Cubs History: Cannot argue these three, but maybe the order for the top two
#3: 2016 National League Championship Series:
Seventy-one years without seeing a pennant ended on October 22nd, 2016, at Wrigley Field. That pennant-clinching 5-0 win in Game 6 of the NLCS over the Dodgers would not have happened without some heroics from Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Jon Lester and Miguel Montero in the first five games.
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The epic Montero grand slam off Joe Blanton in game one was followed by two Dodger wins, requiring the Cubs to rally from behind. A 10-2 blowout win in game four and 8-4 win behind great pitching from Lester in game five turned a 2-1 series deficit into a 3-2 series lead. Rizzo breaking his slump recording five hits in those two wins using Matt Szczur’s bat is still a great story.
All of this ending with the Kyle Hendricks gem and double play of Yasiel Puig’s bat, sealing a trip to the World Series. For sure, one of the best series in Cubs history.
#2: 2015 National League Division Series:
Really? A division series win ranked over winning a pennant? Well, it was against their oldest and most hated rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. Beating them in a playoff series was a dream come true and marked the beginning of something great on the North Side.
Could the young Cubs beat the 100-win Cardinals, a team that always seems to find a way in October? The Cardinals had made four-straight NLCS appearances going into 2015. A 4-0 game one loss did not phase the Cubs one bit. Game three, the first postseason game at Wrigley since 2008, was a slugfest that saw home runs from Kyle Schwarber, Jorge Soler, Starling Castro, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Dexter Fowler in an 8-6 win. That win set up the clinching 6-4 win at Wrigley, which included the famous Schwarber scoreboard home run in the seventh.
Sure the 2016 NLCS won the pennant, but man, this series against the Cardinals, felt just so dang good.
First championship since 1908 was clinched after erasing a 3-1 deficit and winning Game 7 in Cleveland by a score of 8-7 in 10 innings. Of course, this is number one. Not much else to say!
While having the World Series number one is not much of a debate; there is plenty of discussion for ranking the other series. This is all arbitrary, but that is what makes making lists fun.