Chicago 365 Playoff Central: Another Grand Ending

     After seemingly endless hype, the Cubs finally started off their NLCS tilt with the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. As with the last round, Jon Lester got the ball for Game 1. Lester started out the game by allowing 4 hits and only 1 run. Meanwhile, the Cubs were busy tacking on runs, leading 3-0 by the end of the 2nd, and 3-1 in the fifth. One of those scores mind you, involved Javy Baez stealing home. I know, right? Baez is just tearin' it up this postseason! After a few more innings, Maddon signals to replace Lester. At this point Lester had only thrown 77 pitches and was still doing great. My sources tell me that this was all done merely so that Lester could be switched out for a different bat in the lineup. If that's why, it was a flop because the next batter for the Cubs still struck out. Regardless, Lester was pissed about the whole thing.

     Moving right along, Lester was replaced by a corps of relievers, until we reached the 8th inning, when Mike Montgomery was pulled for Aroldis Chapman. Now let's think about this for a second. Joe Maddon is a baseball genius. Way too much of a genius to be pulling crap like this. This is the exact same thing we tried in Game 3 against the Giants, and Chapman ended up blowing the six out save, which led us all to stay up till 1:45 AM to watch an ultimately losing effort. Why would he do this again? Chapman goes in, gets the first two outs, and then what happens? He serves up a bases-loaded single that drives in 2 runs and ties the game at 3-3. Chapman may be one of the best relievers in the game, but THE MAN DOES NOT DO A SIX OUT SAVE. I'm wondering how long it'll take Maddon to get that fact into that fantastically gifted head of his.

     Anyway, we finally get out of that inning without any more damage, then the bottom of the 8th dawns on us. Zobrist gets on base, Heyward gets intentionally walked, then Coghlan was intentionally walked. All of a sudden, we've got the bases loaded with two outs for Miguel Montero. He takes one strike. He takes another strike. And then he swings and hits a GRAND SLAM! 4 runs come in, and while Wrigley is still losing its shit over that one, Dexter Fowler steps up and cranks one for another Home Run. All of a sudden the 3-3 tie is an 8-3 lead. A lead that would hold up through the end of the 9th as Hector Rondon would allow only one run to lock down an 8-4 victory in our first ever postseason victory over the Dodgers.

     We're back at Wrigley tonight for Game 2 as Kyle Hendricks goes up against Clayton Kershaw. For the record, I am no more intimidated by facing Kershaw than I would be for any other pitcher. We've faced Bumgarner. We've got to Bumgarner. There's no reason to fear Kershaw. By the end of the night, we'll know just how true that sentiment was. Till then, GO CUBS!!!!!