Chicago Back at it Again with the Late Inning Heroics

By Djack

If the Chicago Cubs are playing and you aren't watching, you're missing some of the best postseason baseball games in a very long time. This team is so electric and has so much hype around them that the atmosphere surrounding the game elevates the play that much more. That and the Cubs knack for heroics late in games has made their postseason run so far the most fun to follow. Tonight was game one of the NLCS, a lot of people wrote off the Dodgers before a pitch had even been thrown, but after the gutsy performance they had tonight I think people may take them more seriously in this series. Jon Lester was basically unhittable for 6 innings, he let up a home run to Andre Either in the 5th inning, other than that he was essentially lights out. The Dodgers had Kenta Maeda pitching, the Cubs would get on him early with a pair of RBI double in the first two innings of the game. Javy Baez, who has done everything right so far this postseason, continued to make plays for his team, he would steal home in the third inning after getting a RBI double earlier in the inning. This kid is just a straight up difference maker, the type of player that championship caliber team's have. The score was 3-1 Cubs going into the 8th inning, this is where things got real fun. Joe Maddon would try everything to bridge the gap between Lester and Chapman, it wouldn't work though the bases would be loaded with no outs in the 8th inning when Maddon felt forced to put Chapman in the game. Chapman was able to strike out the first two batters he faced, it looked like Chapman would be able to do the unthinkable and be able to get out of the inning unscathed. Adrian Gonzalez didn't let that happen though, he drove a ball back up the middle for a 2 run single to tie the game. Chapman would then get the next guy to get out of the inning with a tie ball game. The Cubbies would strike back though, Zobrist led off the bottom of the eighth with a double, that was followed by Addison Russell grounding out, and he was unable to advance the runner. The Dodgers would then walk Heyward to get to Baez which I thought was the dumbest move ever, why would you walk Heyward who has struggled all year to get to the hottest hitter on the team, but it paid off since Baez popped out. Now the Cubs had men on first and second with two outs, Dodgers would walk the next batter to bring up the pitchers spot in the lineup so the Cubs would have to take Chapman out of the game. Miguel Montero would pinch hit for Chapman, the bases were loaded with cubs just needing a base hit to take the lead. The unlikeliest of heroes, Miguel Montero hits a grand slam, yes a grand slam to absolutely demoralize the Dodgers. This wasn't just a cheap Wrigley home run either, this ball was absolutely pissed on. Wrigleyville went bananas, the stadium started to shake, and then Dexter Fowler decided to get in on the fun making it back to back homers. This extended the lead to 8-3 and the Cubs would go onto to win the game 8-4, another late inning surge from the Cubs offense provides them a much needed game 1 victory since they have to face the greatest pitcher on the planet tomorrow, Clayton Kershaw. Would've been huge if the Dodgers could've stole game 1, especially with Kershaw pitching tomorrow, that would've really got the Cubs fans shaking in their boots.