a damn good place, that's where. We're tied at 1 game a piece. We're back at Wrigley for the next two games. Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant(whom I will be henceforth referring to as The Bash Brothers 2.0) haven't even gotten a chance to make an offensive contribution yet this postseason. Oh, and JAKE ARRIETA is pitching tonight. You know, the guy who hasn't lost a game since July 25. The guy who has given up a TOTAL of 4 runs since the beginning of August. The guy who tossed the first postseason shutout for the Cubs in 70 years in Pittsburgh. Putting it succinctly, the Cardinals are in for a world of hurt tonight, and Arrieta is just the man to deal it out.

Chicago 365 Playoff Central: Meet Me in St. Louis

     After the hoopla from Wednesday night's victory over the Pirates calmed down(and the team finally stopped celebrating) the next objective loomed large: the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series. The two franchises have played 2,344 games against each other, yet had not met in the postseason for 129 years, going back to the 1886 World Series. Needless to say, the hype train was leaving the station full steam ahead. Add in the fact that the Game 1 starters(Jon Lester against John Lackey) were teammates in Boston and the drama gets ratcheted up even higher. Finally the time came and the first pitches were thrown. Lester faltered a bit out of the gate, allowing two hits in the first inning to fall into an early 1-0 hole. After that, he righted the ship, at one point retiring 10+ batters in a row. Unfortunately, John Lackey was doing great too. Dexter Fowler hit a mammoth shot that would have scored two runs, if it hadn't been caught by a Cardinal on the warning track. Lackey only allowed 2 hits, including one to Kyle Schwarber(whom I will be henceforth referring to as The Great Schwarbino). Lester was doing well at keeping the Cardinals within striking distance, until the 8th inning rolled around and he gave up 3 more runs. The Cubs did not go quietly though, putting two men on base in the top of the 9th before ultimately striking out and losing to the Cardinals 4-0. After our dressing down of Pittsburgh, this showed us a few important things:

• We still might fulfill the prophecy and win the World Series, but it sure won't be a walk in the park.
• St. Louis is going to be a tough opponent to beat
• And finally, does anyone know of a way we can make about 4 clones of Jake Arrieta?

     That last point might have been slightly in jest, and we will get Arrieta again in Game 3. As for tonight's Game 2, Kyle Hendricks gets the start. Although he comes in with a pedestrian 8-7 record, he finished the season strong, hurling 12 shutout innings over his final 2 starts, earning himself this start. First pitch is at 4:37 PM from Busch Stadium.