When you’re not hitting, the whole vibe’s difficult to push in that real positive direction.” “It’s just a matter of us gaining offensive confidence. . . “We just need to have that one moment,” Maddon said before the game. That “explosion,” if a mere three runs can be described so grandly, was exactly what Maddon and the Cubs hoped and pleaded for.
Backed by a three-run fourth inning against Trevor Bauer, featuring Kris Bryant’s homer, Anthony Rizzo’s double, an Addison Russell RBI hit on an infield dribbler and a sacrifice fly by 39-year-old about-to-retire catcher David Ross, Lester improved his career World Series record to 4-1. Though many Cubs had a claw in this win, the tone-setter was the elegant Chicago southpaw Lester, who would not permit a World Series with such high promise to end on the semi-sadistic note of a Cubs humiliation. So the World Series you probably wanted - as long as you and your ancestors have not spent the past 176 years (108 + 68 I’m tired of both numbers) rooting exclusively for the Cubs or Indians - is the World Series you’re probably going to get. Confident as he sounds, Maddon still probably isn’t going to go trick-or-treating as Corey Kluber. “Going back over there, having those two guys ready to pitch. . .” said Maddon, with no need to finish. We get to celebrate Halloween appropriately at that point. . . “And if we do that, I really would be feeling pretty good about going back to Cleveland. We have to have a one-game winning streak,” Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said before this elimination game.
In other words, Cleveland leads this World Series 3-2, but it feels very close - like, as close to tied as it can be without being, you know, actually tied. Just pick up the phone, skip - any number of outs, any number of days in a row - you know my number: Bullpen 007. In the bullpens are stars whose arms may, or may not, still feel like they are completely attached to their shoulders. Suddenly this World Series is just filthy with pitchers draped in the sport’s most prestigious awards, or on streaks as hot as any they have ever known. That would pit Chicago’s Jake Arrieta, the 2015 Cy Young Award winner, against Cleveland’s game Josh Tomlin, who has a 0.85 ERA in three postseason starts this year but would have to pitch on three days’ rest for only the second time in his career. That victory, built on six strong innings by winner Jon Lester and an eight-out save by Aroldis Chapman, takes this series back to Cleveland for a Game 6 on Tuesday.
Let North Side fans have the distinction of waiting 71 years for a World Series in their park only to see three games in which their club participated.įortunately for many “neutrals,” who don’t enjoy such 108-year knife-twisting, as well as every extant Cubs follower, what actually happened here was a tense 3-2 Cubs win. So what if the Cubs’ “lifetime” World Series record in Wrigley had fallen to 2-14 and their season ended with it, too. Perhaps, somewhere, there is a true-of-heart baseball fan who feels comfortable with such an outcome. CHICAGO - If Cleveland had beaten the Chicago Cubs on Sunday night here to win the World Series, it would have meant that the Indians had won more World Series games at Wrigley Field over this weekend (three) than the Cubs had won in the entire 101-year history of the park (two).