Long drought ends for Cubs
Team reaches World Series for f irst time since 1945.
Anthony Rizzo threw his glove, pumped his fist and leaped into the arms of Travis Wood.
Aroldis Chapman waved a “W” flag. David Ross cried. Cubs players formed a blue mound of joy on the pitcher’s mound Saturday night at Wrigley Field after their 5-0 victory over the Dodgers clinched the National League pennant for the first time since 1945.
Next year really is here, North Siders. It’s really gonna happen. The Cubs have won the pennant. Yes, the Cubs have won the pennant.
“Four more and we can really have a party,” Manager Joe Maddon said during the postgame ceremony.
All over Wrigleyville, giddy fans fled to the streets to hug friends and strangers. Inside the old ballpark, the reaction was visceral, the elation indescribable and the relief undeniable as a crowd of 42,386 euphoric fans unleashed 71 years’ worth of frustration and disappointment.
“This is an unbelievable win for the city, the team,” Kris Bryant said as chants of “M-V-P” grew louder.
Exuberance began replacing anxiety the minute the Cubs jumped to a 2-0 first-inning lead, a belief that buried any lingering fears locally. This wasn’t a dream but reality the rest of baseball better get used to, and fast.
The last time the Cubs went to the World Series, the Dodgers played in Brooklyn, but now the National League runners-up return home to Los Angeles.
All eyes were on Wrigley to see an elite pitcher at his best with the stakes high, and Kyle Hendricks delivered. With history calling, Hendricks answered, giving up two hits in 7 and retiring 17 straight, while Cubs hitters KO’d Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.
Hendricks was so good that manager Joe Maddon heard boos when he went to the mound to replace him in the eighth — just five outs from the World Series. Yes, five outs. But this time Chapman did the job. So did the Cubs offense. Against the best pitcher on the planet, the Cubs were out of this world, jumping on Kershaw for three runs in the first two innings. Almost eerily, the Cubs scored two runs in the first and one in the second just as they did in the decisive Game 5 against the Padres in 1984. They also led the Marlins, 3-0, in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS at the start of the eighth inning.
But these Cubs would not blow this three-run lead. A Willson Contreras solo home run in the fourth padded the cushion, and Anthony Rizzo’s 393-foot blast in the fifth made it downright comfortable. The “Kersh” was busted after five innings and 93 pitches. The curse-proof Cubs were on their way to the World Series.
This is Chicago, a sports city whose memory makes elephants envious. No matter what Kershaw accomplishes in a Hall of Fame career, he always will be remembered here as the guy the Cubs beat in a pennantclinching Game 6.
The standing ovation for Andre Ethier, announced as the pinch hitter for Kershaw in the fifth, confirmed how special this offensive performance was. How special this night always will be in Cubs lore.
This was for the 1969 Cubs, Leon Durham in 1984, Steve Bartman in 2003 and any other goat blamed for past choke jobs, even for that cursed creature that belonged to Billy Sianis. This was for Ernie and Ronnie, Ryno and Hawk and Billy, and all the great Cubs who never got the chance to play in the Fall Classic. This was for the die-hard fans who felt tears welling in their eyes during the final out, the ones who showed so much persistence and passion, faith and fanaticism. This was for those who never thought they would live long enough to see the Cubs play in the World Series again, and for those who lost years of their lives watching them try.
With five players in Saturday’s starting lineup 24 or younger, these Cubs probably are too young to appreciate the significance of taking this team to the World Series and too good to think it will be the last time with this core.
The Theo Epstein Plan came together. The patience paid off. Next year is here, finally, thanks to guys Chicago has gotten to know by their first names or nicknames: Theo and Jed and an extraordinary Joe leading the way for KB and Rizz, Zo and Addy, Javy and Dex, Jake, Jon and Grandpa Rossy.
Chairman Tom Ricketts bought the Cubs in 2009 with the promise of doing something he had never seen since the day he started cheering from the bleachers where he met his wife: leading an organization that marketed failure into a World Series.
“I can’t even describe it right now,” Ricketts said, hoisting the Warren C. Giles Trophy. “All I know is we have to win four more games.”
The weight is lifted. The wait is over, at last.