Joy overflows as Cubs move step closer to dream
Maybe they’re too naive to actually understand what they’re doing.
Maybe they’re just too young to realize they’re supposed to be nervous wrecks.
Maybe, just maybe, the Chicago Cubs’ kiddie corps is so darned talented, it really doesn’t make a difference.
The Cubs, 8-6 winners against the St. Louis Cardinals, slugged a playoff-record six homers by six players and moved within one victory Monday of their first postseason series-clinching party at Wrigley Field since, well, forever.
The Cubs have never clinched a playoff series at home in franchise history.
Why, even when they last won the World Series in 1908 and were playing their home games at West Side Grounds, they won the deciding game in Detroit.
The Cubs lead the best-of-five series 2-1, and a victory Tuesday (4:37 p.m. ET) would invoke the
biggest party in the North Side of town since 2003, when they won the division series against the Atlanta Braves — on the road.
“It would be nice to win at home here,” Cubs rookie Kris Bryant said, “for the fans. The crowd was unbelievable with all of the towels and flags waving. We love playing here.
“Hopefully, we’ll be playing a lot more games here, too.”
The Cubs, with four kids in their starting lineup barely old enough to drink, relied on their star-studded rookie corps to provide ace Jake Arrieta all the support he needed, on a night when he looked nothing like Jake Arrieta.
Arrieta had given up four earned runs since the end of July, spanning 95 innings and 1,393 pitches, and he surrendered four runs in 52⁄ innings and 97 pitches this night.
It was his shortest outing since June 16 against the Cleveland Indians, stunning the crowd of 42,411, who hadn’t seen Arrieta vulnerable since the outfield ivy was still brown.
“He’s not going to be an oil painting every night,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “You can’t be perfect every night, man. It had to come to an end at some point.” Hey, no problem. The Cubs delivered the greatest home run onslaught in postseason history. The last time the Cardinals saw an October home run barrage anything close to this was in Game 4 of the 1928 World Series, when Babe Ruth hit three of the New York Yankees’ five homers against them.
“Pretty impressive,” Maddon said. “I knew we were definitely capable of doing that.”
And wouldn’t you know it, the barrage was led by the rookie quartet of Jorge Soler, Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber and Bryant. They came to the old man’s rescue, combining for three homers, a triple and five RBI.
It was the first time in Cubs history — spanning 20,738 games — that their No. 1 to No. 6 hitters homered in the same game, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
It was that fifth inning that could be remembered for an awfully long time.
It began with Soler’s one-out single, and then who else but Bryant, who had the rafters shaking. He slammed a 94-mph fastball from Michael Wacha into the leftfield bleachers, turning a 2-2 tie into a 4-2 lead.
The place was still jumping when 26-year-old Anthony Rizzo followed with a 430-foot blast into the right-field bleachers.
How rare are back-to-back postseason homers for the Cubs?
Jody Davis and Leon Durham last accomplished the feat 31 years ago in the 1984 NL Championship Series vs. the San Diego Padres, a series in which the Cubs were one victory away from their first World Series since 1945, only to lose three consecutive games in the best-of-five series.
And Soler became the first player in history to reach base safely in his first nine playoff ap- pearances, homering in the sixth.
Certainly, the loss had to leave the Cardinals demoralized. They’re the first team to get to Arrieta since July, and still they lost.
The Cubs know better than to celebrate early. They’ve seen these Cardinals all season long. They’ve seen those 11 World Series flags hanging at Busch Stadium.
And they know that even when the Cardinals look like they’re on life support, they’re never dead.
Besides, the Cardinals will have John Lackey on the mound Tuesday, the same guy shut out the Cubs for 71⁄ innings in Game 1 and who now is trying to save the Cardinals’ season.
No offense to the city of St. Louis, or to everyone who would love to see a Game 5, but the Cubs really don’t want to see the city again until April.
You see, they have a party to attend.
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