October 12, 2016

CSNChicago.com, Unfinished Business: Cubs Return To NLCS After Stunning Comeback Against Giants http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/unfinished-business-cubs-return-nlcs-after-stunning-comeback-against-giants

CSNChicago.com, No Time For Second-Guessing: How Joe Maddon Proceeds With Aroldis Chapman And Cubs Bullpen http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/no-time-second-guessing-how-joe-maddon-proceeds-aroldis-chapman-and-cubs-bullpen

CSNChicago.com, Cubs: Kyle Hendricks Ready For Whatever’s Next In October http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/cubs-kyle-hendricks-ready-whatevers-next-october

Chicago Tribune, Cubs 'stay in the moment' and stage amazing ninth-inning comeback http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-amazing-cubs-comeback-sullivan-spt-1012-20161011-column.html

Chicago Tribune, Ninth-inning rally memorable for young, old Cubs http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-ninth-inning-rally-cubs-20161011-story.html

Chicago Tribune, Cubs come back to life just in time, and now anything seems possible http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-haugh-cubs-comeback-win-series-spt-1012-20161011-column.html

Chicago Tribune, Fox hears complaints, will return to old camera angle at Wrigley http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-fox-camera-angle-wrigley-field-20161012-story.html

Chicago Tribune, Cubs rally in ninth to eliminate Giants 6-5 in NLDS; advance to NLCS http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-eliminate-giants-nlds-spt-1012-20161011-story.html

Chicago Tribune, Cubs will consider 12-man pitching staff in NLCS http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-consider-12-pitchers-nlcs-bits-spt-1012-20161011-story.html

Chicago Tribune, Giants bullpen suffers massive collapse to snap postseason victory streak http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-giants-bullpen-collapse-spt-1012-20161011-story.html

Chicago Tribune, Joe Maddon didn't lose sleep over Monday's 13-inning loss to Giants http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-joe-maddon-sleep-20161011-story.html

Chicago Tribune, Yom Kippur poses Game 4 dilemma for some Cubs fans http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-giants-yom-kippur-nlds-tv-20161011-story.html

Chicago Sun-Times, Is this The Year? Cubs rally in 9th to eliminate 3-time champs http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/is-this-the-year-cubs-rally-in-9th-to-eliminate-3-time-champs/

Chicago Sun-Times, Game 4 victory a huge sigh of relief for Cubs fans http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/game-4-victory-a-huge-sigh-of-relief-for-cubs-fans/

Chicago Sun-Times, Comeback Cubs close out wild NLDS, and a party breaks out http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/comeback-cubs-close-out-wild-nlds-and-a-party-breaks-out/

Chicago Sun-Times, Maddon: Not using Chapman in 8th ‘would have been the mistake’ http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/maddon-not-using-chapman-in-8th-would-have-been-the-mistake/

Chicago Sun-Times, Cubs fans have to understand — this was never going to be easy http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/cubs-fans-have-to-understand-this-was-never-going-to-be-easy/

Daily Herald, Chicago Cubs advance to NLCS with big rally http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161011/sports/161019646/

Daily Herald, Imrem: Yes, Chicago Cubs take big step in beating, yes, the curse http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161011/sports/161019637/

Cubs.com, Cubs deliver Giant stunner, advance to NLCS http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/205809290/cubs-rally-to-defeat-giants-advance-to-nlcs/

Cubs.com, Game 4 rally takes magical season to new heights http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/205842640/cubs-rally-takes-magical-season-to-new-heights/

Cubs.com, Cubs glad to advance after hard-fought NLDS http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/205798756/cubs-advance-after-hard-fought-nlds-vs-giants/

Cubs.com, Chapman geared up for NLDS-clinching save http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/205836158/aroldis-chapman-bounces-back-to-seal-cubs-win/

Cubs.com, Cubs kick party up a notch after advancing http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/205842416/cubs-celebrate-ahead-of-return-trip-to-nlcs/

Cubs.com, Cubs going with Lester for Game 1 of NLCS http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/205838726/jon-lester-to-start-nlcs-game-1-for-cubs/

Cubs.com, Cubs ready for Nationals or Dodgers in NLCS http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/205810808/cubs-ready-for-nationals-or-dodgers-in-nlcs/

Cubs.com, Cubs respect how Giants kept fighting back http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/205842132/cubs-respect-how-giants-fought-back-in-nlds/

Cubs.com, Guaranteed hunger games: A title drought will end http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/205855130/a-long-world-series-drought-will-end-in-2016/

Cubs.com, Hendricks says he's good to go after workout http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/205800328/cubs-kyle-hendricks-feels-good-after-workout/

ESPNChicago.com, The clutch moments that landed the Cubs in the NLCS http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/42040/the-clutch-moments-that-landed-the-cubs-in-the-nlcs

ESPNChicago.com, Giant stunner: Inside the Cubs' clinching rally http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/42039/game-4-rewind-a-ninth-inning-no-cubs-fan-will-ever-forget

ESPNChicago.com, Giants lose even-year mojo to late-game collapse http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/75108/giants-lose-even-year-mojo-to-late-game-collapse

ESPNChicago.com, Cubs put away the Giants with ferocious ninth-inning rally http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/75085/cubs-put-away-the-giants-with-ferocious-ninth-inning-rally

-- CSNChicago.com Unfinished Business: Cubs Return To NLCS After Stunning Comeback Against Giants By Patrick Mooney SAN FRANCISCO – The awful smell of beer mixed with champagne immediately hit you walking into AT&T Park’s visiting clubhouse late Tuesday night. Plastic covered the lockers as the Cubs sprayed and dumped bottles on each other, celebrating the giant leap that launched them back into the National League Championship Series. The San Francisco Giants are supposed to have the nerves of steel, the iron will, or whatever other October voodoo you want to cling to now. But these Cubs are a confident, talented, relentless group that doesn’t at all care about even years or 1908 or billy goats or black cats. It didn’t matter that San Francisco lefty Matt Moore had shut down this lineup through eight innings, or that the Giants had won each of their last 10 postseason elimination games, creating an aura around a franchise that captured World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014. The Cubs always try to maintain a laser focus on the next pitch, and the cumulative effect led to a stunning ninth-inning comeback in a 6-5 victory that abruptly ended this NL Division Series after four delirious games. “That’s just kind of what we do,” Kris Bryant said. “It’s nice knowing that there’s 27 outs in a game. And you got to get them all.” This is all Bryant knows. The humble superstar followed up a Rookie of the Year campaign with a probable MVP season, starting the rally with a single off Derek Law, the first of five relievers San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy called while helplessly trying to preserve a three-run lead and get those final three outs in the ninth inning. Bochy, a potential Hall of Famer, got stuck with a bullpen that led the majors with 30 blown saves during the regular season. Anthony Rizzo – who came into Game 4 with a conspicuous 0-for-13 – worked a six-pitch walk against Giants lefty Javier Lopez. Up next: Ben Zobrist, the clutch switch-hitter who turned down a bigger guarantee from the Giants (and other contenders) to sign a four-year, $56 million deal with a Cubs team that wanted the steady presence he brought to the Kansas City Royals during last year’s World Series run. Zobrist drove a Sergio Romo pitch into the right-field corner for an RBI double. Rookie pinch-hitter Willson Contreras bounced a game-tying, two-run single up the middle off Giants lefty Will Smith. After San Francisco’s normally steady defense couldn’t convert a double play, Javier Baez, the breakout star in this NLDS, smacked Hunter Strickland’s 100-mph fastball into center field to score Jason Heyward from second base. “That says a lot about who we are,” said team president Theo Epstein, the architect of this American League-style lineup wearing shorts and sandals amid the frat party. “After not being ourselves for eight innings, we were able to come alive like that. “That wasn’t us – we weren’t having championship-caliber at-bats for those eight innings. I knew we were going to snap out of it. I just wanted them to hurry up and snap out of it before it was Cueto and MadBum in a Game 5 with a big strike zone. Our boys showed up when it mattered most.”

Yes, the Cubs wanted nothing to do with Johnny Cueto and Madison Bumgarner on Thursday night at Wrigley Field. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only two other teams in the NBA, NFL or NHL have won at least 10 consecutive postseason games when facing elimination: the Boston Celtics (11 in a row, 1959-67) and New England Patriots (10, 2002-06). Snicker at the Cubbie occurrences all you want, but those are the types of dynasties this franchise aspires to be someday. “Nobody really cares in there about a curse or a goat or anything else,” said Jon Lester, who can now start Game 1 of the NLCS against either the Washington Nationals or Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday at Wrigley Field. “It is what it is. It’s what you make of it. “If we make a mistake, we’re not going to blame it on a curse or anything else like that. We’re going to blame it on ourselves and be accountable for it and move on to the next play or the next moment. “Plus, I think we got too many young guys in there that don’t even know what that stuff is, you know what I mean? So it’s almost better to play naive and just go out and worry about us – worry about the Cubs and not anything else in the past. Or, like I said, any animals.” The night after a 13-inning loss and some second-guessing over how manager Joe Maddon handled his superstar closer, Aroldis Chapman slammed the door in the ninth inning, striking out Gorkys Hernandez, Denard Span and Brandon Belt swinging at 100-plus-mph fastballs. “You can’t take it for granted,” said Rizzo, who remembers what the New York Mets and their power pitching did during that NLCS sweep. “You can’t take for granted what we’ve done, last year and this year. But we got one mission, one goal in mind. That’s eight more wins. We’ve all visualized it all year, since spring training. And we’re going to keep visualizing it.” But even a team with an “Embrace The Target” attitude deserves some time to blow off steam and enjoy the moment. Still in uniform and cleats, veteran catcher David Ross walked through the clubhouse toward his locker after homering and driving in the other run during that eight-inning buildup. At the age of 39, the social-media sensation known as “Grandpa Rossy” yelled out across the room. “Bus in 30!” Ross hollered. “Let’s take this party to the plane, people! It’s past my bedtime!” -- CSNChicago.com No Time For Second-Guessing: How Joe Maddon Proceeds With Aroldis Chapman And Cubs Bullpen By Patrick Mooney SAN FRANCISCO – Joe Maddon didn’t exactly toss and turn over the decision to use Aroldis Chapman for a failed six-out save, the Cubs manager sleeping through his scheduled appearance on WSCR-AM 670 and waking up to text messages from the team’s flagship radio station. After a 13-inning loss to the San Francisco Giants that lasted more than five hours at AT&T Park and ended on Tuesday morning in Chicago, you understood why Maddon lost track of time. And how a three-time Manager of the Year came to the Chapman conclusion. The Cubs acquired Chapman from the New York Yankees this summer with October in mind. Maddon tried to end a best-of-five National League Division Series on Monday night with the superstar closer, calling for Chapman to protect a one-run lead with two runners on and no outs in the eighth inning. “To have the game go away and not utilize him there – or at least try – to me that would have been the mistake,” Maddon said before Game 4.

Credit the Cubs for not following a rigid bullpen formula, but Maddon is also a manager who wants his team to play the same game whether it’s April 10, July 10 or October 10. And Chapman clearly prefers to operate one clean inning at a time, though he has an understanding with Maddon that the routine will change during the postseason. “It just depends,” Maddon said. “As long as he’s well-rested – and it appears to be the right thing to do in that moment – I don’t think we could walk away from it.” Maddon’s primary takeaway revolved around Conor Gillaspie, a left-handed hitter who blasted a three-run homer off New York Mets closer Jeurys Familia in the wild-card game and then handled Chapman’s 102-mph left-handed velocity, drilling a two-run triple into right-center field. “Just the unlikelihood of Gillaspie hitting the ball as well as he did,” Maddon said. “Because that was the one anomaly moment. I’m not denigrating him. But to turn around that elevated fastball to that crease – you could see a knock, you could see a well-struck ball – but that ball was crushed. That’s it.” Maddon makes real-time decisions armed with more information than anyone else on Twitter. The Cubs manager doesn’t have any time for second-guessing. “You attempt to make your best guess or decision in advance of the moment,” Maddon said. “Even when things don’t work out, that doesn’t mean the decision was wrong. It means the other team has professional baseball players, too. “At the end of the day, because something doesn’t work out doesn’t mean it was the wrong thing to do. It just means it didn’t work. The assumption is that the other team has Little League players or American Legion players or players that are not good enough to be in the big leagues. “That’s a bad assumption to make. Both sides are good, and sometimes it just doesn't work out. So the outcome-bias component – I’ve always kind of like chuckled at that.” -- CSNChicago.com Cubs: Kyle Hendricks Ready For Whatever’s Next In October By Patrick Mooney SAN FRANCISCO – Kyle Hendricks sounds ready for whatever comes next, whether the Cubs get pushed into a crazy elimination game against the San Francisco Giants or want to start the Cy Young Award contender at the beginning of the National League Championship Series. Under the watchful eyes of pitching coach Chris Bosio, assistant athletic trainer Ed Halbur and Dr. Stephen Gryzlo, Hendricks tested his right forearm before Tuesday’s Game 4 in this best-of-five NL Division Series, completing his throwing session on the AT&T Park outfield grass. “Good to go,” Hendricks said. “Perfect.” San Francisco’s Angel Pagan knocked Hendricks out of Game 2 when he drilled a line drive back to the Wrigley Field mound. Hendricks – who had lasted at least five innings in each of his 30 starts during the regular season – threw only 52 pitches and couldn’t finish the fourth. But Hendricks did come through with a backbreaking two-run single off ex-Cub Jeff Samardzija in a 5-2 victory. And if the Cubs somehow wind up in another 13-inning, five-hour-plus marathon, manager Joe Maddon believes the majors’ ERA leader would be available out of the bullpen in an all-hands-on-deck situation on Thursday night at Wrigley Field. “I think that would be possible,” Maddon said.

