Cubs advance to the National League Championship Series

Chicago fans around the world were ecstatic as they watched their Cubs achieving a feat that was a long time in the making.

Neither starter worked more than three innings, turning the game into a battle of the bullpens.

Asked how significant it was for the fans that the Cubs had finally clinched a post-season series at Wrigley Field, Rizzo replied: “They deserve it. They deserve it. Hopefully this is just a taste of what’s going to come”.

They will find out who they play on Thursday night when the Los Angeles Dodgers host the New York Mets in Game 5 of the NLDS.

They better be ready to pay record-setting prices if they want to attend a World Series game at Wrigley Field.

There’s that, and then there’s Maddon’s claim that Chicago’s veteran players and coaches provided steady leadership that helped the young guys succeed.

It is a loss that is especially tough since it came at the hands of the team’s biggest rival, the Chicago Cubs. The Marlins proceeded to win the World Series during the 2003 season.

“Yeah”, Schwarber told the Associated Press, “and I was just joking around”. The Cubs might have finished third in the NL Central but certainly proved they’re the best in the division, knocking off the Pittsburgh Pirates in the wild-card game and now the Cardinals.

Hector Rondon didn’t have any problems with the Cardinals in the ninth, picking up the save and sending Chicago to the NLCS.

“It was just unfortunate”, St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. But for those still bearing the burden of superstitions past, from the goat to the infamous Bartman ball, the Schwarber ball, now enshrined under plexiglass under the right field “Schwar-board” as it’s been nicknamed, is a new superstition fans are embracing.

The Cardinals have won 11 championships, all since the Cubs’ last title in 1908. Bryant hit. 176 in the NLDS with a home run and two RBIs.

Hammel settled down after giving up a two-run homer to Piscotty on the game’s fourth pitch. The Cubs hit nine home runs the two games at Wrigley and have a decided home-field advantage.

The Cardinals got going early in this one as a two run homerun off the bat of Stephen Piscotty in the top of the first inning gave them a 2-0 lead.

“I tried everything”, Molina said. From what I understood they took him back into the clubhouse, kept him there ’til after the game and got him out of town somehow, maybe put him in disguise.

Shortstop Addison Russell missed Game 4 because of a hamstring injury and will get three extra days of therapy to see if he will be ready to go.