The Cubs tie up the World Series as Kyle Schwarber continues to blow our minds, Anthony Davis scores 50, DeMar DeRozan scores 40, some asshole Sixers fan flips off Russell Westbrook, and a baby adorable koala runs into a tree. It’s go time…
Cubs even up the World Series at 1-1, Kyle Schwarber continues to amaze
I’m in a very good mood this morning, because the Cubs have evened up the World Series with a 5-1 win over the Indians in Game 2.
Guys. Guys. GUYS!
The Cubs just won a World Series game and we watched it happen.
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) October 27, 2016
Jake Arrieta overcame some command struggles to give up one run over 5 2/3 innings pitched… and he was able to overcome those command struggles because nobody was hitting him. Like, literally nobody through five innings, as he took a no-hitter into the sixth.
But — despite allowing just one run — the big story for the Cubs was on offense, where Kyle Schwarber continued to do things he shouldn’t be able to do right now. The second-year slugger is 3-for-6 with two walks so far in the World Series, despite tearing his ACL and LCL in early April, and not even being cleared for baseball activities until the last couple of weeks. The only other at-bats (since the injuries) he had in organized games came in the Arizona Fall League over the weekend. He’s come off major knee surgery and a handful of Arizona Fall League at-bats to look like one of the best hitters in the World Series, against awesome pitchers. It’s just absolutely amazing.
It is impossible to overstate the insanity of what Kyle Schwarber is doing. Because it's literally the first time anyone has done it.
— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) October 27, 2016
Kyle Schwarber history alert! He's the first position player ever to get no hits all season but then get one in a World Series game.
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) October 26, 2016
Bryant on Schwarber: "People don't really realize what he's doing is pretty special. They're gonna make a movie about him."
— Cubs Talk (@NBCSCubs) October 27, 2016
Schwarber got his big Wednesday night going with a rocket RBI single on a 3-0 count in the top of the fourth:
That had Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein pretty excited:
And Schwarber added another RBI single in the top of the fifth:
Schwarber — the Cubs’ all-time leader in postseason homers after hitting five last year as a rookie — now has the highest OPS in postseason history of batters with at least 40 plate appearances:
#Cubs Kyle Schwarber has a career 1.274 OPS in the #postseason. Highest in baseball history among player with at least 40 plate appearances.
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) October 27, 2016
The series now heads to Wrigley Field, where Games 3-5 will be played Friday-Sunday. Schwarber has not yet been cleared by doctors to play defense, and it will be interesting to see if Joe Maddon would choose to start Schwarber if he is indeed cleared. His outfield defense is of course nothing special, but also not as bad as people assumed with a rough NLCS performance last year. Still… he hasn’t played out there since early April and coming off major knee surgery, so who knows how effective he can actually be out there. But it will be so hard to keep that bat out of the lineup at the same time.
Quick Hits
– So, it didn’t take Anthony Davis long to get going this NBA season. The 23-year-old unibrowed superstar had 50 points, 16 rebounds, seven steals, five assists, and four blocks… in a Pelicans loss to the Nuggets. Hey, I don’t care that they lost. That’s not his fault. That’s like when people argue about Mike Trout not deserving the AL MVPs because most of the other 24 guys on his team stink.
Enjoy these highlights of Davis dropping 50 on Denver, and let’s hope he gets more national TV games this year. Even if his team isn’t very good.
https://youtu.be/FFVidNjNGxM
– DeMar DeRozan also had an awesome season debut, putting up 40 points in the Raptors’ 109-91 win over the Pistons:
https://youtu.be/_X-wVT8f3cU
– Joel Embiid! 20 points in his NBA debut (finally).
– This Sixers fan is an asshole, and flipped off Russell Westbrook with both middle fingers. Westbrook had an awesome (and impressively calm) reaction to it, while Jeff Van Gundy said how you should be able to go into the crowd to “whack the guy” (I can’t say I disagree):
As for Westbrook’s attire arriving at the game? Um… it’s something.
– Mets star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes is reportedly going to opt out of his contract and become a free agent.
– Katie Nolan slammed the NFL’s handling of the Josh Brown situation and offered her own solution.
– I wrote about this insane Tron rollercoaster and how I’m a huge wuss with rollercoasters.
– Girl Scout cereal? Yes please.
Here’s a scene from a show I like
I’ve decided I’m going to do these from now on for my Cheat Sheet turns, because why the hell not? This is supposed to be fun!
This scene(s) is from Parks & Rec (and you can get a laugh out of this even if you don’t watch the show):
One last glorious moment of procrastination
Mason the adorable baby koala runs into a tree.
Mason the baby koala got so excited for play time, he ran right into a tree. https://t.co/SiQIVKNxLy pic.twitter.com/fcAEoVxbjh
— ABC News (@ABC) October 26, 2016
