Cubs advance to NLCS

Chicago Cubs second baseman Javier Baez (9) hits a three-run home run during the second inning of Game 4 in baseball’s National League Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, October 13, 2015, in Chicago. And as they gathered in the pulsating neighborhood, the lit-up marquee at Wrigley Field said it all: Cubs Win.

Up until Tuesday, the Cardinals had won five straight division series titles while facing elimination. For the Cubs’ president for baseball operations, Theo Epstein, who once built the Boston Red Sox, it felt familiar. There’s a lot of similarities to when the Red Sox knocked off the Yankees in 2004.

When you haven’t won a World Series in over a century, you’ll try anything.

“We gave it our all, they gave it their all”.

The Cubs, who had not won a playoff series since beating Atlanta in the 2003 NL first round, next face either the New York Mets or Los Angeles Dodgers for a berth in the World Series.

The Cubs win a postseason series at home. Neither Anthony Rizzo or Kris Bryant played all that well, but the offense found ways to get the job done. “The whole city is going to celebrate this”. “Hopefully, this is just a taste of what’s to come”.

Stephen Piscotty wasted no time putting the Cardinals ahead, knocking Hammel’s fourth pitch of the game out into the left-center field for a two-run homer. “Go Cubs Go!” rang from the loudspeakers, and 42,411 believers sang along, waving white towels with a blue “W”, like the win flag the Cubs fly above their scoreboard.

That sent the players streaming out of the dugout and prompted a wild celebration among Cubs fans.

“That’s the part of the lineup we wanted him in for”, he said. But the next three games saw a complete turnaround, as Chicago took advantage of every opportunity they could and took Game 2 at Busch and both games at Wrigley to wrap up the series. Chicago dropped those final two at home, including the infamous Bartman defeat in Game 6. He is likely to go with the left-hander Lester in Game 1 and Arrieta in Game 2, simply because the innings are piling up on Arrieta like never before and in his last outing he was not almost as sharp as he has been. One belonged to Schwarber, his second of the post-season.

One of the bigger issues coming into the postseason was whether or not the bullpen would be able to hold up when Joe Maddon needed it to. When Montero struck out, Grimm sat down and Hammel batted.

Kim Howell said, “Well, when it was four to four, and then the (Cubs) home run”.