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Chicago Cubs: An interesting perspective on Wednesday’s win
The Chicago Cubs won in dramatic walk-off fashion and clinched a postseason berth on Wednesday night after a Cardinals loss. Yet, it was still not the most ideal scenario for the team.
“No…I thought we were past this stuff,” Chicago Cubs fans thought Wednesday after the Pirates tied the game in the ninth inning. A wild and crazy night at Wrigley Field saw a lot of crazy things that brought back several flashbacks and reminders for fans, both good and bad. What looked like an easy win turned out to be an agonizing, but very relieving one.
Albert Almora Jr.’s RBI single with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the tenth lifted the Cubs to a 8-7 victory, and reduced the magic number to clinch the NL Central to four. Earlier in the evening the second-place Brewers defeated the Cardinals, which clinched a sure spot in October for the Cubs. Sounds like a memorable night full of celebration right? Well, it was not necessarily what Cubs fans wanted.
A Cardinals win could have dropped the division number to three and the win would have clinched the postseason berth. Long story short, the Cubs and their fans want to win the division and not deal with the Wild Card game. Everyone knows this. The amazing thing is how we look as fans at the situation now after winning a World Series.
Chicago Cubs: How the perspective has changed?
Imagine it is pre-2015. The Cubs have a World Series drought longer than a century and have seen only six postseason appearances since 1945. In that time only nine postseason wins and only one series win (2003 NLDS). Any sort of October scenario or even winning season is a rarity.
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Things go bad as they did in the ninth, one out away from a victory after Anthony Rizzo had the ball deflected away from him (we all know the comparisons that got) and the Pirates tie it on a shot off Rizzo’s glove. “Same old Cubs!” the fans shout as they throw their hands up.
Then, Albert Almora Jr. walks it off and the place goes crazy. Just knowing they would be playing past game 162 would be cause for champagne flying and celebrations in Wrigleyville, with a chance to win the division. Regardless, more baseball to follow.
Now, fans feel relief but still nerves and discomfort. Yeah they will be at least playing in a Wild Card game but no division has been clinched. After several years of division titles and playoff series victories, celebrating just making it is not enough anymore. A century’s worth of perspective changed in a few short years. Winning that game was huge, but they need to keep it if they want to win the division up because the Brewers face a terrible Tigers team to end their season. It is hard because we do not want to sound ungrateful for this success, but we want the most of every season with this success.
Chicago Cubs: A change of fates
Kind of going back to that disastrous ninth inning Wednesday, that was such a key element of “Cubsdom” over the years. And yet with their backs against the wall, they won. That is something that this team the past four years has done so much of. So many of these epic wins just this past season were rarities for so long, and each one has proven to be huge.
One may ask, “Would the pre-2015 have won that game after that ninth inning?” Well we do not know for sure, but what we do know is that the Cubs lost in similar fashion on a number of occasions over the years. Does the past really matter at all? No, it does not. It just makes one stop and think about this era of Cubs baseball.
Before fans treasured seasons that eventually ended in heartbreak like 1969, 1984 or 2003. Now actual playoff runs and a championship are treasured. What was once gold is now irrelevant dust, even if that dust still has a few good scattered memories swirling in our minds.
Next. . dark
I will say it once and I will say it again: buckle up Cubs fans.