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Go Cubs

10/21/2016

9 Comments

 
On Wednesday, I was in my bank here in Los Angeles, next in line, and saw a customer laughing with the teller about how "if the Dodgers win tonight, we can clinch it on Friday!" I put aside my first thought to close my account -- we *were* in L.A., after all, so they're hubristic enthusiasm was understandable -- and comforted myself knowing that if the worst happened and Chicago did lose, Cubs fans had 108 years to know how to handle it, but if the Dodgers collapsed it would be a living hell.

And so, indeed, the Cubs won on Wednesday night and then again last night.  So, instead of starting out Wednesday down two games to one with the possibility of losing the series and not even getting back to Chicago, they are up three games to two, needing only one more win as they head home to Chicago for the final two games.

Cubs fans have not just been waiting for 108 years to win a World Series...they have been waiting 73 years just to get a chance to PLAY in a World Series.  Cubs fans are indeed diehard -- and the vast majority of them have never even seen their favorite team play in a World Series.  Ever.  Yet still they follow the team, religiously.  Both at home (where they draw 3 million fans in the tiniest ballpark in the National League) and even on the road. And when the team is actually reasonably good, like this year, they are are maniacal, as they have been all season.

After the game last night, Cubs manager Joe Maddon was in the post-game press room. In response to a question, he responded in a tone as dry as sand -- "Saturday should be electric in Chicago. I expect a sell-out."

And yes, he had a twinkle in his eye and laughed.

To be very clear, as Cubs fan who knows the history well, I don't head into these final return home as anything even close to a lock.  On Saturday, they face pitcher Clayton Kershaw, arguably the best pitcher of the past decade -- who shut the Cubs out on only two hits in his last game the other day.  And so the Dodgers should be favored.  And if that means the series is tied three games each with one left, the final pitcher for the Dodgers will be Rich Hill, who shut the Cubs out on just two hits in his previous game, following Kershaw.  

So...it's still a serious battle.  But being up three games to two and back home is a position that's a whole lot better than on Wednesday morning.  And so...we hopes.

Go Cubs.

Fun Fact about Cubs President Theo Epstein. His grandfather & great-uncle, Philip and Julius Epstein, wrote the movie classic, Casablanca.

​Here's looking at you, Cubs.

Okay, so here's a bonus video from last night's game.  A significantly important play.  Dodgers slugger Andrian Gonzalez is leading off the inning.  He lays down a bunt -- and if he gets on then the Dodgers start the inning with a man on first and nobody out.  But one of my faves, a very young up-and-coming player who I've been yammering about for three years, despite not quite yet breaking through bigtime...until this series, Javier Baez makes an incredibly one-handed off-balance play to throw Gonzalez out by half a step.  (He was initially called safe, but the review overturned that.)

But it's an even better play than most people think.  Even me when I initially saw it.  When I first watched the play, I did so normally, with my eye on the ball, like most people.  But because of that, I missed what made the play even more remarkable than it came across the first time.  It’s where Baez was playing – you see, because the Cubs have a shift on for Gonzalez, Baez isn't play in the middle of the dirt infield as he usually would be, but is playing all the way out on the outfield grass!  And he comes racing all the way in from there to make the play.  I totally missed that the first time.  So, if you watch it here, force your eyes away from the ball, and re-focus them on short right field where Baez is. And then coming running all the way in.

​Following a brief commercial interruption.
9 Comments
Douglass P Abramson
10/21/2016 10:12:59 pm

As a Padre fan, the Cubs better beat the Dodgers. I am concerned, however, that a Cubs/Cleveland World Series might be a sign of the Apocalypse.

Reply
Robert Elisberg
10/21/2016 11:36:42 pm

You do understand, as I think I may have mentioned on these pages at some point, having driven down to San Diego and back to Los Angeles three times in 1984 to see the Cubs lose three straight games in the division series, I really couldn't care less what Padres fans want or are concerned about...

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Douglass P Abramson
10/21/2016 11:55:33 pm

Now, I wasn't going to bring that up. I keep that in reserve for when a Cubs fan ticks me off. Always works. Not as well as reminding a Dodger fan how they lost three straight at home to the Padres in 96; giving the division to San Diego. Their eyes go funny and they get very quiet. The Padres might not have any World Champion banners, but they've always been real good playing the spoiler.

Reply
Douglass P Abramson
10/21/2016 11:59:22 pm

Besides, your GM was poached from San Diego and Rizzo was developed in the farm system. Shouldn't that be enough to let 84 go?

Robert Elisberg
10/22/2016 06:24:39 pm

That's so adorable of you -- coming up with ways to tick off someone whose team hasn't won in 108 years...

By the way, just so you know, it doesn't really tick off most Cubs fans as much as you think. We hate it, but if we were ticked off by every loss or collapse, we wouldn't be able to function.

I'm reminded of walking into the San Diego parking lot after the final game. A car went driving back, and some guy saw my Cubs hat and leaned out, shouting, "HEY CUBS FANS -- YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO WAIT *ANOTHER* 39 YEARS TO GET INTO A WORLD SERIES!!!" And I had the presence of mind to calmly shout back, "And if we have to, we will."

Robert Elisberg
10/22/2016 06:26:45 pm

The GM originally came from Boston, where he worked with Theo Epstein. And the reason they got Rizzo is because he too had been on Boston, but Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer taded him and said they *always* wanted him back.

Reply
Douglass P Abramson
10/22/2016 07:16:09 pm

I know its all about the Boston connection; but it was still a boneheaded move by the previous owners to show Hoyer the door when he tried to turn the Chicago offer into a better contract and then gave him Rizzo in that trade once he was gone. If a GM wants to trade for the same guy twice, it should be a signal to keep him. Hoyer and the current ownership group's willingness to spend money would have been a great combination.

Reply
Robert Elisberg
10/23/2016 01:16:12 am

It wasn't a bad trade at the time by the Padres. The Cubs sent them one of their top pitching prospects, Andrew Cashner. And Rizzo the year before had spent some time in the majors as a rookie and only hit. about .140. And he had just recovered from Hodgkin's Disease a couple years before. When Theo Epstein traded Rizzo from Boston to San Diego, he told him that "I'm going to get you back at some point." The fact that he and Hoyer thought so highly of him does say something -- but Cashner was pretty good, and Rizzo was no certainty, on several levels. As for Hoyer, I suspect he well may wanted to re-join Epstein, regardless of what the Padres did. Maybe not. Me, I'm glad how it all worked out...

I love Rizzo. He probably won't win the MVP this year, though he's a contender. But as great and versatile as Bryant is, and I suspect is the odds-on favorite, Rizzo is really the heart of the ball club, and the team leader.

Douglass P Abramson
10/23/2016 07:40:33 am

Rizzo might not win the MVP; but the way he and the Cubs have been playing, he just might wind up being the World Series MVP. As quickly as Cleveland took care of Toronto, they very well could be ice cold when the series starts. It will be interesting to see how history analyses this series. The executives who engineered Boston's modern championships verses the manager who guided that team to those championships.

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    Author

    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.



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