-- Chicago Tribune Cubs 'stay in the moment' and stage amazing ninth-inning comeback By Paul Sullivan Before the National League Division Series began last weekend, Cubs manager Joe Maddon had a message for his players. "I said 'Something bad is going to happen, and we have to stay in the moment and maintain our composure,'" Maddon said. "That was the exact message. That's when it happens." It happened at a most opportune moment in Game 4, as the Cubs rallied from a three-run, ninth inning deficit to pull out a stunning 6-5 victory over the Giants to advance to their second straight NL Championship Series. Giants starter Matt Moore two-hit the Cubs for eight innings before his bullpen collapsed. Willson Contreras' two-run game tying single and Javier Baez's game-winning RBI single sent the Cubs to the next round with the wind at their backs. "It's never a good feeling when we're not ourselves," Cubs President Theo Epstein said. "That was not us. I knew we were going to snap out of it. "I was hoping we would snap out of it before we got (Johnny) Cueto and (Madison Bumgarner) in a Game 5 with a big strike zone. We wanted to get it done here, and the boys showed up when it mattered most. It was really impressive." The Cubs came in like they had suffered a bad reaction to their 13-inning loss in Game 3, but eventually shook it off. "Honestly, it was the same as we did all year," Kris Bryant said. "No batting practice, no panic at all. It's tough to sleep the whole postseason. You're going to lose some heartbreakers here and there, and today the momentum wasn't really on our side, but we found a way the last inning." It took four postseason games for a Cubs player to be asked about the team's reputation as "lovable losers," which prompted Jon Lester to say "the biggest thing is nobody really cares in (our clubhouse) about a curse or a goat or anything else." Lester went even further, suggesting the Cubs were not afraid of "any animals," regardless of the animals' reputation. After the Game 3 setback, the Cubs entered Game 4 on Tuesday ready to bury all those reminders of the past — the ghosts of 1984 and 2003 that continue to pop up every time they make it to October. Another loss would not only create a do-or-cry situation at Wrigley Field in Game 5 on Thursday, it would feed into the narrative of the misery industrial complex, a diverse group of media members devoted to turning every Cubs mistake into some sort of metaphysical mishap. The Cubs were seemingly on the verge of disaster again before the crazy ninth turned AT&T Park upside down. The Giants had won 10 straight elimination games, while the Cubs won a major-league leading 103 games. Something had to give. "We grind," Lester said. "We have some flashy guys, some guys who are MVPs and Cy Youngs and stuff like that. But when it comes down to it, we're kind of like the 9-to-5 Chicago person that goes to work every day and grinds it out. "That's what we do. And it showed tonight. It's awesome to see, and I think it's just the personality of this team."

This Cubs team is so talented and focused it should be able to shut out any kind of distraction, and Lester said that's exactly what the Cubs have done. "If we make a mistake, we're not going to blame it on a curse or anything else like that," he said. "We're going to blame it on ourselves and be accountable for it and move on to the next play or the next moment." On Monday night, Aroldis Chapman took the blame for coughing up the lead in Game 3 on a two-run, eighth inning triple to Conor Gillaspie. On Tuesday he struck out the side in the ninth for the save. The Cubs wouldn't give up, staging another late comeback in a series that has been nothing less than an October classic. "The biggest thing is it demonstrates that even if you get behind, if you play nine innings hard the entire way anything can happen," Maddon said. "It validates the concept. "Everyone knows it's true, but it's always nice to get validation." And the beat goes on. -- Chicago Tribune Ninth-inning rally memorable for young, old Cubs By Mark Gonzales John Lackey has earned two World Series clinching victories, but the Cubs’ 37-year-old starter was nearly at a loss for words after watching his teammates rally in stunning style to pull out a 6-5 victory over the Giants and win the National League Division Series three games to one. “(It) was crazy,” said Lackey, who was taken off the hook after the Cubs scored four times in the ninth inning off five relievers. “I don’t know what to say. It was fun to watch.” It was extremely pleasing for the entire Cubs organization to see rookie Willson Contreras and 23-year-old Javier Baez come through with the tying and game-winning hits. Manager Joe Maddon made a bold move in lifting Addison Russell, who drove in 95 runs during the regular season, for pinch-hitter Chris Coghlan. But when Giants manager Bruce Bochy countered with left-hander Will Smith, Maddon pulled Coghlan in favor of Contreras. “Of course, (President) Theo Epstein, (Senior Vice President of scouting and player development) Jason McLeod and I are managing along with (Maddon),” general manager Jed Hoyer said. “How does he play this? He took out a guy like Addi with all those RBIs, but Romo can be death on righties. It absolutely was the right move, and it was great.” Contreras calmly hit a single up the middle to score Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist to tie the game. One out later, Hunter Strickland replaced Smith, but Baez foiled the strategy by hitting a broken bat single up the middle to score Jason Heyward, the game-winning run. “They always come with the shift on the left side of the infield, and the second baseman (Joe Panik) was on the other side,” Baez said. “I broke my bat, but the ball still went through.” “Those were very mature at-bats for young guys,” said Hoyer, noting that Contreras and Baez each hit the ball up the middle.

It also set up the perfect redemption for closer Aroldis Chapman, who allowed three runs in the eighth inning of Monday’s 13-inning loss. Chapman struck out the side to ignite a wild celebration on the field and in the cramped visitor’s clubhouse. “I just wanted to get my three outs,” said Chapman, who posed for a photograph with Crane Kenney, the Cubs’ President of Business Operations, after the game. “I knew what my objective was. I had to complete my objective. I couldn’t get it done (Monday). So I knew I had to get to get it done. There was no other excuse. I had to get those three outs.” Hoyer had to go back eight years to remember a comeback as crazy as Tuesday’s rally that he had been associated with. That was when Hoyer worked for the Red Sox, who overcame a 7-0 deficit with eight runs in the final three innings to seize an 8-7 win in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series over the Rays — who were managed by Maddon. “That was as close as I can remember to being down and out and suddenly bang, a great ninth inning,” Hoyer said. “Unbelievable.” -- Chicago Tribune Cubs come back to life just in time, and now anything seems possible By David Haugh Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman just stood there triumphantly on the mound Tuesday night at AT&T Park and waited for teammates to mob him. They happily obliged. Catcher David Ross approached first with a smile and a bear hug. Third baseman Kris Bryant threw his glove into the air and joined the giddy group hug. Then came hard-charging first baseman Anthony Rizzo and, soon, everybody else from the dugout. The Cubs expressed understandable joy and jubilation after their 6-5 comeback victory over the Giants in Game 4 to win the National League Division Series, but mostly they felt rewarded for keeping the faith when everybody but them had lost it. Admit it, you did too. Just when you concluded the Cubs were done, they reminded everyone how they won 103 regular-season games. Just when you thought their bats had died, they came back to life. Just when Chicago doubted the Cubs the most, they gave everyone reason to believe again. Just when you started to wonder if this really was the year, the Cubs left the impression the 108-year wait might be ending soon. "I believe that,'' said Javier Baez, who drove in the game-winning run. Who can blame him after this? Trailing 5-2 and down to their final three outs, the Cubs rallied for four runs to restore the hope they had spent the previous eight innings destroying. Ben Zobrist doubled in a run. Willson Contreras singled in two more to tie the game at 5-5. Then Baez delivered his second memorable hit of the series with a single up the middle off Giants reliever Hunter Strickland for what would be the game-winner. "We don't quit,'' manager Joe Maddon said. "That's what it comes down to.'' Therapists all over Chicago no longer have to work overtime Wednesday. Call your clergy and cancel the prayer chain. The Cubs found a way. They never gave up even if many fans were tempted to before the ninth. That the

Cubs turned the tables on the Giants, baseball's toughest team to eliminate, perhaps marked a new day in the National League. This is what Cubs fans are used to seeing happen to their team, but no more. This was decidedly un-Chicago. The ninth-inning rally for the ages bailed out Cubs starter John Lackey, who fell short of expectations. The pitcher who preferred to be evaluated in big-boy games came up a huge disappointment. In other words, Giants starter Matt Moore did for the Giants what the Cubs brought Lackey to town to do. At least Lackey has the NLCS to redeem himself. Lackey lasted only four innings, giving up three runs on seven hits compared with Moore surrendering just two runs on two hits in eight innings. The Cubs signed Lackey for his playoff experience, but it was hard to find in the fourth inning that forced his exit. In a big-boy game, you must get the pitcher out with the bases loaded. Lackey didn't, giving up a single on an 0-2 pitch to Moore of all people, a .042 hitter for the Giants. You wonder what effect Lackey's frazzled state of mind had on his next misstep one batter later. Denard Span hit a hard grounder Rizzo tried to turn into a double play. Rizzo threw to second for the forceout and shortstop Addison Russell returned the throw to first, where Lackey awkwardly tangled his feet trying to cover. His foot never touched the base, Span was safe and another run scored to energize the Giants. Before the game, the Cubs romanticized Lackey's ability to win games like this. Maddon made Lackey sound like a macho character in a Western novel, recalling the way he strutted onto the team bus with his black cowboy hat pulled low over his eyes. "That's just who Johnny is,'' Maddon said. On this night, the pitcher never matched his persona and who Johnny was wasn't good enough. But it would be wrong to lay all the early problems at the clumsy feet of Lackey. While the Cubs looked like they were tired after their late-night loss in Game 3, the Giants appeared rejuvenated by the home crowd of 43,166. The Cubs fell behind mostly because their big hitters remained on fall break. The Cubs made Moore uncomfortable only once, in a third inning owned by their No. 3. Ross raised spirits in Wrigleyville with a 358-foot home run over the left-field wall and quieted everyone waving orange towels. Then in the bottom half, Ross gunned down speedy Span trying to steal second with a one-hop throw that required one of Baez's patented tags. That made the man known as Grandpa Rossy the first catcher to hit a home run, throw out a base stealer and apply for his AARP card in a playoff game. It says everything about the first eight innings that a 39-year-old catcher in the lineup for his defense supplied the biggest hit before the rally. A sequence in the sixth inning summed up the early frustration. Dexter Fowler got caught between first and second base trying to read Bryant's bloop single to right field and Hunter Pence alertly fired to second for the forceout. The Cubs temporarily lost their heads in San Francisco but found their rhythm before it was too late. Now anything seems possible again. And as these Cubs proved, anything is. -- Chicago Tribune Fox hears complaints, will return to old camera angle at Wrigley By Phil Rosenthal You know that high center-field camera shot at Wrigley Field that Fox Sports’ FS1 cable channel used during Game 1 of the Cubs’ playoff series with the Giants, the one that people complained about? It’s been cut from Fox’s postseason roster, booed out of the ballpark.

With the start of the National League Championship Series on Saturday, Fox will go back to using the lower, off-center camera position in center at Wrigley Field. That’s what fans are accustomed to seeing from Wrigley and the one they made clear via social media and elsewhere that they preferred. “We listened to what was going on,” Mike Davies, Fox Sports’ senior vice president of field and technical operations, said before the Cubs closed out their divisional playoff Tuesday in San Francisco. “We decided we’re just going to move it back. … The tradeoffs weren’t worth it.“ Whether the complaints were fueled by the new camera position itself, Fox’s use of it, viewer aesthetics and resistance to change, or some other factor doesn’t matter as much as the vehemence of the complaints. Among those to weigh in on the unusual Wrigley Field shots was former White Sox pitcher Brandon McCarthy, now with the Dodgers. McCarthy wondered in a tweet whether if there was “a chance Fox doesn't have the rights to this game and they're actually pirating a security camera feed from across the street?” Davies wants it known, however, that Fox Sports was just trying to reproduce a straight-on camera angle of home plate common around the league, minimizing blockage by players. And center-field was not the only higher-than-usual camera angle Fox embraced. “We definitely put some thought into it,” Davies said. Fox had tested the position at Wrigley that raised a fuss before it sank money into building a platform. It put a camera there during its telecast of the Cubs’ regular-season finale. ESPN had used it at some point, too, Davies said. There was mild pushback at most. Friday night during Game 1, however, people teed off. Many of the complaints focused on the shot from center. You would have thought someone had trashed Chicago pizza or insisted on putting ketchup on hot dogs. “People didn’t like it, so we go back. That’s fine,” Davies said. “People just weren’t used to seeing that camera angle from Wrigley. We thought it was good but we’ll change it.” Obviously, at 102 years old, Wrigley Field wasn’t built with TV in mind. The first game televised from the park was 70 years ago, the spring after the Cubs’ last World Series appearance. It isn’t always an easy place from which to televise baseball, especially during those thus-far rare occasions when postseason play ups the stakes. A deft directorial touch and instinctive crew is helpful when it come to not losing balls in the corners, for example. But beyond that, there sometimes is simply not quite enough room for all the extra equipment used in producing domestic and international postseason feeds. A typical Fox regular-season telecast has nine cameras, Davies said. The divisional playoff had 14 or so. For the NLCS and that thing that comes after it for teams that actually win the league pennant, Fox uses more than 25 cameras. That includes robotic cameras, high-speed cameras that clearly show the ball’s rotation and cameras like the one embedded by home plate that some viewers love and others abhor. “Look,” Davies said, “baseball is very formulaic and when you add additional cameras, you’re adding them to ensure you don’t miss those important plays and to bring in additional elements.”

The Ricketts family’s overhaul of Wrigley seems to be helping TV in small ways slowly but surely. Fox no longer needs to put its left field and right field cameras on scissor-lifts parked outside the ballpark. “Right now at Wrigley, there are only camera positions outside the dugouts. There are no inside positions,” Davies offered as an example. “Hopefully that will change. This is a reminder that there once was a time when software engineers tried to make it so baseball video games emulated the look of televised baseball games. But as video games grew more creative and technologically advanced, the roles became somewhat reversed. TV now is looking for its own special effects. When there are 3D graphics on a Fox NFL telecast, it's evidence of the influence. “They invent camera angles that we just can’t do,” Davies said. “There’s no question, we’re looking to the uncharted vast swaths of possibility that we can do with new technology.” With that has come -- in addition to new and different cameras. camera angles and graphics -- microphones planted everywhere from the umpires to the bases. Davies said Fox Sports prides itself on being able “to hear those bat cracks, to hear the ‘I got it I got it,’ to hear all those things that bring (the action) home and make it feel and sound like a big game.” But maybe the most important thing Fox Sports will hear this postseason is that viewers in Chicago and other precincts want to see some things as they’ve always seen them, at least for now. Reforms have to be eased on. “Obviously that (high center-field) camera angle works pretty well the rest of the time” at other ballparks,” Davies said. “Maybe you just weren’t ready for it yet.” -- Chicago Tribune Cubs rally in ninth to eliminate Giants 6-5 in NLDS; advance to NLCS By Mark Gonzales After looking vulnerable in all phases for the first time in three months, the Cubs finally displayed the timely hitting to match the determination they have showcased since their World Series mission started in spring training. After left-hander Matt Moore harnessed them for eight innings and Conor Gillaspie's hitting continued to plague them, the Cubs pounced on a meek Giants bullpen for four runs in the ninth inning Tuesday night. Aroldis Chapman came in to strike out the side in the bottom of the inning to close out a 6-5 victory that clinched this best-of-five National League Division Series in four games. "Maybe this is the way it had to be done," general manager Jed Hoyer said in a champagne-drenched clubhouse. "We made the comeback against the team known for comebacks." The Cubs will open the NL Championship Series Saturday night at Wrigley Field against either the Nationals or Dodgers. The Cubs took advantage of a Giants bullpen that blew 30 saves during the regular season in workmanlike style. Ben Zobrist smacked an RBI double and rookie Willson Contreras tied the game with a two-run pinch-hit single, clapping his hands as he ran to first base. Javier Baez came through with a tie-breaking single to give the Cubs their first lead.

