NO SIGN OF THE OLD MAGIC
Cubs fall into 0- 3 hole with loss to Dodgers in return to Wrigley
The Cubs returned to the nostalgia, good vibes and friendly confines of Wrigley Field, trying desperately Tuesday to re- create the good old days. You know, last season about this time.
Good luck remembering that, even with the same Dodgers in Chicago for the same National League Championship Series round of the playoffs.
Because if the Cubs have discovered nothing else this October, it’s that this looks nothing like last season. And, in particular, these look nothing like the 2016 Dodgers.
By the time the Dodgers were done throttling the Cubs 6- 1 in Game 3 to put them in an 0- 3 hole, all that seemed to remain were the final numbers.
A year after outpitching and outhitting the Dodgers to eliminate them in six games on the way to their first World Series appearance in 71 years, the Cubs have had little go their way. Some of the struggles go back to their NL Division Series against the Nationals. A few of the numbers:
The 23 walks they’ve issued in eight postseason games is a record for that number of games.
They’ve committed nine errors in eight games, including two Tuesday.
Those errors have led to five unearned runs, including one Tuesday.
Until Alex Avila and Albert Almora Jr. led off the ninth with back- to- back hits, the Cubs were 0- for- 29 in the series against the Dodgers’ relievers. They’re now 2- for- 34 with a hit batter and a walk after Kenley Jansen stranded Avila and Almora in scoring position to end the game.
And that doesn’t even count what might be the only sequence of this postseason stranger than the fifth inning of Game 5 against the Nationals.
The Cubs trailed 3- 1 in the sixth when the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs and the pitcher’s spot due up against reliever Carl Edwards Jr. Left- handed- hitting Curtis Granderson was on deck and even was mistakenly announced in the press box as a pinch hitter just as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called him back to the dugout to leave Yu Darvish in to hit for himself.
Darvish, an American League pitcher traded to the Dodgers from the Rangers at the non- waiver deadline July 31, walked on four pitches.
‘‘ It’s called making pitches,’’ Edwards said. ‘‘ And I didn’t.’’
Edwards then struck out leadoff man Chris Taylor on three pitches to end the inning, eliciting a chorus of boos as he walked off the field.
That about summed up the kind of series it has been for the Cubs, who face an 0- 3 deficit that only one team in major- league history has overcome to win a best- of- seven playoff series.
‘‘ We’ve got nothing to lose,’’ said third baseman Kris Bryant, who had two of the Cubs’ eight hits. ‘‘ Only one team’s done it. We’re going to go out there and play with our heads on fire and have some fun with it. And when we’re playing like that, that’s when we’re at our best. Hopefully, we’re all going crazy after winning a game[ Wednesday].’’
That comeback success was pulled off by Cubs president Theo Epstein’s 2004 Red Sox, who beat the Yankees in a four- game rally that famously started with a ninthinning stolen base by pinch runner Roberts.
‘‘ Listen, our guys, we wear it on our wristbands: ‘ We never quit,’ ’’ manager Joe Maddon said. ‘‘ It’s not easy. It’s been done before. Theo saw it. A lot of it’s contingent upon [ starter] Jake [ Arrieta] being able to go deep into the game.’’
Arrieta, who might be making his final start with the Cubs, will start Game 4 and will try to keep the team alive.
‘‘ He’s a big game pitcher, and tomorrow we need him,’’ first baseman Anthony Rizzo said.