Chicago Cubs: Greatest moments in Wrigley Field history

Chicago Cubs: The basket-saving bomb

2016. National League Division Series. San Francisco Giants at Wrigley to face the Cubs. An even year. What could go wrong?

The past six years before the 2016 regular season saw the Giants win three World Series championships in consecutive ‘even’ seasons: 2010, 2012, 2014. Matched with the Cubs to kick October off in 2016, there was a nervousness in the air as the NLDS kicked off.

The starting pitchers were Jon Lester and Johnny Cueto. It would morph into an unbelievable pitchers duel which kept fans on the edge of their seats. Lester finished off eight shutout frames, striking out five while walking nobody and allowing five hits. His counterpart had the Cubs’ number as well, as Cueto allowed just three hits and struck out ten. Everything for Cueto was going great, and then the eighth inning happened.

On a cold October night with the wind blowing in, nothing was going right for either team. In the bottom of the eighth, that would all change as Javier Baez stepped to the plate. With one-out, on a 3-2 pitch, Cueto attempted a ‘quick pitch’ against Baez.

Sitting on that exact pitch, Baez annihilated the baseball. Had it not been for the wind, it would have gone out on to Waveland Avenue. It landed in the basket above Angel Pagan, however, leading the Cubs to a 1-0 victory, beginning their quest for glory.