9th-inning rally sends Cubs to the NLCS

Self-defeat is the biggest threat to a team in the postseason, and no team has more reasons to let the moment overwhelm them than the Cubs. The playoffs are seldom a smooth ride.

Game 3 was a wash. It’s about getting past it. That all changed on Tuesday thanks to their win, which also broke the Giants’ 10-game winning streak in games where they faced elimination. “So, it’s nearly better to play naive and just go out and worry about us, worry about the Cubs and not anything else in the past or, like I said, any animals”.

“We have to stay in the moment and maintain our composure”.

Batting sixth and seventh, respectively, they combined for six hits, two RBIs and two runs. I want the organization to. Ever. Keep moving to the next moment.

Playoff baseball will rip your heart out, make you fall in love with obscure heroes and have you jumping off your couch and scaring the crap out of your dog.

Maddon was not being pessimistic, just realistic. The wet suit he wore during postgame clubhouse celebration was proof.

“What can I say, man?” said Maddon, dripping in champagne.

Rookie left-hander Ty Blach was the victor, escaping a 13th-inning jam when pinch-hitter David Ross bounced into a double play.

The Cubs joined the 1986 New York Mets (in Game 6 of the NLCS against Houston) as the only teams to rally from a three-run deficit in the ninth to win a playoff-series clincher. I only hope that if and when they do win a World Series or two, or three in the next few years they don’t follow the path of the Red Sox that waited so long with fantastic loyal baseball fans only to become a bit on the arrogant side today. The Dodgers blew a 3-run lead in the seventh inning when Clayton Kershaw loaded the bases and then was pulled.

In comes Javier Lopez. They made the NLCS past year but were swept in four games by the New York Mets. That was that. Bring on the Nationals or Dodgers.

“We’re moving up”, general manager Jed Hoyer said.

It was an epic comeback, but one we should have expected. “Still chirpy in the dugout”. And Zobrist was 2-for-15 before hitting his RBI double. The Cubs will await the victor of Thursday’s game between the Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Dodgers to see which team they’ll face in the NLCS. What a job (Johnny) Cueto did.

In the bottom of the fourth, the bottom of the Giants’ lineup killed the Cubs again.

“Obviously it’s in the back of everybody’s mind”, Epstein said.

What a game! It is the day after and I am still in shock.

The in-season acquisition from Tampa Bay struck out 10, his postseason best. We weren’t all that heads up. For us we’re more in shock that just it happened, how it happened, the way it happened.

It’s what happened after Moore left the game that’s frustrating.

Then, a grinning Epstein added, “Hitting before the ninth inning is clearly overrated”. He walks Anthony Rizzo to put runners at first and second.

“I am a little mad at that goat”, she said.

Now, Chicago earns another short break – and manager Joe Maddon will have his pitching staff all lined up in the NLCS because he didn’t need to go to lefty Jon Lester in Game 5. We play hard. I think we play it right.”. “It’s pretty easy when you want to have kids act like kids”. The Cubs won 200 games over the last two regular seasons.

“It would have been nice to go back to Wrigley and hear the home crowd”. These moments are few and far between because we rarely have enough context to know in the moment. “We always feel like we have a chance, whether it’s the first inning or the ninth inning”.