Chicago Cubs: An in-person reflection of last season's NLDS clincher

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Without question, the most memorable baseball game I ever attended came last fall – Game 5 of the NLDS between the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals.

We all remember when the Chicago Cubs somehow advanced to a third consecutive NLCS last fall. But, given I was at Nationals Park, I experienced it on a very different level than folks watching at home.

There was drama before the game even began. My uncle, a Nats season-ticket holder, had secured a pair of his seats for myself and a friend to witness this spectacle. In the run-up to the game, I lost one of the tickets… hardly an inauspicious start.

So, instead of being accompanied by a fellow North Sider, I was relegated to a state of solitude as I entered a sea of red that evening.

Things quickly improved when Jon Jay hit a leadoff double and later scored on a groundout by Anthony Rizzo. In the bottom of the first, Javier Baez cut down Trea Turner at the plate to keep the Cubs in front.

But the Nats fans roared with approval after now-Cub Daniel Murphy homered off of Kyle Hendricks in the second to tie the game. Anthony Rendon and Matt Wieters followed with singles, bringing Michael A. Taylor to the plate.

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Taylor already made his mark on the series, hitting a grand slam off of Wade Davis in Game 4 at Wrigley to send the series back to Washington. On an 0-2 count, Davis hit a fastball that was practically at his head into the left field bullpen, and the Nats suddenly took a commanding 4-1 lead.

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The stadium erupted. Being what felt like the only Cubs fan in my section, I was getting chirped left and right. Hendricks had been the stoic warrior for the Cubs in Game 1, matching Stephen Strasburg pitch for pitch and earning a crucial victory to open the series. But the Nats had gotten to him early, and the Cubs suddenly faced a steep uphill climb.

The Cubs got two runs back in the top of the third, but things looked grim when 2017 NL Cy Young Max Scherzer came on in relief in the fifth. Remember that Scherzer had dominated the Cubs in Game 3, holding the Cubs hitless for 6 2/3 innings before Ben Zobrist doubled. Dusty Baker controversially yanked Scherzer, and Albert Almora promptly singled to tie the game at 1-1 before Rizzo ultimately provided the game-winning hit.

Fast-forward three days later, and Scherzer has the ball with another one-run lead. The whole stadium was abuzz as the jumbotron flashed Scherzer’s imposing brown and blue visage. And again, Scherzer got off to a fast start as he retired the first two Cubs hitters. What happened next was as improbable an inning as any I can remember in postseason history.

Chicago Cubs: A historic chain of events unfolds

Willson Contreras and Ben Zobrist singled, bringing Addison Russell to the plate. Russell is having a brutal series, hitting just 2-15 with seven strikeouts. This was perhaps the most favorable matchup Scherzer could have asked for in this situation.

Except when Russell doubled down the line on the first pitch of the at-bat, the Cubs had miraculously recaptured the lead. Then, Scherzer and the Nats imploded. Chicago went on to score two more runs on behalf of a dropped third strike and a throwing error, plus a wonky catcher’s interference followed by Scherzer plunking Jay.

Normally, I would have been ecstatic. But what had just occurred was so unfathomable, and I think I was just as stunned as the Nats fans around me, who could not believe that they were on the precipice of another historic collapse.

I mean, this is Max Scherzer. He is one of the most dominant pitchers of the decade. The Nats had expected him perhaps to finish the game and send them to the NLCS. Instead, he was done after just one inning. I have never heard a ballpark go so quiet.

Matters only worsened for the Nats when the much-maligned Jayson Werth misplayed a ball off the bat of Addison Russell in the sixth, allowing another run to score and giving the Cubs an 8-4 lead.

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With nearly all of the energy drained from their home crowd, the game appeared to be over for Washington. The desperation was evident as a Nats fan seated behind me (who had been screaming “We don’t respect you Rizzo!” all game) began insisting that Pedro Strop‘s quick-pitches were all balks, despite the fact nobody was on base. But this game of strange twists only became more unpredictable.

After replacing Strop in the bottom of the sixth, Mike Montgomery gave up a double to Bryce Harper and walk Ryan Zimmerman, throwing a wild pitch that allowed Werth (who was on third) to score. Murphy then doubled in Harper, and suddenly the tying run was in scoring position. I almost had to laugh. Three runs had already been scored by way of a passed ball or wild pitch, why not another way to help the Nats claw back into the game?

Montgomery somehow escaped and Kyle Schwarber led off the seventh with one of the loudest singles I’ve ever seen, a screaming liner off the right field wall that seemed destined to leave the yard. Somehow, it stayed in the park. Schwarber later scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Kris Bryant, putting the Cubs back up by three runs. But still, the Nats were far from finished.

Chicago Cubs: Nationals seek late-inning heroics

Washington loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the inning, with Harper coming to the plate to face Jose Quintana. Much like Schwarber in the top half, Harper hit one on the screws, but right at Jay in center field. Still, the drive trimmed the Cubs’ lead to 9-7, and Joe Maddon brought bring on Wade Davis to record the first eight-out save of his career.

Suddenly, Washington fans were alight with excitement, seemingly chanting “N-A-T-S Nats, Nats, Nats” with every opportunity. Although Davis retired Zimmerman to end the scoring threat in the seventh, Taylor singled in a run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. When Jose Lobaton singled, the winning run was suddenly at first base, with Turner coming to the dish.

Turner already had a pair of hits in the game, and Davis looked to be tiring. On a 2-1 pitch, Contreras threw behind Lobaton at first base. Lobaton appeared to beat the throw back to the base fairly handily, but the Cubs challenged anyway.

Replays showed that Lobaton did beat the throw initially, but his foot came off the bag as Rizzo kept the tag on him, and the call was overturned. The bat had been taken right out of Turner’s hands, and the Cubs were out of the inning with their lead intact.

Chicago Cubs: Punching their ticket to the next round

The Lobaton play was the beginning of the end. Everyone around me cried bloody murder and said that instant replay was allowing for too many complexities, and taking the human error out of baseball. Twitter blew up, too.

How ironic that one year later most fans are talking about implementing an electronic strike zone.

Davis retired the side in order in the ninth, striking out Harper for the final out to put a fitting stamp on an epic game. While the Nats fans poured out of the stadium, Cubs fans sprinted to the third base dugout.

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I have never high-fived so many random strangers in my life. Cubs fans waved “W” flags and sang “Go Cubs Go” as the team celebrated their third consecutive trip to the NLCS. It was one of the most incredible games in postseason, and one I will be thinking about as the Cubs face Scherzer on Saturday afternoon in Washington.

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Chicago Cubs: An in-person reflection of last season’s NLDS clincher