Cueto, Giants set for Game 1 of NLDS against Lester, Cubs

The rotations in this series were two of the best at that this season. The Cubs were swept by an inferior Mets team in the 2015 NLCS, with NY holding Chicago to eight total runs in four games.

That brings us to the moment Cubs’ fans have been waiting for all year. Instead of the seven-game series that will be played in the league championship series and World Series, the divisional series is only a five-game series. LOVES them, I tell you, with a love so lopsided and to date unrequited that the books are rightly concerned that a Cubs World Series victory will bankrupt the town and reduce it to its pre-mob Deadwood status. They were also the only team to win more than 100 games.

The Cubs won the game 4-2 and went onto win the World Series against the Tigers the following week.

But the Cubs did all watch the wild card game Wednesday, and Maddon spent a chunk of his Thursday in scouting meetings.

Take, for example, the St. Louis Cardinals. Teams don’t like facing him in June, July and August and they absolutely dread going against him in October. Yet they went on to win the whole enchilada. Baseball was America’s game, but football has since been dethroned it.

The Cubs will win the World Series because.the Giants can’t hit. But the history of both teams suggests that the Cubs could be in for a major disappointment as they look to win their first championship in 108 years.

Nothing personal against Harper, but who’s really rooting for the Cubs to fail? The bullpen was the biggest issue in the second half, with the team setting a franchise record by losing nine games it led after eight innings, including five in September.

The Giants ranked 19th in Major League Baseball in runs scored, while the Cubbies were third.

With Bumgarner most likely out of the picture for Game 1, Giants’ right fielder Jay Bruce is confident but apprehensive about his team’s postseason opponent.

While Sammy Sosa’s home run chase put a lot of attention on him during the contest it was Cubs starter Steve Trachsel that stole the show.

Beginning with the 2010 postseason, the Giants are 16-7 at home and 19-7 on the road.

The Cubs won’t win the World Series because.stupid All-Star game rule! Of course they did. Still, it’s a dumb rule. It matters that the Cubs allowed fewer runs than any team in baseball, that only the mile-high Rockies outscored them in the National League, that they led all of baseball in the advanced metric of defensive runs saved (with 82, 31 more than the next-best team). The Giants have won 11 consecutive postseason series, matching the Yankees (1998-2001) for the longest such streak in baseball history.

Fresh off a dramatic wild-card victory in NY, the Giants were brimming with confidence when they arrived in Chicago on Thursday, albeit a bit late due to travel problems. Every year they’re contending. Johnny Cueto would be the ace on most teams. Just a shot. You never know with these guys. One of their catchers is youthful too, the rookie Wilsson Contreras.

Jon Lester will start Game 1 of the NLDS.

Players insist that this mental resolve separates them from the rest of the October pack. Can the Cubs hold them off? “Now it’s going to be nice to get back on the field and playing some meaningful games”. (The next best run-differential was +184 by the Boston Red Sox). The Cubs killed time watching that game in their clubhouse, paying close attention by the sounds of it.

But back in 1908 the Cubs only needed one victory over their NL rival to get to there.

Photos shared on Twitter or Facebook with the ticket bar codes, seating numbers or other markings make it easier for counterfeiters to print up fake tickets, said Julian Green, Cubs vice president of communication and community affairs.