Chapman then capped a perfect ninth when he struck out Brandon Belt to ignite a wild celebration. "I can't describe this season," said Contreras, who was promoted from Triple-A Iowa on June 17. The Cubs' rally took starter John Lackey off the hook after Moore limited the Cubs to two hits over eight innings and 120 pitches, and Gillaspie went 4-for-4 and was in the midst of two rallies in the fourth and fifth. Lackey didn't help a taxed bullpen that hurled seven innings in Monday's 13-inning loss as he gave up seven hits in only four innings. Manager Joe Maddon lifted him for a pinch hitter even though the Cubs trailed only 3-2 with two outs in the fifth. The Giants hadn't lost a playoff elimination since Lackey beat them — in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series when he was a rookie with the Angels. Lackey constantly was in trouble, and he needed exceptional defense to get out of deeper danger. Catcher David Ross made a strong throw that arrived early enough for Baez to make one of his patented quick tags to nail Denard Span on a steal attempt in the third. Lackey's biggest mistakes occurred on consecutive plays that enabled the Giants to snap a 1-1 tie in the fourth. Lackey allowed Moore to smack an 0-2 pitch into right field for an RBI single, and Lackey's momentum carried him just far enough past first so he couldn't handle a throw from shortstop Addison Russell that would have resulted in an inning-ending double play. Meanwhile, the Cubs' bullpen that once held the Giants scoreless for 33 consecutive innings struggled in the fifth but Carl Edwards Jr., Hector Rondon and Chapman allowed just one hit over the final innings. Justin Grimm allowed two hits, including a Brandon Crawford double that was less than a foot short of a home run. Left-hander Travis Wood was summoned but allowed an RBI single to Gillaspie and a sacrifice fly to Joe Panik. Meanwhile, Moore was just as effective as Giants Game 1 starter Johnny Cueto, whom the Cubs would have faced in a deciding Game 5. Moore used his changeup and curveball effectively to strike out Kris Bryant twice. Anthony Rizzo hit a line drive single to open the fourth and snap an 0-for-13 slump in this series. But aside from Ross' game-tying home run in the third, the Cubs didn't advance a runner as far as second base until one out in the fifth, when Baez's hustle caused shortstop Crawford to rush a throw that skipped past first baseman Brandon Belt for a three-base error. -- Chicago Tribune Cubs will consider 12-man pitching staff in NLCS By Mark Gonzales Monday night's 6-5 loss in 13 innings increased the possibility the Cubs will opt to carry 12 pitchers for the best-of-seven National League Championship Series. "There might be more of a need to include one more pitcher the next series," manager Joe Maddon said Tuesday, one day after using every available reliever but Carl Edwards Jr. The Cubs have been careful about their use of Edwards and would have used him for a maximum of two innings and 30 to 40 pitches if he had entered Monday.

Left-hander Mike Montgomery pitched four-plus innings before allowing the winning run to the Giants in the 13th. The Cubs opted for 11 pitchers in the NL Division Series because they thought their seven relievers had ample time to recuperate with days off between Games 2 and 3 and Games 4 and 5. On a positive note, Kyle Hendricks threw from a distance of about 90 feet for at least 10 minutes under the watch of pitching coach Chris Bosio, orthopedic surgeon Stephen Gryzlo and assistant trainer Ed Halbur. "Good to go," Hendricks smiled after throwing. Hendricks was struck on his right forearm by a Angel Pagan line drive and was forced to leave in the fourth inning of Game 2. No regrets: Maddon seemed ready to use left-hander Aroldis Chapman for more than three outs in a save situation even after Chapman allowed a two-run triple to Conor Gillaspie in the eighth inning of Monday's Game 3. "As long as he's well-rested and (it) appears the right thing to do, I don't think we can walk away from it," Maddon said. Maddon stressed his intent Monday night was not to use Chapman for six outs but he didn't want to avoid using him after Brandon Belt and Buster Posey reached base safely against Travis Wood and Hector Rondon. "To have the game go away and not utilize him, at least try, that would have been the mistake," said Maddon, adding that left-handed hitters Gillaspie, Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik were coming up. You can call me Al: Maddon gushed over the performance of rookie outfielder Albert Almora Jr., who made a game-saving catch in the ninth inning Monday night and didn't appear nervous or overmatched in his postseason debut. "Outfield-wise, I see Jim Edmonds in him a little bit," Maddon said. "I see the way he goes after a ball and his breaks. He's not the fastest guy out there. But he's always on line and his first step is non-existent. You don't see it. It's a great first step, and then he runs great routes to the ball and has a lot of confidence." -- Chicago Tribune Giants bullpen suffers massive collapse to snap postseason victory streak By Colleen Kane Giants manager Bruce Bochy summoned five relief pitchers in the ninth inning Tuesday night to try to stop the Cubs from roaring back in Game 4 of the National League Division Series. None of them could prevent a massive collapse that stunned an AT&T Park crowd who had been treated to eight stellar innings from Giants left-hander Matt Moore. In a matter of minutes, the Giants bullpen erased Moore's good work, surrendering four runs and the lead in a 6-5 loss that sent the Cubs to the NL Championship Series for the second straight year. It also halted the Giants' streak of victories in postseason elimination games at 10, which was the longest in major-league history. "It's definitely a punch in the gut," said Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, who committed a key ninth-inning throwing error. "It's a tough way to go out with a lead into the ninth inning. You have a pretty good feeling you're going to get out of here with a win and head over to Chicago. To lose like that, it hurts, but we battled."

Everything had seemed to be falling into place to evoke the even-year magic the Giants used to secure World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014, starting with Moore and another huge performance by former White Sox infielder Conor Gillaspie. But major issues with the Giants bullpen this season resurfaced at exactly the wrong time. The group had led the majors in September with nine blown saves. They also set a franchise record over the course of the season by losing nine games they led entering the ninth. On this night, the Giants lost just their second postseason game when leading after eight innings — and their first since 1911. Derek Law, Javier Lopez, Sergio Romo and Will Smith each was charged with a run. Hunter Strickland finally ended the inning with a double play but not before giving up the go-ahead RBI single to Javier Baez. "It's a weird feeling," Bochy said. "It just ends so abruptly, and especially the way it ended, that's kind of tough on all of these guys. "With the way the ball bounced that last inning, I hate to use the word destiny, but (the Cubs) have had a great year and that's quite a comeback they mounted there." Moore had held the Cubs to two runs on two hits over eight innings. He walked two, struck out 10 and retired the side in order in the seventh and eighth innings, striking out Dexter Fowler with his 120th pitch. He also hit a bases-loaded single to short right field off John Lackey in the fourth to put the Giants ahead 2-1, while Gillaspie went 4-for-4 with an RBI single off Travis Wood in the fifth. But that ended up not being enough cushion for the Giants bullpen. "I don't know how they stack up against other postseason teams (we've played), but they were able to beat us, so that definitely puts them up there," Crawford said. "I see a lot of similarities between us. I think that's why it was such a close series. It came down to one run. So I can definitely see them going on and doing well." -- Chicago Tribune Joe Maddon didn't lose sleep over Monday's 13-inning loss to Giants By Mark Gonzales Maddon didn’t lose any sleep over Monday night’s 13-inning loss to the Giants in Game 3 of the National League Division Series. The Cubs’ manager has proof, stemming from the fact he overslept Tuesday morning and missed his weekly radio segment on the Spiegel and Goff Show on WSCR-AM 670. "I had no idea it was Tuesday," Maddon confessed. "I saw at 10:30 a.m. (PT) I had a bunch of text messages." Maddon said he apologized to the station and that he will hold his next show Thursday at noon to make up for Tuesday's absence. -- Chicago Tribune Yom Kippur poses Game 4 dilemma for some Cubs fans By Phil Rosenthal

A lot of late-night prayers undoubtedly went unanswered in the middle of the night in Chicago as the Cubs dropped Game 3 to the Giants in the 13th inning in San Francisco, extending their best-of-five divisional playoff series for at least a day. Some of those prayers probably invoked the name of Sandy Koufax. FS1 got what it wanted, however, at least one extra night of Cubs baseball and the audience surge that has come with it to remind ESPN devotees where to send their thank you notes for getting Skip Bayless out of earshot. Cubs fans in general had to hope for the sweep to allay hard-wired anxiety that anything that can derail a title ultimately will. But beyond that were Jewish baseball fans whose holiest of high holy days, Yom Kippur -- a time set aside for worship, fasting, reflection and atonement -- which this year runs from sunset Tuesday to sunset Wednesday and may preclude watching Game 4 from AT&T Park. One need not be a Talmudic scholar to realize the easiest temptations to resist are the ones that don’t exist because the Cubs hold on to a three-run lead and advance to the league championship series with a sweep. Koufax, a secular Jew, who decided not to work during Yom Kippur and famously missed a start in the 1965 World Series opener is a huge deal in the Jewish community to this day because of the example his sacrifice sets. That said, Koufax at least twice went to work despite Yom Kippur’s restrictions when his profile and the stakes were not nearly so high. On the night Yom Kippur ended in 1960, he pitched a couple innings of scoreless relief in a meaningless game against the Cubs not long after sunset. He took the mound under similar circumstances but even closer to sunset as a starter in 1961 again against the Cubs. Despite skipping Game 1 for Yom Kippur, Koufax did manage to squeeze three starts into the 1965 title series with the Minnesota Twins. He rebounded from a Game 2 loss to win Game 5 with a four-hit complete-game shutout and return on two days rest for a three-hit, complete-game shutout in the decisive Game 7. Which is the sort of thing that gives a person faith. Vocabulary lesson: FS1 play-by-play man Vasgersian invented a word during the Game 3 telecast, “out-RBIed,” as in the Giants had been “out-RBIed by the Cubs pitching staff.” When he said it in the second inning inning, just before Jake Arietta’s three-run home run to run up the pitching staff’s RBI total to six, Vasgersian meant that Cubs pitchers thus far had accounted for more runs batted in at the plate than the entire Giants offense. The edge didn’t last. As Vasgersian might say, the Giants go into Game 4 having “out-runs batted inned” Cubs pitchers, 8-6. Speaking of words: The FS1 genuinely seemed to at a loss for them as Giants ace Madison Bumgarner struggled early. Speaking of words II: BeliEVEN? Because the Giants are trying to extend their streak of even-year success? Someone is trying way too hard. Hashtag stopit. Learning as they go: After in-game interviews on tape in the first two Cubs-Giants telecasts obscured actual meaningful live action – a double in Game 1, a home run in Game 2 – FS1 wisely ditched the practice in Game 3.

Vasgersian and analyst Smoltz talked to Giants pitcher Matt Moore and then Cubs catcher David Ross live, allowing for pauses to describe action. Reporter Ken Rosenthal (no relation), who previously had been the point man for FS1 on taped interviews, was piped in at various points to discuss things he had heard. Power pinch-hit: A power outage on the North Side on Monday night forced some viewers to watch FS1 via their smartphone and Fox Sports Go. When power and cable were restored, at least one viewer discovered the live stream was about 90 second delayed from what was on TV. Fill in the blank: Vasgersian noted that thanks to Jake Arietta and Travis Wood, the Cubs are the first team since 1924 to have two pitchers homer in a postseason series, then quickly moved on. If you’re wondering, New York Giants pitchers Rosy Ryan and Jack Bentley each hit home runs as the Washington Senators won the World Series that year in seven games. -- Chicago Sun-Times Is this The Year? Cubs rally in 9th to eliminate 3-time champs By Gordon Wittenmyer SAN FRANCSISCO — Bring on Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy. Or Corey Seager and Clayton Kershaw. Doesn’t seem to matter to these Cubs who’s next. Or when, or where, or how long it takes. If they can make quick work of Madison Bumgarner one night and rally in the ninth on the next to eliminate the Giants in an even-numbered year, maybe next year really is here for the star-crossed franchise. They’re still eight victories away from their pot of gold, but Tuesday night’s 6-5 win over the Giants at AT&T Park gave the Cubs a 3-1 series victory over the every-other-year champs in the National League Division Series. “It’s a validation. It’s everything that I believe that we are,” manager Joe Maddon said after his club rallied for four ninth-inning runs against five different Giants relievers – with Javy Baez driving in the game winner with a single up the middle on an 0-2 pitch with one out. “It was a tough game [Monday] night,” said Maddon of a 13-inning loss that included a blown save. “Things weren’t going our way tonight. But we played nine innings hard and came out on top in a really difficult environment against a team that hasn’t lost a closeout game in a while.” The Cubs snapped the Giants’ 10-game winning streak in postseason elimination games, dating to 2012. “All that stuff matters,” Maddon said. “All that matters as we continue to move forward and establish an identity as an annual postseason team.” Up next is a Game 1 date Saturday with either the Dodgers or the Nationals in the National League Championship Series. Those teams play their decisive NLDS Game 5 Thursday. It’s the second consecutive trip to the NLCS for the Cubs who have won postseason series in back-to-back seasons for the first time since their World Series titles in 1907 and 1908. “We’re excited for it,” said Kris Bryant, whose leadoff single started the ninth-inning rally. “A lot of us have a sour taste in our mouth from last year. We’ll be ready for it and can’t wait.” The Cubs were swept by the Mets in the NLCS last season. Since then, they signed postseason veterans Ben Zobrist, Jason Heyward and John Lackey as free agents and traded for 100-mph closer Aroldis Chapman to turn a contender into a 103-win team and this year’s World Series favorites.

