The monkey is finally off the back of the Chicago Cubs and their fans. The Cubs beat the Dodgers 5-0 on Saturday night to win the NLCS four games to two, winning the franchise’s first pennant since 1945 and sending them to the World Series to face off with the Cleveland Indians.
The Cubs did it the hard way, too. They went down 2-1 in the series, and were faced with the prospect of needing to beat Clayton Kershaw if they wanted to win the pennant. No problem – Kershaw started for the Dodgers on Saturday, and was off his game in Game 6. In five innings of work, Kershaw allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits in five innings, striking out four without a walk. The first three runners all reached base for the Cubs, and the fourth hit a sac fly to make it 2-0, and that was more than enough.
Why so? Because Kyle Hendricks was on the hill for Chicago, and he was on another level. After allowing a leadoff single to Andrew Toles in the first, Hendricks didn’t allow another hit until Josh Reddick singled with one out in the eighth. Reddick was the last batter Hendricks faced, and in between the Toles single and the Reddick single, only one Dodger reached base – Reddick on an error in the second inning. He was picked off shortly thereafter by Hendricks, who finished his night by allowing two hits over 7 1/3 shutout innings, striking out six without a walk.
In fact, the Dodgers sent up the minimum 27 hitters during the game – their four baserunners were erased on a pickoff and three double plays, including one hit into by Yasiel Puig to end the game and officially end the pennant drought.
The NLCS MVP award was shared by Jon Lester and Javier Baez. Lester made two starts in the series, both Cubs wins, and pitched to a 1.38 ERA, striking out nine and walking two. At the dish, Baez hit .318/.333/.500 with three runs, four doubles, and five RBI.
Both the Cubs and Indians are looking to break long championship droughts – the Cubs haven’t won baseball’s ultimate prize since 1908, while the Indians haven’t won since 1948 (though they have won a pair of AL pennants, in 1995 and 1997, recently, along with a third in 1954).
