Chicago Cubs have plenty of experience in torturous, extra-inning baseball

Chicago Cubs: This was a game for the ages

In a game that clearly didn’t feature a lot of offense, there was plenty of action. Joc Pederson got the scoring started for the Dodgers in the third inning when he took Rick Porcello deep to right field on a solo shot.

Leading 1-0 still in the eighth inning, the Dodgers took no chances and brought in closer Kenley Jansen for a six-out save in a must-win game. Things didn’t go as planned as Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a game-tying solo home run to right field with two outs.

The game went into extra innings tied 1-1 and the Red Sox had the first chance to score. With one out, J.D. Martinez drew a walk in the top of the 10th inning and Ian Kinsler was called on to pinch run for him. Later, with Kinsler at third base, Eduardo Nunez hit a ball to center field, Kinsler tried to score but was thrown out by Cody Bellinger.

The game then featured two very bizarre scoring plays that both occurred on errors in the 13th inning. The Red Sox scored their run when Nunez hit a dribbler back to the mound and pitcher Scott Alexander overthrew first base. This allowed Brock Holt to score all the way from second base.

Max Muncy led the Dodgers half inning off with a walk and advanced to second base when Bellinger fouled out to third base. Yasiel Puig then hit a ground ball to the second baseman Kinsler, who slipped and threw the ball away, allowing Muncy to score from second and tie the game.

Ultimately, Muncy walked it off for the Dodgers when he led off the bottom of the 18th with a home run to left center off Nathan Eovaldi. The marathon finally ended at 12:30 A.M. Pacific time and the two teams were set to play Game 4 later that day at 5:09 P.M. Pacific time.

Now, while I was watching this game, completely uninvested from afar, I kept saying, “Good thing the Cubs are not a part of this game.” If Chicago had been playing, I would have had all the nervous ticks going, from butterflies in my stomach to constant pacing, all in hopes of the Cubs coming out on top.

This all got me thinking about recent Cubs extra-inning postseason games that could compare to the Game 3 18-inning affair. Three different games came to mind that gave all the similar feels of the Red Sox and Dodgers instant classic.