On Tuesday night, they didn’t get the kind of shutdown postseason performance the signing of Lackey promised. One night after the closer acquired for October blew a save chance, the big-game starting pitcher acquired for October trailed three batters into his start and never led – putting the Cubs on the brink of a return trip to Wrigley Field for a decisive Game 5 in a series they led 2-0. “It’s never a good feeling when we’re not ourselves,” said team president Theo Epstein, who was shown at times on the game broadcast not appearing to enjoy himself as the Cubs as Giants lefty Matt Moore held the Cubs to two hits through eight innings to hand off a 5-2 lead. “I knew we were going to snap out of it,” Epstein said. “I just wanted to hurry up and snap out of it before it was [Johnny] Cueto and MadBum in a Game 5 with a big strike zone. We wanted to get it done here, and our boys showed up when it mattered most.” After Bryant’s single in the ninth and a pitching change, Anthony Rizzo walked. After another pitching change, Ben Zobrist doubled home a run. Then another pitching change, and pinch hitter Willson Contreras tied it with a single up the middle. One out and another pitching change later, Baez drove his hit up the middle. And the young infielder who had been a conspicuous, celebrating thorn in the Giants’ side the whole series celebrated again with an exaggerated clapping that seemed directed at the crowd. “I wanted it really bad,” said Baez, who stole the national spotlight during the series. “I now what I can do, and what I do. I’ll do it for my team, for my fans, for Chicago, to bring the ‘W’ home.” If there was a NLDS MVP Baez would get it. “Absolutely,” Maddon said. “How could he not be? He should get the Corvette.” And now the Dodgers. Or the Nationals. Which might not seem nearly the task this was. “It’s hard to finish any team in a postseason series, let alone one that has their kind of pedigree and character,” Epstein said. “That says a lot about who we are.” They’ve already shed one postseason albatross Tuesday: winning for the first time in 10 playoff games in the Pacific time zone over five different Octobers (counting a pair of losses in Arizona, which is the same time zone in the summer). It’s the franchise’s fourth appearance in the NLCS (also 1984, 2003 and last year). For now, on this night, it was about soaking in champagne and a hard-to-believe finish. “Top. Best win ever. Best game I’ve ever played in,” Bryant said. “I thought [Monday] was one of the best games. This was even better.” -- Chicago Sun-Times Game 4 victory a huge sigh of relief for Cubs fans By Rick Telander SAN FRANCISCO — This is such a pretty place, this AT&T Park, with the bay, the hills and the palm trees just over the left-field wall. But, by God, it’s time for the Cubs to get out of town.

This agonizing National League Division Series is finally over, with the Cubs winning 6-5 in — choose one — a wondrous, uplifting comeback or a gut-wrenching, near-heart-attack inducer. The rally the Cubs staged in the ninth inning of Game 4 was something for the ages. Maybe it shouldn’t have come down to that, but it did. And there came Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist, Willson Contreras and the blossoming Javy Baez delivering hits that led to four runs — exactly how many were needed to end the series 3-1. Even slugger Anthony Rizzo, whose bat has morphed from iron to helium this postseason, did his part by drawing a walk and scoring. An error by Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford sure helped, but what are you gonna do? Well, you can take the good timing, the good fortune, and flee the Bay Area before somebody makes you bed down on Conor Gillaspie’s garage floor. Indeed, the White Sox castoff got chants of ‘‘MVP’’ from the crowd late in the game after torching the Cubs in Games 3 and 4. That’s the thing about short series: The stars don’t always shine, the best don’t always win and lessers can rise up and smite the great. Gillaspie hit the home run that beat the Mets in the NL wild-card game, hit a two-run triple to damage the Cubs in Game 3 and went 4-for-4 in Game 4 before he could be sent packing. Not easy, folks. Not easy at all. ‘‘The assumption is that the other team has Little League players or American Legion players or not players that are good enough to be in the big leagues,’’ Cubs manager Joe Maddon said before the game. ‘‘That’s a bad assumption to make.’’ Especially with these Giants, who somehow had won an incredible 10 consecutive elimination games in the playoffs — until this one. It had to restore some faith in the Cubs’ faithful, make them realize things couldn’t continue the way they were going or this would be a failure with all kinds of new curses to choose from, such as Gillaspie, cable cars and crabcakes. It really looked beyond bad for a while there. Trailing 5-2 at the start of the ninth, the Cubs were looking as listless as flu victims. Starting pitcher John Lackey had long since been chased away. And, if you’ll recall, he was brought in as a free agent from the Cardinals for just such postseason work. He had bedeviled the Cubs as a member of the Cardinals, and he had won World Series with the Angels and Red Sox. That’s what the Cubs wanted. Funny how you get where you want to go, isn’t it? Breathe a sign of relief, Chicago. In fact, do some jumping jacks and get your blood flowing again. Try to smile. Grimace, at least. After all, it’s lucky the Cubs are getting out of here with their baby-bear logos still crawling and not just drying hides on the Giants’ clubhouse wall. ‘‘We were so close to heading to Chicago,’’ Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. ‘‘We really would have liked to have had a shot there in that fifth game.’’ No, it’s fine that’s not happening. This victory was painful enough. --

Chicago Sun-Times Comeback Cubs close out wild NLDS, and a party breaks out By Rick Morrissey SAN FRANCISCO – These crazy Cubs. These crazy, intrepid Cubs. Just when they had left themselves for dead Tuesday night, they stood up, shook off all the uninspired baseball of the previous eight innings and won a series that had looked in serious jeopardy. No, really, they were goners in this game. Of that, there was no doubt. Down 5-2 heading into the ninth inning of Game 4 of a National League Division Series, they finally found the strut that had taken them to 103 regular-season victories. By the time they were done smacking around a parade of hollow-eyed Giants relievers, they had a 6-5 victory and an NLDS title in their possession. They will play the winner of the Dodgers-Nationals series, just as soon as they remember how to breathe again. Kris Bryant started the ninth-inning rally with a leadoff single, followed by a walk by Anthony Rizzo, who had struggled in a big way in the series. Then a double by Ben Zobrist to score a run and cut the lead to 5-3. And then came rookie Willson Contreras, hitting for Chris Coghlan. Two things happened: Contreras singled in two runs, and manager Joe Maddon looked like a genius for bringing in a pinch hitter. After a throwing error that allowed Jason Heyward to get to second base, Javy Baez singled in the winning run. If there were an MVP award for an NLDS, it would go to Baez, who was phenomenal in the field, saving the day again and again with diving stops. Four runs in the ninth inning? No problem. “I think the game of baseball is a game that is 27 outs,’’ Baez said. “We can’t give up because we’re down. We’re fighting and fighting.’’ And so, after closer Aroldis Chapman shut down the Giants in the bottom of the ninth, making up for his Game 3 failure, the Cubs celebrated on the field, donning NLDS championship caps and posing for photos. Hundreds of Cubs fans gathered near the first-base dugout to cheer on their team. The players and staff repaired to the clubhouse, where they partied. Goggles were donned and champagne was sprayed. President Theo Epstein hugged Conteras. It was Party One in what they hope will be a three-party postseason. “The guys we’re chanting, ‘We don’t quit, we don’t quit,’ ” Maddon said. “We don’t quit.’’ The Cubs were so close to going back to Wrigley Field tied 2-2. That familiar feeling of dread, the one that has been known to tug at the sleeve of Cubs-licensed mourning wear, had returned with a vengeance. It crept in quietly at first, but by the sixth inning, it had taken over all things Cubs. You could feel it here, 2,100 miles away from Chicago. And then came that ninth inning. That wonderful ninth, when the Cubs showed the mettle that had been missing too often in this series. They need to carry it forward into the N.L. Championship Series. Cubs pitcher John Lackey didn’t bring his “big-boy game’’ Tuesday night, as he has so many times before in the postseason. His command had gone missing. He gave up an RBI single to Giants pitcher Matt Moore in a two-run fourth inning, which isn’t much of a sin these days. Every time you look up in this series, a pitcher is getting a hit. But Lackey was gone after four innings, having given up three runs and seven hits. Moore was excellent, going eight innings and giving up just two hits. Giants manager Bruce Bochy went through five relievers in the ninth. None of them was effective. None of them seemed to know what hit them. How would they? It was a truck that no one had seen coming, as least the way this series had played out. “That’s baseball,’’ Bochy said.

It is. It’s playoff baseball, a strange animal that didn’t look like it was necessarily a friend of the Cubs. A five-game series looked like a dangerous thing that might lend itself to the kind of flukiness that could do in a more talented team. And the Cubs, dramatically, rose above that threat. What looked like a dead certainty, a Game 5 showdown between the Cubs’ Jon Lester and the Giants’ dangerous Johnny Cueto now becomes some rest time for the Cubs. They might need it emotionally. The Giants have been lauded for their resilience and rightly so. They had gone 10-0 in elimination games heading into Game 4. But give the Cubs some love for their resilience. They weren’t playing anywhere close to their best baseball, and somehow they found it again, just in the nick of time. -- Chicago Sun-Times Maddon: Not using Chapman in 8th ‘would have been the mistake’ By Gordon Wittenmyer SAN FRANCISCO – Even after sleeping on it, Cubs manager Joe Maddon didn’t second-guess his decision to bring closer Aroldis Chapman into Monday night’s Game 3 with two on and nobody out in the eighth inning, with a one-run lead. “To have the game go away and not utilize him there, to at least try, to me that would have been the mistake,” the manager said of the moment that turned into a blown save in an eventual 13-inning loss. But that doesn’t mean he’ll be so quick to bring the All-Star closer in with men on base, or in the eighth inning, next time around. “It just depends,” said Maddon, who recalled Chapman’s first blown save with the Cubs after an eighth-inning call, July 30. It was the second time that week Maddon called on Chapman for a would-be four-out save, after which Chapman told media he wasn’t as comfortable with that as a ninth-inning save situation. Maddon backed off extending the closer at that point, but in recent weeks put it back on the table for the playoffs. Chapman said he was told to expect it, was ready for it, and didn’t have a problem being used that way Monday. “It just wasn’t my night,” he said in Spanish through an interpreter. The big thing Maddon seemed to have trouble getting his mind around afterward was how left-handed hitting Conor Gillespie got on top of that 101-mph fastball in the eighth to drive it to the deepest part of the park for the big hit. “That was the anomaly moment,” said Maddon, who doesn’t seem ready to abandon Chapman as a potential eighth-inning weapon. “As long as he’s well rested and it appears to be the right thing to do in that moment,” he said, “I don’t think we could walk away from it.” Hendricks forearm “perfect” Right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who left his Game 2 start in the fourth inning after being struck on the forearm by a line drive, threw on the side before Tuesday’s game 4 and fared well. “Good to go,” Hendricks said, smiling, as he finished throwing. “Perfect.”

Maddon said before the game that could put Hendricks in play if the Cubs wound up in an all-hands-on-deck scenario in a Game 5 Thursday. Call to arms? The way Monday’s 13-inning game played out in San Francisco might influence whether the Cubs keep a 12th pitcher on a National League Championship Series roster, Maddon said. “There might be more of a need to include one more pitcher in the next series,” said Maddon of the best-of-seven round that includes the middle three games played on consecutive days. The Cubs had only one man left in their seven-man bullpen by the time Monday’s 13-inning game finished – and that was with Mike Montgomery pitching the final four-plus innings. “We talked about this exact scenario before we even did this [round’s roster],” Maddon said. “So it could [influence the next round].” Notes: Home runs by Travis Wood and Jake Arrieta in Games 2 and 3 made the Cubs the first team since the 1924 Giants to have two pitchers hit home runs in a postseason series. … He didn’t get the decision Monday, but Cubs starter Arrieta remained unbeaten in seven starts in the state of California over the past two years when he handed a 3-2 lead to the bullpen (6-0, 0.53 ERA, 51 innings). … The Cubs bullpen didn’t allow a run to the Giants in nine-plus meetings this year until Monday’s eighth inning. -- Chicago Sun-Times Cubs fans have to understand — this was never going to be easy By Steve Greenberg SAN FRANCISCO — The Cubs’ journey through the 2016 postseason was never going to be easy. But that’s probably stating the obvious. No one needs to be told about the North Siders’ World Series drought. And everyone knew it would require some serious heavy lifting for the Cubs to get past San Francisco — a team that never met an elimination game it didn’t like — in the divisional round. Job 1 — killing the pests that just won’t die — is done. The Cubs’ furious, ferocious four-run rally for a 6-5 victory in Tuesday’s Game 4 saw to that. But still, there’s the whole recent history of best teams in baseball falling flat in the playoffs. In 21 seasons since the league expanded its postseason format to include a divisional round, only four times has the team with the best regular-season record gone on to win it all. If Cubs fans found themselves bracing for disappointment during the opening round against the Giants, they’re going to have to get used to the feeling. It’ll be back, and back again, because that’s just how this thing works. The championship odds weren’t in their favor — as they never are for any one team — entering the playoffs, and pros in Vegas probably would tell you they still aren’t. Not because all Cubs teams are doomed to lose. “Nobody (on the Cubs) really cares about a curse or a goal or anything else, you know what I mean?” pitcher Jon Lester said. It’s just ridiculously hard to beat any one team in a playoff series, let alone a string of quality opponents.

“When you get to shorter series, the potential of a lot of awkward things happening or unsuspecting things happening and really making an impact I think (is) greater,” manager Joe Maddon said. The two games the Cubs and Giants played at AT&T Park — absolute classics —certainly exemplified that. The other National League playoff series has, too. It’s fun to ponder the likelihood that Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw’s left arm is tired after he pitched on short rest in Tuesday’s Game 4. Also pretty nice, potentially, for the Cubs that Nationals ace Max Scherzer will pitch in Thursday’s Game 5. Neither team would be able to pitch its ace in Saturday’s Game 1 at Wrigley Field, which means not maximizing its go-to guy in the NLCS. Advantage, Cubs. But does it really matter? In the big picture, it doesn’t seem to. For the Cubs, a series against either NLCS foe will be a difficult journey in itself. -- Daily Herald Chicago Cubs advance to NLCS with big rally By Bruce Miles Seemingly on their way home fit to be tied, the Chicago Cubs showed their remarkable resiliency again Tuesday night. They rallied for 4 runs in the top of the ninth inning to stun the San Francisco Giants 6-5 in Game 4 of the National League division series to win it three games to one. The Cubs advance to the National League championship series, which opens Saturday at Wrigley Field against either the Dodgers or Nationals. Javier Baez, a defensive whiz throughout the series, singled with one out off Hunter Strickland to drive in the go-ahead run. Giants manager Bruce Bochy trotted out four relief pitchers before Strickland, and each put a man on base. Derek Law began the ninth by giving up a single to Kris Bryant. Javier Lopez walked Anthony Rizzo. Sergio Romo gave up an RBI double to Ben Zobrist. Will Smith gave up a 2-run pinch single to Willson Contreras, tying the game. One out later, Baez singled. Until the ninth, the Cubs had managed 2 hits, and they were faced with the real possibility of going home Thursday for a deciding Game 5. "We always yell after a game, 'We never quit, we never quit,' and there you go: We never quit," said manager Joe Maddon, who has led the Cubs to the NLCS in each of his first two years with the Cubs. "What can I say, man? Everything fell into place." It fell into place suddenly, after a baffling night when the Cubs hardly touched Giants starting pitcher Matt Moore. The Giants chased Cubs starting pitcher John Lackey after four innings, as San Francisco held a 3-1 lead. The Cubs scored a run in the third on David Ross' leadoff homer. They added another in the fifth when Baez hustled all the way to third on a throwing error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ross. Still, things were worrisome for the Cubs' brass.

