Well, they did it. What more can you say? Whereas Monday night, I really felt confident they would sail by to the NLCS, tonight I felt convinced they would lose and have to return to Chicago for a deciding game on Thursday night.
Baseball is hard to figure sometimes, actually more often than not. The ninth inning rally Tuesday night is more the stuff of legend. All night long the Cubs were stymied by Matt Moore, who had held them to two hits. Once he was removed for what looked like a routine save for even the beleaguered Giants bullpen, the roof caved in.
What is even more fantastical is that it was evident that Maddon spoke to Contreras when the inning began, telling him to be ready to pinch hit if the Giants went to a left-hander, which Maddon was determined to see happen because he was going to insert pinch-hitters into the game until they were forced to do so.
After that hocus-pocus, I am sure the Cubs players must think that Maddon is some sort of sorcerer and that they will literally walk through walls should he tell them to do so.
People are knocking Bochy for taking Moore out, especially given the history of the Giants bullpen through the second half of the year. However, the guy had thrown a lot of pitches and it looked as if even they could hold a three-run lead. Maybe a better bet than supposing Chapman could pitch out of a jam and notch a six-out save.
Credit the Cubs sheer determination to win for this one though. The first three at-bats of the inning by Bryant, Rizzo, and Zobrist set things up. They were illustrations of the kind of grit that has got the Cubs to where they are today. After that the Giants were on their heels and whatever momentum and confidence they had was gone.
Game 1 of the NLCS is Saturday night. Not sure who they will play, as the Nationals/Dodgers series goes to Game 5 on Thursday.
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