Chicago Cubs: My favorite memory vs. every National League team

Chicago Cubs: St. Louis Cardinals

The Cubs-Cardinals rivalry has given us many great moments over the years, for both sides. The Cardinals have the most recent good memory, sweeping the Cubs in a four-game series at Wrigley Field late in 2019, all games by one run. However, the Cubs have been on the positive side quite a few times as well.

Both in 2008 and 2017, the club clinched the NL Central division against the Cardinals; in 2008, it was at Wrigley Field, while it was in St. Louis in 2017. Those are great memories, indeed, but there are two that have to be considered among the best.

The first one took place on September 1-4, 2003, a five-game series at Wrigley Field (including a doubleheader on the 2nd). The two teams, along with the Houston Astros, were in a tight race for the NL Central division, and the Cubs were able to win four of the five games to gain the upper hand on St. Louis.

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The series is remembered for Dusty Baker and Tony LaRussa getting into a shouting match from their respective dugouts, yet four of the five games were intense. In the second game, the Cubs won in the 15th on a home run from Sammy Sosa, while they won the fourth and fifth game both by one run.

For years, that was my favorite Cubs-Cardinals memory. And then, the two teams met in the 2015 NLDS. For years, the fans had to watch as the Cardinals celebrated many times. And they got shut out in Game 1 of the series.

However, bad Cardinals defense in the second inning of Game 2 paved the way for a Chicago Cubs victory, and as we know, the team slugged their way to victory in Games 3 and 4 at Wrigley Field to win the series.

There was already plenty of joy in returning to the NLCS for the first time in 12 years. To do it against the much more successful division rival Cardinals made it that much sweeter. Though the team didn’t win the World Series that year, it felt like a huge hurdle had been overcome in the team’s history. For that reason, it’s hard to imagine any Cubs-Cardinals moment ever topping that.