"It's never a good feeling when we're not ourselves," said team president Theo Epstein, decked out in shorts and T-shirt in the champagne-soaked visitors clubhouse at AT&T Park. "That wasn't us. We weren't having championship-caliber at-bats for those eight innings. "I knew we were going to snap out of it. I wanted to hurry up and snap out of it before it was (Giants pitchers Johnny) Cueto and MadBum (Madison Bumgarner) in Game 5 with a big strike zone." The ninth-inning rally took care of that, and Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the bottom half to stun the Giants fans in the crowd of 43,166. The many Cubs fans stayed behind, sang "Go Cubs Go" and cheered the players and staff who came back onto the field after the game. If there was an MVP to this series, it would be Baez, who made dazzling play after dazzling play in the field. "Absolutely," said Maddon. "How could he not be? I think he should get the Corvette." Baez also displayed sharp baserunning and then got the decisive hit in the ninth. "Well, I think the game of baseball is a game of 27 outs," he said. "We can't give up because we're down. We were fighting and fighting until we finally got two men on base and Willson came in and tied the game." As for the MVP, Baez said: "It feels pretty good. I don't want to take that, sit back and relax now. I just want to be MVP for the next series and be MVP for the next one (the World Series)." The way this kid is going, don't put it past him. -- Daily Herald Imrem: Yes, Chicago Cubs take big step in beating, yes, the curse By Mike Imrem The Chicago Cubs will continue to be cursed, jinxed and hexed until they aren't. Personally, I don't believe in that stuff … that supernatural stuff … except when it comes to the Cubs. It's a fact. The Cubs are cursed, jinxed and hexed. You can look it up. (Don't ask me where, just go ahead and look it up.) There's no other explanation for a pro sports team going since 1908 without winning a championship. But you know what? The Cubs sure looked like curse-busters Tuesday night when they won 6-5 at San Francisco to win the best-of-five NLDS in four games. The Cubs were losing by 3 runs in the top of the ninth inning. The world of baseball was making plans for a winner-take-all fifth game Thursday night in Wrigley Field. A Giants fan in the stands wore a dreaded billy goat head. Remember, the Giants had won their previous 10 elimination games, including one Monday night. This was a team that wouldn't exit easily. But the Cubs took advantage of the Giants' shaky bullpen for a single, a walk, a series of more hits, rat-a-tat-tat … and before anyone knew it the Cubs were leading and then celebrating a victory in the middle of the infield.

Much more needs to be done … winning the NLCS … actually winning the World Series … slaying the ghosts once and for all. But right now the Cubs are as alive as the curses that haunt their fans. Of course, nothing is definitive when it comes to this slippery subject. First let's acknowledge that the ancient, wrinkled, yellowed elephant around every corner is the Cubs' droughts: They haven't won a World Series in 108 years or played in one in 71 years. Ignore those facts? Not amid headlines that blared like this one last Friday in The New York Times, "The Cubs Confront the Curse: Is This the Year?" Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts was quoted as saying, "But there is no curse." Hah! Good teams … bad luck … championship drought … sure does sound like a curse. Cubs pitcher Jon Lester mentioned "a goat or a black cat" in The New York Times. Tuesday, though, Lester sort of backtracked on the concept of curses but didn't hide from the Cubs' droughts. "We've talked about wanting to be the team that wins the World Series -- a Cubs World Series," Lester said. It's amusing that some believe that the droughts and curses won't apply pressure on Cubs players. So many players have been eager to come to the Cubs because helping to end the drought would be so rewarding. Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein might have found it appealing when Ricketts recruited him in 2011. Epstein already had been the Red Sox general manager when they broke their Curse of the Bambino in 2004. Busting curses again with the Cubs would be priceless. Now, with accomplishing the mission in clear view, you think Cubs players won't feel the pressure to take those final steps to glory? They'll hear questions like, "What will it be like to never have to pay for a drink in Chicago again after winning the first Cubs championship in more than a century?" Tuesday night the Cubs took another step toward finding out. But, sorry, the Cubs still will be cursed until they win a World Series. You can look it up somewhere. -- Cubs.com Cubs deliver Giant stunner, advance to NLCS By Chris Haft and Carrie Muskat SAN FRANCISCO -- After every game, the Cubs' mantra is "We never quit." They yell it together, like a college cheer, and repeat it, "We never quit!" On Tuesday night, that no-quit attitude carried the Cubs into the National

League Championship Series for the second straight year, and they got there by toppling the team dubbed the "October giant." After being shut down by Matt Moore for eight innings (he threw 120 pitches), the Cubs rallied against San Francisco's beleaguered bullpen for an historic four-run ninth inning and posted a 6-5 victory over the Giants to take the best-of-five series, 3-1. Next up will be Game 1 of the NLCS, set for Saturday at Wrigley Field against either the Nationals or Dodgers on FOX/FS1 with game time TBD. The Cubs finished with the best record in the Majors but that's not enough for their legion of fans, eager to end more than 100 years of frustration and win a World Series. "Any time you can survive like that against an October giant like that -- it's hard to finish any team in the postseason, let alone a team with that kind of character and pedigree," said Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, who was drenched in champagne after being soaked in the postgame celebration. The Cubs' comeback was the biggest in postseason-series clinching history. In erasing a three-run deficit against five different relievers, Chicago matched the Mets' feat in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS, when New York rallied to tie the Astros with three in the ninth and went on to clinch the NL pennant with three runs in the 16th, holding off Houston in a 7-6 victory. "I wasn't worried, it's just that we weren't ourselves for eight innings," Epstein said. "We weren't having the kind of at-bats we normally have and that wasn't us. ... I believe in our guys, but it just was not a great feeling that weren't playing our kind of ball. "Hitting before the ninth inning is overrated anyways," he added with a laugh. "It's about doing it when it matters, I guess." The Giants can put the calendar away. They won the World Series in 2010, '12 and '14, but their attempt at a "Believen" season in '16 is over. "[Moore] did his job," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We were lined up. All our guys are setup guys … I would like to think you're going to get three outs there. We couldn't do it." The comeback didn't surprise the Cubs players. "We've had several games that feel like that during the season but when you do it in the postseason, it gives you a whole 'nother level of confidence late in the game," said Ben Zobrist, who delivered a key RBI double in the ninth. "Once [Kris Bryant] and [Anthony Rizzo] got on, you kind of felt like, something good is going to happen here. Really, the last two nights, that's what the Giants have done, they've put great at-bats together, rallies together. Tonight was our night." Trailing, 5-2, in the ninth, Bryant singled to lead off against the first of five Giants pitchers Bochy called on. Rizzo then walked, and Zobrist followed with his RBI hit. Chris Coghlan was on deck to pinch-hit, but the Giants countered with Will Smith, and the Cubs counter-punched with rookie Willson Contreras, who smacked a two-run single, then pounded his chest to celebrate. The score was now tied at 5. Jason Heyward reached on a fielder's choice, and Javier Baez, the unofficial MVP of the series, delivered an RBI single for the game-winner. Aroldis Chapman picked up his third save in four games, and the party started. "[We did it] in a really difficult environment against a team that hasn't lost a closeout game in a while," manager Joe Maddon said. "All that stuff matters. All that matters is that we continue to move forward and establish this identity as being a team that plays well in the postseason. "Give our guys credit. They're young, and people don't understand, they're young and inexperienced, too. To be able to do what we've done is pretty special."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Staying offensive: The Giants could have gone into shutdown mode after Crawford's fifth-inning drive struck the concrete border that lines the top of the right-field wall. Instead, they padded their lead, adding two essential runs on Conor Gillaspie's RBI single and Joe Panik's sacrifice fly. The play looked strange, with lead runner Hunter Pence scrambling to return to second base. "I thought it was a homer, so I made sure I touched second base," Pence said. The Giants requested a replay review to certify whether Crawford's drive was a homer. Grandpa Rossy: David Ross extended his retirement party another day. Making his second start of the series, the 39-year-old catcher led off the Cubs' third with a home run to tie the score at 1. It was his second career postseason homer, and he became the oldest player in Cubs history to homer in a postseason game. Moises Alou had that distinction when he homered in the 2003 NLCS at the age of 37. Ross also is the oldest catcher in the Majors to do so. The Angels' Bob Boone held the mark, connecting in the 1986 American League Championship Series at the age of 38. Ross added a sacrifice fly in the fifth. The home run traveled a projected 358 feet, according to Statcast™. "To come back from three down against a really good ballclub says a lot about the character of this group that I've known about all year ... It's an amazing group and it's fun for me to be a part of," Ross said on FS1. Glove work: If there was a Gold Glove awarded to players in the NLDS, the Cubs' Baez might win it. Baez, who began the season without a position and yet has started every game at second in the series, nearly threw out Denard Span to open the third. Span was called out, but the Giants challenged the ruling. And after a review, the call was overturned. Ross and Baez then combined to throw out Span trying to steal second, with Baez making his quick tag to get the speedy Giant. "Absolutely -- he should get the Corvette," Maddon said. Crawford's rough night: Crawford, the NL's reigning Gold Glove shortstop, committed two uncharactersitic throwing errors. One generated a fifth-inning unearned run; the other enabled Heyward to advance to second base in the ninth, putting him in position to score on Baez's single. "It kind of sucks," Crawford said. "That's not the way anybody wants to go out. … Especially with the lead in the ninth, it's kind of a punch in the gut. They scored three runs without getting an out." SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS Moore's fourth-inning single, which broke a 1-1 tie, was the first go-ahead hit by a Giants pitcher in the postseason since Hal Schumacher came through in Game 2 of the 1933 World Series against Washington's General Crowder. UPON FURTHER REVIEW Span led off San Francisco's third inning with a grounder up the middle that looked as if it would be a base hit, though Cubs second baseman Baez made an outstanding play on the ball. Span was called out at first base, but the ruling was overturned after a replay review requested by the Giants. San Francisco tried the replay route again in the fifth inning, after Crawford's one-out drive caromed off the top of the right-field wall. The Giants contended that it was a home run, but the ruling on the field that the ball was in play stood. UP NEXT

Cubs: Jon Lester, who threw eight shutout innings in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Giants, will open the NL Championship Series on Saturday at Wrigley Field, with game time TBD. The Cubs will face either the Dodgers or Nationals, who play Game 5 of their NLDS on Thursday (8 p.m. ET/FS1). -- Cubs.com Game 4 rally takes magical season to new heights By Jenifer Langosch SAN FRANCISCO -- Joined by the three Cubs relievers who had entered and exited behind him in Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday, John Lackey settled around a TV monitor in the far left corner of the AT&T Park visitors' clubhouse as the ninth inning was set to begin. If their offense started to stir, they weren't going to budge. Out in the dugout, there was a rally cry, a reminder that this team had erased a ninth-inning deficit eight times during the regular season -- and once already in this series -- and so, why couldn't they again? What followed was the most exhilarating comeback yet, as the Cubs pounced on a fracturing Giants 'pen to flip a three-run deficit into a 6-5 victory that sent them back to the NL Championship Series. Six consecutive hitters reached against five relievers in a span of 22 pitches to end the Giants' string of 10 consecutive elimination-game victories and move the Cubs one rung closer to that elusive World Series championship. Game 1 of the NLCS is Saturday at Wrigley Field against either the Nationals or Dodgers on FOX/FS1 with game time TBD. "Once we got to the bullpen," bench coach Dave Martinez said, "we felt we had a chance to do something." It took the Cubs nine innings to get there, as Giants starter Matt Moore dazzled while holding Chicago to two hits over eight innings. But with his pitch count at 120, Giants manager Bruce Bochy turned to a bullpen that had blown 31 saves this year and had no trusted closer. He'd summon four pitchers to face the Cubs' first four ninth-inning hitters, none of which would be retired. Kris Bryant foiled the shift to open the inning with a single off Derek Law. Anthony Rizzo, who hadn't reached base in the first three games of the series, did so for the third time Tuesday by drawing a walk off Javier Lopez. Sergio Romo entered next and allowed an RBI double to Ben Zobrist that pulled Chicago to within two. "We've lived by the home run a lot this year, but you really can't do that in the postseason," Zobrist said. "To get several base hits in a row, a walk in there, passing the baton -- that's huge confidence for our offense." Shortstop Addison Russell was due up next, but manager Joe Maddon didn't like the matchup. He sent Chris Coghlan to the plate as a strategic play, believing that would prompt Bochy to pull Romo. It did. In came Will Smith, and out went Willson Contreras to pinch-hit instead of Coghlan. "We had it all laid out before the inning began," Maddon said. "If this happened, this is what we're going to do." The rookie Contreras delivered a two-run single, just the franchise's fourth game-tying postseason hit in the ninth inning or later. It sent the Cubs' dugout into bedlam, and forced those inside the clubhouse to stay just as they were. "Baseball players, we're a little bit superstitious," Lackey quipped. "Once things started going pretty good, I wasn't moving from that spot." They'd get even better. After a Brandon Crawford throwing error allowed Jason Heyward, who went home to first in 4.12 seconds (his fastest time in the Statcast™ era), to race to second on a foiled sacrifice attempt, Javier Baez

