Chicago Cubs: Key takeaways from Cubs’ Game 1 loss

A wait of more than seven decades drew to a close on Tuesday night, but the Chicago Cubs’ first World Series appearance since 1945 did little to calm the fears of fans in the Windy City of another postseason collapse.

Chicago Cubs’ veteran ace Jon Lester ran into trouble early, surrendering two runs in the bottom of the first. Despite Cleveland hitting just one ball out of the infield, Indians right-hander Corey Kluber set a big-league postseason record with eight strikeouts through the first three innings.

And, on multiple occasions, the Chicago Cubs’ offense failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position. For those of you who didn’t tune in, seeing a 6-0 final or reading through the endless stream of tweets Wednesday morning would be enough to spell doom for the Cubs.

Much the same as when Chicago fell behind Los Angeles two-games-to-one in the NLCS, the naysayers have been out in full force since Tuesday night.

Despite what those individuals are saying, this series is far from over. Chicago will hand the ball to the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner in Game 2 Wednesday with a lineup aiming to do one thing – score often and early.

Here are some takeaways from Tuesday fans should keep an eye on as Cleveland and Chicago do battle for the last time before the series shifts back to Wrigley Field on Friday.