capped his sensational series with an 0-2, RBI single off Hunter Strickland, the fifth Giants pitcher to take the mound in the inning. "I don't have the words to describe it," Baez later said amid a raucous champagne celebration. "I was trying to hit the ball to right field, second base. When I swung at the first pitch, I thought he'd come back with the same pitch because he wanted me to hit a ground ball to the left side. I adjusted to hit it to the middle." Suddenly, the Cubs had gone from facing the prospect of an elimination game on Thursday to stunning a Giants team that hadn't lost a postseason game in which it led after eight innings since 1911. "With the way the ball bounced that last inning, I hate to use the word destiny, but they have had a great year and that's quite a comeback they mounted there," Bochy said. The Cubs joined the 1986 Mets as the second team to come back from a three-run deficit in the ninth inning to win a postseason-series-clinching game. And it was the first time in 106 years that the Cubs had won a postseason game when trailing after eight innings. "All it takes is one pitch," Bryant said. "Guys had great at-bats, battling, taking walks. That's something we preach. One pitch at a time. That last inning was perfect." -- Cubs.com Cubs glad to advance after hard-fought NLDS By Phil Rogers SAN FRANCISCO -- Nothing against the Giants, but the Cubs were getting tired of them. The last thing they wanted was to see them again at Wrigley Field. "It seems like we have been playing these guys for the last two weeks, just with travel and how intense these games are and stuff," Jon Lester said on Tuesday. So rather than deal with the stress of a deciding Game 5, the Cubs cobbled together one of the most dramatic ninth-inning rallies in franchise history, wrapping up the National League Division Series with a 6-5 win over the Giants at AT&T Park. When the ninth inning began, with the Giants holding a 5-2 lead and Cubs hitters having gone 5-for-56 since the early stages of Game 3, not even the optimistic Joe Maddon was sensing any magic in the night air. Not against a team that had won 10 straight elimination games. What was Maddon thinking when the Cubs came to bat in the ninth? "Johnny Cueto at Wrigley Field," the skipper said, referring to the Giants' probable starter. "And I was telling the folks in there, if you ever looked at those numbers, they're not good for us. He's really tough on us. ... He knows what he's doing out there, and he gives us problems. So I'm happy to not having to face him in a winner-take-all game. That was it. I'm being very honest." In typical fashion for a team as deep and balanced as any in the Major Leagues, six players (Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Willson Contreras, Jason Heyward and Javier Baez) contributed to a four-run ninth inning that sent the Cubs to the NL Championship Series (Game 1 Saturday on FOX/FS1, time TBD) for the second year in a row. Safe to say Maddon's outlook had changed entirely after Contreras' pinch-hit single off Will Smith tied the score, Brandon Crawford committed his second throwing error of the game and Baez's go-ahead single off Hunter Strickland.

"I think as a group, obviously, it's two years in a row now that we're getting to this particular level," Maddon said after surviving champagne showers in his custom-made No. 70 wetsuit. "I think it validates on a lot of different levels the job that we have done to this point. I think if you're a player on this particular team within the organization, it's getting to the point now you want to expect to get to the postseason and you want to expect to get deeply into the postseason." The Cubs don't know if they'll play the Nationals or Dodgers, with that NLDS set for Game 5 on Thursday (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on FS1), but they do know they're four wins away from capturing their first pennant since 1945 and eight away from their first championship since 1908. They've got more experience and confidence than last October, when they were swept by the Mets, and the stars seemed to be aligned for this to be their time. Giants manager Bruce Bochy made the right call by pulling starter Matt Moore after the eighth inning. Moore had thrown 120 pitches, and Bochy wasn't asking much from his bullpen. "I would like to think you're going to get three outs there," Bochy said. "We couldn't do it." Since falling into a 2-0 hole against Dusty Baker's Reds in the 2012 NLDS, Bochy's teams had always gotten outs with their backs to the wall in October. But there was trouble in the air when Bryant opened the ninth inning with a hard grounder off rookie Derek Law. The Giants had three of their infielders playing on the left side, but none of them could get to the ball. "Bryant beat the shift," Bochy said. "He hit the ball right where the shortstop normally is, and of course the ground ball up the middle, that's a bad break." The second reference was to Contreras' two-run single, which Smith let go past him in the hope an infielder would play it. Instead, it went all the way to Denard Span in center field. By then, a lot of people, Bochy included, were wondering if this might be the Cubs' year. "Yeah, you do," Bochy said. "With the way the ball bounced that last inning, I hate to use the word destiny, but they have had a great year and that's quite a comeback they mounted there." How big of a comeback? Cubs starter John Lackey has the most postseason experience of any active pitcher, and he'd have to check his scrapbook to know if he's seen anything to match it. "I'm still trying to process what happened in the ninth there," said Lackey, who gave up three runs in four innings before Maddon took him out for a pinch-hitter. "That was unbelievable the way the guys grinded out at-bats and got that done. You see a lot of things in the playoffs, but that might be at the top of the list." Maddon's best-in-baseball starting rotation is set to roll for the NLCS -- unlike whichever opponent the Cubs will face. The Dodgers probably can't pitch Clayton Kershaw until Game 2, the Nationals Max Scherzer until Game 3. The Cubs have home-field advantage at a ballpark that can be as noisy as it is iconic and they just beat a team that had won the World Series three times in the previous six seasons. Chicago is loaded in every department, probably more than it appeared in this series. The Giants kept the Cubs in check throughout a four-game NLDS that featured three one-run games. They threw a lot at the Cubs -- the greatness of Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey, excellent work from Cueto and Moore, clutch hitting from Conor Gillaspie and Joe Panik -- and all it got them was one win. Even that victory came after Bryant hit a ninth-inning home run to tie Game 3. "We don't quit," Maddon said. "That's really what it comes down to. You hear that all the time, everybody says it, but you have to actually live it. And I have to tell you, I've seen it so many times from this group. That's a big part of our philosophy. And I like to keep things simple, and that's simple. ... We just play 27 outs."

Bring on the Nationals -- or the Dodgers. The Cubs don't care. They believe they're the best team in baseball, and they're ready to prove it. -- Cubs.com Chapman geared up for NLDS-clinching save By Carrie Muskat SAN FRANCISCO -- As soon as the Cubs got a lead in the ninth inning against the Giants on Tuesday night, manager Joe Maddon didn't hesitate to call on closer Aroldis Chapman coming off his rough outing the previous night. Chapman struck out Gorkys Hernandez, Denard Span and Brandon Belt, needing 13 pitches to seal the Cubs' 6-5 victory in Game 4 and clinch the National League Division Series. Chapman pitched in all four games, recording three of his four save opportunities. The one miss in Game 3 on Monday night is now forgotten. "It was beautiful, man," Maddon said. "He was so focused. You could see he was not going to be denied. He did not like what happened [Monday] night. He was outstanding." On Monday, Chapman entered with two runners on in the eighth inning, and was only able to retire the first batter he faced before giving up an two-run triple and an RBI single. The Giants won, 6-5. "I'm very happy," Chapman said. "That was a very bad day for me [Monday], but I forgot about that because I knew what my focus was today, and that was to get this win." The hard-throwing lefty closer, who joined the Cubs in July in a trade with the Yankees, was eager to make up for what happened on Monday. "I knew what I had to do -- I had to get those three outs to erase everything from [Monday]," he said. "And once I got them, I was a very happy man. Now, we can go to the next step." The next step for the Cubs will be a second straight trip to the NL Championship Series against either the Dodgers or Nationals. Game 1 will be Saturday on FOX/FS1, time TBD. "It was a great bounce back for him," Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said of Chapman. "He was awesome in that role. Let's face it, after you take that lead [in the ninth], you don't want any contact. That was perfect. He was awesome." While Chapman was warming up, the Cubs mounted a four-run rally in the ninth to take the 6-5 lead. "We were super excited," he said. "We wanted to get back that lead, and then I knew I had to do my job. I was cheering them on, helping my teammates get their attitude up so they could get the lead." It's been a wild ride for Chapman, who is playing in the postseason for the third time in his career. "I never thought I was going to leave the Reds," Chapman said, "but they traded me to a team with a long history like the Yankees, and then they traded me to a team with another long history, the Cubs. I'm just so happy for the chance to get this championship to Chicago." -- Cubs.com Cubs kick party up a notch after advancing By Adam Berry

SAN FRANCISCO -- After each win this year, the Cubs celebrated. They danced and shouted and splashed each other with water 103 times during the regular season and two more times at Wrigley Field last weekend. But Tuesday night's party was different. The Cubs moved on to the National League Championship Series for the second year in a row -- the first time they've ever gone in back-to-back seasons -- by beating the Giants, 6-5, at AT&T Park. Then they retreated to the visitors' clubhouse, where the wild celebration surpassed any of their previous 105 victory parties. How? "We got this and this," Jon Lester said, raising a Champagne bottle in his right hand and a beer bottle in his left. "The other ones, we got water." A victory in the NL Division Series was expected of the Cubs. They marched into the postseason as baseball's best team, no longer a surprising contender as they were a year ago. Even against an even-year Giants club, a defeat this early would have been disappointing -- and a return to Wrigley Field on Thursday would have been nerve-wracking. The Cubs wanted to finish it Tuesday night, so they rallied in the ninth for four runs against five Giants relievers and watched Aroldis Chapman close it out. Then, for the 106th time this season, the celebration was on. "It feels like this is what this team does. It's just going to be extended," Ben Zobrist said. "It's usually for like 10 minutes. Now it's going to be an hour, two hours, into tonight on the plane. That's a fun thing." As the Cubs went down in order in the eighth inning, manager Joe Maddon's mind wandered toward a potential Game 5 showdown between Lester and Johnny Cueto. He wanted no part of it, and his players could tell as much by his obvious relief after their dramatic comeback. "I did not want to see him in the fifth game. I don't care where it was being played," Maddon said. "I'm happy to not having to face him in a winner-take-all game. That was it. I'm being very honest." That relief turned into joy as the Cubs turned the clubhouse into a makeshift party room, spraying beer and champagne until it dripped from the low ceilings above their covered lockers. Outside, at least 100 fans wearing Cubs blue converged around the visitors' dugout, cheering for players as they drifted back onto the field. Maddon took in the scene wearing a black wetsuit, something straight out of a surf shop. "I've never been a surfer," Maddon said. "One of the downsides of celebrating is cold water is cold. Champagne is cold. I'm a baby with that. I wanted to take some precautionary matters this time. It's helped somewhat. You still get nailed a little bit, but it helps." Theo Epstein, the architect of this team, walked around the room in a T-shirt, Cubs gym shorts and sandals, dishing out high-fives and hugs and getting beer after beer poured onto his head as music pumped through the clubhouse and the garbage can filled up with empty bottles. Yes, this party was different. "A little more enthusiasm," Kris Bryant said, smiling. "I feel like this is after every win. … This time it's champagne. We're all getting wet today." By the end of the week, the Cubs will have refocused. They'll begin the NLCS against the Dodgers or Nationals on Saturday (time TBD on FOX/FS1), trying to push past the point where they plateaued last October. The pressure will only intensify, and the expectations will be no lower. "We've got a lot to overcome in the postseason with the history of this franchise. It's a huge win," Zobrist said. "Going into the NLCS, we've got to prove we can do it in the NLCS. Last year, they didn't. This is a new group. We've got to get over that hump. That's the next goal, and we've got to find a way to do it."

The Cubs have bigger goals, certainly, and their ultimate prize lies eight wins away. But that wouldn't stop them from enjoying what they finished Tuesday night. "Even when we expect to win, we still enjoy each 'W'. Why wouldn't you?" Lester said. "We're in the big leagues. We get to play a game. We get to throw champagne and beer around and act like idiots. It's all good." -- Cubs.com Cubs going with Lester for Game 1 of NLCS By Jenifer Langosch SAN FRANCISCO -- Jon Lester, who threw eight shutout innings in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Giants, will open the NL Championship Series on Saturday at Wrigley Field (FOX/FS1, time TBD). He just doesn't know who he'll be facing yet. After winning the NLDS in four games, the Cubs will play the winner of the series between the Nationals and Dodgers, which was tied at 2 wins apiece. Their decisive game will be Thursday. "This is what you play for," Lester said. "It's October." The left-hander has become well-acquainted with the October stage over his 11-year career -- and thrived on it. Since his first playoff appearance in 2007, Lester leads all pitchers with 106 postseason innings. Over that stretch, he ranks third with 15 starts, third with seven wins and sixth with a 2.63 ERA (min. 40 innings). It's a resume that adds to the confidence the Cubs have in sending their regular-season ace to the mound in a win-or-go-home game. "It's going to be a tough series no matter what," Lester said of the Cubs' next opponent. "Both teams are going to be very tough. They've got great pitching. Their lineups are pretty well stacked. We'll figure it out as we go." Lester scattered five hits without allowing a walk in his Game 1 NLDS start against the Giants, and the Cubs were happy to not have to face the Giants and Johnny Cueto again in a potential Game 5. Chicago rallied to score four runs in the ninth inning and post a 6-5 victory over San Francisco on Tuesday night at AT&T Park and clinch the series. "Cueto is good -- our numbers are terrible against Cueto, and I didn't want to see that," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "I know Jon is good against them, but Cueto is good against us and in those low-scoring games, anything can happen, like the 1-0 home run." "We all know what time of year this is and what we're playing for," Lester said. "The preparation and the mindset remain the same, but when you're out there, you know what you're playing for. I think we all know that and I think the biggest thing is just being able to harness that, not run from that." -- Cubs.com Cubs ready for Nationals or Dodgers in NLCS By Carrie Muskat SAN FRANCISCO -- OK, so who's next? Now that the Cubs have advanced to the National League Championship Series (Game 1 Saturday on FOX/FS1, time TBD), they will face the winner of the other NL Division Series between the Dodgers and Nationals, which is slated for a decisive fifth game on Thursday (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on FS1).

The Cubs rallied for a 6-5 win over the Giants on Tuesday night at AT&T Park to clinch their NLDS. Last year, Chicago was swept by the Mets in the NLCS. Does it matter who the Cubs play? "I don't think so," second baseman Ben Zobrist said on Tuesday night. "I have to look at those particular teams and the matchups, but for us, right now, all we care about is the confidence our team has. To us, it doesn't matter who we play. We'll feel confident going into that first game." In the regular season, the Cubs went 5-2 against the Nationals, sweeping a four-game series at Wrigley Field on May 5-8, that was capped by Javier Baez's walk-off home run on Mother's Day in the 13th inning. Chicago also lost two of three in Washington on June 13-15. In those matchups, the Cubs' lineup had a different look as Jason Heyward was batting second. On May 6, Anthony Rizzo, Zobrist and Tommy La Stella homered off Max Scherzer, with Zobrist hitting a pair in an 8-6 win. In June, Scherzer got some revenge, striking out 11 over seven innings, and giving up two hits, including a home run to Addison Russell. The Cubs also dropped a 5-4 decision in 12 innings on June 15 when Adam Warren gave up a walk-off RBI single to Jayson Werth. Both teams knew they could meet again. "It was a hard-played series on both sides -- maybe an October preview," Cubs starter Jason Hammel said after the game on June 15. "They're the two best teams in baseball going at it, exchanging punches. It was exciting." Said Hector Rondon of the series finale in Washington: "It felt like a playoff game. It's good for us to get that mentality, especially against those guys. We know later in the season, when we're there, we have to figure out how to win against those guys. ... Next time we see those guys in the playoffs, we'll try to beat those guys." Scherzer is set to pitch on Thursday, and will likely be unavailable in the NLCS before Game 3, while Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who started Game 4 of the NLDS on Tuesday, will likely be unavailable until Game 2 of the NLCS. The Cubs went 4-3 against the Dodgers, taking three of four at Wrigley Field on May 30-June 2, and winning the opener of a three-game series in Los Angeles on Aug. 26. At Wrigley Field on May 30, Hammel, Travis Wood, Justin Grimm, Pedro Strop and Rondon combined for a one-hit shutout, scoring on an RBI single by Heyward and an RBI double by Rizzo. Jon Lester threw a four-hit complete game on June 1, striking out 10, and got support from Kris Bryant, who hit a two-run homer. The next day, Dodgers rookie Julio Urias made his second big league start and took the loss, serving up homers to Bryant, Heyward and Baez. Kyle Hendricks picked up the win in the 7-2 victory, striking out six. The teams didn't meet again until August, and Bryant hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning to give the Cubs a 6-4 victory on Aug. 26. But Urias won in a rematch the next day, a game in which Hammel was pulled after throwing 39 pitches over 2 1/3 innings. On Aug. 28, the Dodgers won, 1-0, in a game notable for some defensive miscommunication between Baez and Zobrist. Baez threw to second and Zobrist was late covering on the play. "It's going to be a tough series no matter what," Lester said on Tuesday night about the Cubs' next opponent. "Both teams are going to be very tough. They've got great pitching. Their lineups are pretty well stacked. We'll figure it out as we go." --

Cubs.com Cubs respect how Giants kept fighting back By Adam Berry SAN FRANCISCO -- The Cubs didn't need to look at the flags hanging on the left-field wall at AT&T Park or consult the calendar to confirm it was, indeed, an even year. They appreciated how difficult a foe the Giants proved to be in the National League Division Series by simply watching them compete for four straight games. The Cubs prevailed in the NLDS, three games to one, and advanced to the NL Championship Series (Game 1 Saturday on FOX/FS1, time TBD) with a 6-5 win over the Giants on Tuesday night. Fittingly, it was a one-run game. The two clubs met 11 times this year, and eight of those matchups were decided by a single run. Chicago won 16 more games than San Francisco in the regular season and cruised into October as the undisputed favorite in the NL. But the Giants put up a fight, dropping 1-0 and 5-2 decisions in Games 1 and 2 and proving their grit in a 6-5, 13-inning Game 3 win, their 10th straight elimination-game victory. "You have to give credit to the San Francisco Giants. It's a really nice team," Javier Baez said. "They never give up. We did the little things, and we had the big base hit at the right time." With a more stable bullpen, the Giants might have sent the series back to Wrigley Field for Game 5 on Thursday. Instead, the Cubs finally snapped the Giants' never-say-die streak. "I do want to congratulate the Giants," manager Joe Maddon said. "I've known [San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy] for a long time. I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for him and how he does things and this entire organization. I have a lot of friends in this organization. I actually had the pleasure of meeting Willie Mays before the game today, which was really special for me. "For us to be able to win today ... to beat [the Giants] in this ballpark is not easy, and it's -- the way [they] do things, I think it's very admirable and a great example for the rest of the industry." At times, the series felt closer than even the final 3-1 margin might suggest. Game 1 was a magnificent pitchers' duel between Jon Lester and Johnny Cueto. Giants left-hander Matt Moore was electric in Game 4, striking out 10 batters and limiting the Cubs to two runs on two hits in eight innings. "You've got to tip your cap to Matt Moore. He pitched a heck of a game," Kris Bryant said. "They played us tough. It was just great baseball overall." Game 3 was an instant classic, a back-and-forth affair that displayed the resiliency of both clubs and offered a snapshot of the key component to the Giants' three World Series runs since 2010. But in the end, the Cubs shoved aside the even-year dynasty and moved on to the next challenge. "We show nothing but the utmost respect for those guys and how they go about their business," Lester said. "They're a very classy organization and a classy team." -- Cubs.com Guaranteed hunger games: A title drought will end By Chad Thornburg While there's a lot of baseball left to play before representatives from the American and National Leagues take the field in the Fall Classic, one thing is for certain -- this year's World Series winner will have been a long time coming.

No matter which of the five remaining teams is crowned champion, it will bring an end to a notable title drought. The Cubs, Indians, Dodgers, Nationals and Blue Jays haven't won the World Series in the Wild Card era (1995). The Blue Jays are the most recent winners (1993), but others go further back. Here's a look at where each franchise stands as well as some of their closest calls: Cubs The longest title drought in North American sports belongs to the Chicago Cubs, who last won in 1908. After decades of near-misses and superstitious setbacks, the Cubs are World Series favorites heading into the NLCS. Chicago returned to the World Series seven times from 1910-45, but hasn't been back since. Closest call: In their last trip to the World Series, in 1945, Chicago pushed the Tigers to seven games. Most recently, the Cubs were four victories shy of a return, but were ultimately swept by the Mets in the NLCS a year ago. Chicago also infamously brushed with a Fall Classic appearance in 2003, squandering a 3-2 lead in which they were five outs from advancing in Game 6. Indians If not for the Cubs, the Indians would own the longest title drought in baseball. Cleveland last won the World Series in 1948, beating the Boston Braves in six games. After that championship, the Tribe didn't return to the playoffs until 1995. They've made the playoffs nine times since. Closest call: The Indians ended their 40-plus year postseason absence in 1995 by returning to the World Series and pushing the Braves to six games. The Tribe got as far as Game 7 of the Fall Classic in 1997, but the Marlins rallied and won in extra innings. Dodgers The Dodgers have reached the playoffs seven times since the turn of the century but don't have a title to show for it. Their last World Series win was against the A's in 1988 featuring Kirk Gibson's iconic pinch-hit, walk-off home run in Game 1. Closest call: Los Angeles was two wins from the Fall Classic in 2013, the beginning of four consecutive playoff appearances. The Dodgers fell to the Cardinals, 4-2, in the NLCS as St. Louis beat Clayton Kershaw twice. Blue Jays The Blue Jays may be the most recent World Series victor of this bunch, but it's still been more than 20 years since fans in Toronto have celebrated a championship. The Jays won back-to-back titles in 1992-93, beating the Braves and Phillies. They've made the playoffs just twice since, advancing to the AL Championship Series this year and last. Closest call: The Blue Jays overcame tremendous odds last year, becoming just the third team to ever battle back from losing the first two games of a five-game playoff series at home to beat the Rangers in the AL Division Series. Toronto then took two games from the Royals in the ALCS, pushing the eventual champions to six games. Nationals The Nationals, along with the Mariners, are one of two current Major League clubs that haven't appeared in a World Series. Since the team moved to Washington in 2005, the Nationals have not advanced past the NLDS in '12 vs. the Cardinals and in '14 vs. the Giants. Closest call: The franchise's postseason history includes three trips to the NLDS, all in the past five years, and one NLCS appearance in 1981. The Expos lost to the eventual-champion Dodgers in five games that year. --

Cubs.com Hendricks says he's good to go after workout By Carrie Muskat SAN FRANCISCO -- Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who took a line drive off of his pitching arm in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, played catch on Tuesday for the first time since he was struck and could be available if needed as a backup in Game 5. "Good to go," Hendricks said as he walked off the field at AT&T Park following his workout under the supervision of the Cubs' medical staff and pitching coach Chris Bosio. On Saturday, Hendricks hit a two-run single before leaving the game with two out in the Giants' half of the fourth inning after taking a line drive off the bat of Angel Pagan. Pagan's hit had an exit velocity of 94 mph. Montgomery big for bullpen The Cubs' bullpen was in good shape for Game 4 on Tuesday despite manager Joe Maddon having to call on six of the seven relievers in Game 3 on Monday. Only Carl Edwards Jr. did not pitch, but he did warm up. Mike Montgomery took the loss, serving up Joe Panik's RBI single in the 13th, but he saved the day as far as the Cubs were concerned. "That was huge," starter Jake Arrieta said of Montgomery's four innings. "We needed that. We needed to keep him in the game to avoid going elsewhere. ... It was going to come down to who got the big hit and they were able to." Montgomery's longest outing with the Cubs was six innings on Sept. 15 against the Brewers when he was the sixth man in the rotation. The lefty, acquired on July 20 in a trade with the Mariners for Dan Vogelbach, said the pitch to Panik just missed. "It was supposed to be down and away, and it was up and away or maybe middle-middle," Montgomery said. "I tried to get the ground ball to the left side of the infield and keep the runner on second. Unfortunately it was up toward the middle of the plate and he got it." Montgomery admitted to having more nerves than usual in his first inning of work and his teammates helped him get through the four innings. "They said, 'Hey, you've got this, you're the guy. Keep going out there and making good pitches,'" Montgomery said. "That was my mindset and I felt pretty good and pretty comfortable after that." Rizzo looking to break out After batting .292 in the regular season, Anthony Rizzo entered Tuesday 0-for-13 in the postseason through Game 3. "It's baseball," Rizzo said. "Obviously, I have not had the best three games to start off." Rizzo has had a few chances. He was 0-for-7 with runners on, and 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. "Every run you can push across, you have to try and take advantage of," Rizzo said. "But it's not easy. Their job is to get us out. Our job is to hit the ball." Maddon wasn't concerned. "He just has to be more patient," Maddon said. "I think they've chosen to not really challenge him now. He has to stay in the zone." It's tough being on top Maddon is well aware that the team with the best record does not always fare well in the postseason.

"The unrealistic expectation is to win 11 straight games," Maddon said. "One of the biggest points I did make in our meeting before this series began was that something is going to go wrong. Trust me, it's going to go wrong, and we have to maintain our composure and stay in the present tense. We did, we came back in that game [Monday] night and tied it up. I thought we handled the moment extremely well." Extra bases • According to Elias, Giants hitters Conor Gillaspie and Brandon Crawford were the third pair of left-handed batters to get hits off Aroldis Chapman in one game. • No one should be surprised at Arrieta's hitting ability. He was second in the NL in batting average (.262) among pitchers, was tied for third in homers (two) and finished with seven RBIs in the regular season. • The veterans in the Cubs' clubhouse definitely keep the youngsters under control. Said Maddon: "Our upperclassmen, they take care of the frosh." -- ESPNChicago.com The clutch moments that landed the Cubs in the NLCS By Bradford Doolittle SAN FRANCISCO -- Goodness knows, it wasn’t easy. The Chicago Cubs teetered on the brink of a Game 5 matchup with the playoff-tested San Francisco Giants, but pulled off a memorable ninth-inning rally to clinch their National League Division Series on Tuesday night. Each game was highly pressurized, the Cubs outhit .252 to .200 in the four games and outscoring the Giants just 17-13. They had a Cy Young candidate leave a start in the fourth inning after being struck by a grounder, an unbeatable closer who was beaten, and a genius manager who drew some criticism for what some saw as non-genius moves. But the Cubs did what they did all season -- they grinded. Sure, ground is the past tense of “grind” but somehow it doesn’t seem apt. And on to the NLCS we go. This was about as exciting as a five-game division series can get and so, by definition, the matchup leaves behind a treasure trove of scrapbook moments. With a little light statistical touch, let’s try to nail down the top few sequences that brought the Cubs one step closer to shaking off that damned goat once and for all. We’ll use Win Probability Added data from fangraphs.com for a numerical element, though the actual moments were chosen subjectively. 1. Javier Baez homers off Johnny Cueto in Game 1 (Win Probability Added: 30.2 percent) This was the Cubs’ first high-stakes game in weeks and though starter Jon Lester and the defense hit the ground running, the hitters were stymied by Giants starter Cueto. They were, that is, until Baez homered into the wind in the eighth inning, dropping a fly ball into the basket in left field that on many days and nights would have been bouncing around Waveland Avenue. The game set the tone for how the series would be played. It also established the Cubs’ grinding approach that so often pays off late in games. Finally, it put Baez under a spotlight that he excelled in for the entire series, in pretty much every aspect of the game. A star was born. “I know what I can do,” Baez said. “What I do, I will do it for my teammates, for my fans and for the city of Chicago, to bring this win home.”

You wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that about an hour after Game 4 ended. A few hundred lingering Cubs' fans packed the seats around the team's first-base dugout at AT&T Park, and when Baez emerged on the top step, they erupted into a chant of “Javy! Javy! Javy!” Baez was the Cubs’ best player in the series. 2. Javier Baez singles off Hunter Strickland, driving in the winning run of Game 4 (WPA: 29.9 percent) It was so fitting that it was Baez’s hit that capped the rally that put the Cubs in the NLCS. Strickland was the Giants' fifth pitcher of the inning, but if felt like it wouldn’t have mattered if manager Bruce Bochy had summoned in Christy Matthewson or Carl Hubbell into the game. Chicago was not going to be denied. “I think the game of baseball is a game that is 27 outs,” Baez said. “We were fighting and fighting.” 3. Willson Contreras singles off Will Smith to drive in two runs to tie Game 4 (WPA: 23.7 percent) Baez’s heroics wouldn’t have been possible without Contreras coming through as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning of the clincher. Contreras only got the chance thanks to some machinations from Maddon. But make no mistake, this was the matchup he wanted: Contreras against the lefty. 4. Jake Arrieta homers off Madison Bumgarner in Game 3 (WPA: 29.8 percent) The Cubs may have lost the classic Game 3, a 13-inning tussle the Giants finally won 6-5 on Monday. But there were some big and possibly lingering moments for the Cubs in defeat. Arrieta’s three-run shot off Bumgarner was the single-most stunning moment of the series, and it established that the Cubs won’t buy into the pre-existing storylines we love to push. Like the one that Bumgarner can’t be beaten in October. “Pressure. Expectations,” Maddon said. “I want our guys to thrive on those two words for years to come.” 5. Kris Bryant homers off Sergio Romo in the ninth inning to tie Game 3 (WPA: 37.2 percent) Another huge moment from the loss. Another moment that fits the 27-out meme, and the grinding theme. “We don’t quit,” Maddon said. “That’s really what it comes down to. You hear that all the time, everybody says it, but you have to actually live it.” 6. Travis Wood strikes out Conor Gillaspie in the fourth inning of Game 2 (WPA: 2.5 percent) This moment was chosen for its symbolic meaning more than anything, and because it tied into so many other things that happened. (And not because the Cubs pretty much stopped getting Gillaspie out after this.) Gillaspie was the first batter Wood faced after Kyle Hendricks was struck by an Angel Pagan comebacker and had to leave his start early. It could have been perilous, but Wood began a parade of relievers that shut out the Giants for 5⅓ innings the rest of the way. Overall, other than Aroldis Chapman’s struggles in the eighth inning of Game 3, the relievers were outstanding, for the most part. And let’s not forget that the very next inning, Wood homered to become the first reliever in 92 years to go deep in a postseason game. That started a two-game theme of Cubs' pitchers doing most of the team’s offensive damage.

7. Aroldis Chapman strikes out Brandon Belt to end the series (WPA: 3.7 percent) Chapman said after blowing the lead in Game 3 that it wouldn’t affect him the next time around. It didn’t. He smoked three Giants hitters with triple-digit velocity. And with alarming abruptness, a Giants team that had seemed on the verge of another even-year course in survival mastery saw its season come to an end. “It kind of gives you an empty stomach to go out like this,” Bochy said. But in Chicago, where people were singing, "Go Cubs Go" in the streets, it left a lot of hearts full. -- ESPNChicago.com Giant stunner: Inside the Cubs' clinching rally By Jesse Rogers SAN FRANCISCO -- For eight innings, the Chicago Cubs looked like anything but themselves. They certainly did not look like the best team in baseball. All signs pointed to an NLDS Game 5 taking place Thursday back at Wrigley Field against a San Francisco Giants team that would have all the momentum. Then the ninth inning happened. Make that then the incredible happened. "We didn't play Cubs baseball for eight innings," Cubs president Theo Epstein said in a champagne-soaked locker room after the game. "We didn't have good at-bats. We weren't playing heads up. We weren't ourselves. That frustration contributed to the eruption in the ninth." Down 5-2, the Cubs scored four times and won 6-5 to shock a team that had won 10 straight games when facing elimination. It all came crashing down on San Francisco in a manner of minutes, as Cubs veterans started the rally and young players finished it off to send the Giants home for the winter. "Hitting before the ninth inning is clearly overrated," Epstein said with a smile. How it happened Kris Bryant led off with a single, which led to Giants manager Bruce Bochy's first pitching change and the first key at-bat of the ninth inning. Lefty Javy Lopez entered to face lefty Anthony Rizzo, who had shown signs of coming out of his series-long slump after he drew a walk and got a hit earlier in the game. He walked again on six pitches, and in the stands, the Cubs front office watched nervously but with some newfound confidence. "Once he drew that walk, I thought, ‘Hey, maybe we can do this,'" general manager Jed Hoyer said. Rizzo's walk was followed by key at-bat No. 2. After Bochy brought in righty Sergio Romo, Ben Zobrist promptly doubled to right field, and the comeback was truly on. The Giants' lead was 5-3 after Bryant crossed the plate. "After the game, even on the mound, there taking the photographs, the guys were chanting, ‘We don't quit, we don't quit,'" manager Joe Maddon said postgame. Speaking of Maddon, the wheels in his head started turning at that point. He decided to pinch hit for Addison Russell, who accumulated 95 RBIs during the regular season. It was a gutsy move -- though Russell had been struggling. "It's hard to take out Addy with all those RBIs, but Romo can be death on righties," Hoyer said.

When Chris Coghlan stepped to the plate to hit for Russell, Bochy made yet another pitching change and brought in lefty Will Smith. Maddon burned Coghlan and asked his rookie catcher, Willson Contreras, to grab a bat. Key moment No. 3 was upon us. "I saw him [Contreras] working in the cage," reliever Pedro Strop said as Contreras poured champagne on him 20 minutes later. "I saw him focused going into the game." Contreras knew he had to keep his wits about him. The tying run was on second base. "After my first swing, I was thinking, slow things down," Contreras said. "I knew I had to calm down. I just wanted to hit a ground ball to the right side." Instead, Contreras singled up the middle and tied the game as Rizzo and Zobrist crossed the plate. It was 5-5. "The surprise is how grounded these guys are and how much understanding of the game they have," pitcher Jon Lester chimed in while standing soaked in the middle of the locker room. "That was never the case for me. It takes a long time to learn that. These guys are doing it at 22 years old." It's a topic that kept coming up as the beer and champagne flowed in the clubhouse after the clinching win: young players performing with the maturity of veterans. The Cubs have a system that is churning out kids ready for the biggest stage of postseason baseball. "I'm impressed, but it doesn't surprise me," Lester said. "I saw it 10 years ago [in Boston] with Theo. It's one of the reasons I came here." The Cubs weren't done. The game was still tied when Jason Heyward bunted into a force out that led to him standing on second base after a throw got away. The lead run was now 180 feet away, and at that point, there could be only one person who would come to the plate to put the final nail in the Giants' coffin: Javier Baez. "If they had an MVP of the division series, you would have to give it to him," Hoyer said. "I'm glad Cubs fans don't take him for granted." Baez broke his bat while singling the winning run home to cap a highlight-reel series for the 23-year-old infielder. Between his big hits and acrobatic defensive plays, Baez came of age over the four games. "He was incredible," Strop said. "Javy can do anything. He owned this series. I've never seen anything like it." Two more great defensive plays combined with the winning hit on the biggest stage to vault Baez into a new standing in baseball. His combination of talent and instincts is lethal, and now the Giants know it. Baez capped a ninth-inning rally that capped an incredible NLDS. What else do the Cubs have in store for the baseball world as they march toward history? It'll be hard to top Tuesday's 6-5 win. It was a victory for the ages. "This is the perfect group to do that stuff," Strop said. "The craziest ending I've ever seen." -- ESPNChicago.com Giants lose even-year mojo to late-game collapse By Mark Saxon SAN FRANCISCO -- The familiar story lines were moving in perfect sync toward Game 5, which could have been deliciously narrative-rich.

The Chicago Cubs were about to feel the weight of 108 years of bumbling and frustration come crashing down on their heads. Then, there was the even-year thing. That one was a lot of fun for a while and it even gave the San Francisco Giants' marketing people their billboard and hash-tag campaign. But you know what was hard to keep "believen" in? The San Francisco Giants' bullpen, which made the events of Tuesday's Game 4, in which five relievers formed a firing line of brutal ineffectiveness in a 6-5 loss to the Cubs more surprising for a national audience than it was for Giants' fans. They had seen this act before. They had seen it all season, as the Giants lost a franchise-record nine games that they led entering the ninth inning. They had seen it most painfully in September, as their team nearly blew not only any chance of winning the NL West but its grasp of a wild-card berth. The Giants frittered away nine saves in the final month alone. Once closer Santiago Casilla flamed out, they could never find the right fix. In fact, the team they were jostling with for that final wild-card spot even used the Giants' inability to hold leads as their dugout rallying cry when they saw the Giants take an early 5-1 lead on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the final game of the season. St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny admitted as much to reporters. The Giants were able to cobble together enough late-inning outs to reach the postseason and even put a scare in the frighteningly talented Cubs, but it caught up to them in one spectacular meltdown in the ninth inning Tuesday evening. It was as if manager Bruce Bochy summoned each of the five relievers -- finally, an actual committee of closers -- and instead of telling them, "I'm going to need you to get one out," told them, "I'm going to need you to put on one baserunner." It's a good thing MLB commissioner Rob Manfred had already left town, because Tuesday was an affront to the spirit of picking up the pace. With no closer, Bochy asked Derek Law to get Kris Bryant. Law later said he missed his spot and, instead of rolling over the pitch and hitting it right to Brandon Crawford, Bryant rolled it into left field. That brought in Javier Lopez, who walked Anthony Rizzo, which led to Sergio Romo, who gave up a double to Ben Zobrist. Come on in, Will Smith and, while you're there, give up a two-run single to Willson Contreras. Jason Heyward hit a double-play ball, but Crawford threw it away as Contreras slid into him near the bag. In came the hardest thrower of the bunch, Hunter Strickland, but he brought no relief. Javier Baez, the MVP of the series if there were such a thing, had the winning single. You might not need Mariano Rivera to win a World Series, but when you have five guys who can't get a single clean out before it's too late, you have a systemic breakdown on your hands. The Giants knew they hadn't fixed the problem. They were just hoping their October steeliness and starting pitching could keep it at bay long enough to win another World Series. It was a bold run. "I would like to think you're going to get three outs there," Bochy said. "We couldn't do it." What was fascinating to hear Tuesday night was Cubs manager Joe Maddon talk about the prospects of Game 5, which he wasn't particularly excited about. Maddon's wariness, in fact, indicates that, had they simply gotten bad shoddy relief pitching Tuesday, not a barrel filled with TNT, the Giants might have actually pulled off this amazing caper. Somebody asked Maddon what was going through his mind when his team entered the ninth inning down three runs. "Johnny Cueto at Wrigley Field," Maddon said. "I was telling the folks in there if you ever looked at those numbers, they're not good for us. He's really tough on us." In 15 career starts at the friendly confines, Cueto had held opponents to a .240 batting average and .687 OPS. He had a 3.07 ERA. Anthony Rizzo is 3-for-25 off Cueto; Jason Heyward is 4-for-18; Dexter Fowler is 3-for-16. And yet thanks to the Giants' bullpen, he'll never get that chance to complete the Cubs' implosion and spur on his new teams' drive to an every-other-year parade.

In the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's charade, the Giants hadn't quite had a chance to get their stories straight. Some of them were preaching togetherness, but a bitter residue still hung over the room after the way things ended. It's one thing to lose collectively. It's another to succeed collectively and then see one segment of the team continually undermine those efforts. "We look at it as we either win or lose as a team," Brandon Belt said. "We lost this series as a team. That's all we're thinking about." But Denard Span said, "The name of the game was get three outs and we didn't do that until they got the go-ahead runs. It's tough to watch it unravel. Just tough." Which prompted a follow-up question about the team's inability to hold late leads in the final, fateful weeks. "I don't want to speak on that," Span said. Monday's game seemed to shake something loose in the Giants' lineup: energy. Instead of a jolt from nowhere that typified their previous postseason games this year, they had the sustained pressure they're famous for in October. The Giants badgered John Lackey in every inning he pitched, scoring in the first, leaving two on in the second and breaking through for two more runs and three hits in the fourth. Lackey was gone by the fifth inning and Cubs relievers had no more luck stemming the tide. The Giants added two more runs on Justin Grimm and Travis Wood. The loudest shot was Crawford's blast off the right-field wall. It missed clearing the brick wall by an inch or so, careening off the top and bouncing back onto the field. Meanwhile, Giants starter Matt Moore made key pitches to get out of most of the trouble the Cubs could brew up. Even a rare Crawford error led to only one run in the fifth. He pitched brilliantly for his new team, giving up only two hits over eight innings, walking two and striking out 10. Still, Moore said there was no discussion about going out for the ninth after he threw 120 pitches (barely a month after he threw 133 in a near no-hitter). "Everyone kind of knew it was my last one," Moore said of the eighth. Tuesday was the second time the Giants had blown a postseason game they led after eight innings. They also did it 105 years ago. It blew up a lot of impressive streaks, including 10 straight wins in postseason elimination games and 11 straight winning postseason series. And yet it didn't feel like a once-in-a-century phenomenon, because it had grown commonplace in the previous weeks around here. "How do you explain any of the blown games we've had as a bullpen?" Law said. "I don't really know. I don't have an answer for you on that." They've got another four months to chew on that one. -- ESPNChicago.com Cubs put away the Giants with ferocious ninth-inning rally By Bradford Doolittle SAN FRANCISCO -- This postseason is supposed to be a silencing of the echoes for the Chicago Cubs. After the two games in San Francisco, the reverberations of history might be silenced after all. Javier Baez capped a four-run ninth-inning rally against five Giants relievers as the Cubs beat San Francisco 6-5 and put Chicago into the NLCS for the second straight season.

The Cubs' offense did little against Giants starter Matt Moore for eight innings but sprang to life against the San Francisco bullpen in the ninth. Ben Zobrist doubled to drive in Kris Bryant and draw the Cubs to within 5-3. Then pinch hitter Willson Contreras tied the score with a single up the middle, setting up Baez's go-ahead hit. There was no gut-twisting, stick of the knife manner in the way the Cubs fell behind by three runs to the Giants. No glaring managerial breakdowns or fan interference or horrible fielding gaffes. Instead, San Francisco methodically dismantled starter John Lackey with singles and walks and sacrifice flies, all occurring in the right clusters with the timing perfect, and the Giants were in position to even the series. In doing so, they would have set the stage for all sorts of bad playoff remembrances in Chicago. The Giants had an offensive hero in Conor Gillaspie, who went 4-for-4, and a defensive hero in Moore, who held the Cubs to two hits in eight innings and struck out 10. Maybe it would have been too soon to declare this the latest chapter in the Cubs' book of postseason horrors, but there did seem to be a mash-up of some bad autumn memories in place. First, there was Game 3, when the Cubs held an eighth-inning lead only to see the opponent rally to stay alive. No, it wasn't as dramatic as Game 6 against the Marlins 13 years ago, but the end effect is the same. Then there is the opposing hitter emerging as a playoff force. Last year, it was the Mets' Daniel Murphy. In 1989, it was the Giants' Will Clark. Now it seemed to be Gillaspie. But with one inning, the Cubs changed all that, and their march toward history continues. And the echoes of Octobers past ... they are a little more distant, for now. Game 1 of the NLCS is Saturday at Wrigley Field against the winner of Thursday's Game 5 between the Nationals and Dodgers. --