Chicago Cubs: Top 5 moments of the golden era of Cubs baseball

Chicago Cubs: Top 5 moments of the Golden Era – #5: 2015 NLDS

In a year that surprised many, the Cubs made it all the way to the NLCS for the first time since 2003. On the regular season, the Cubs finished 97-65, good for a Wild Card spot in the National League. After facing the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Wild Card Game, the Cubs advanced to face the division rival St. Louis Cardinals.

With optimism brewing on the North Side after a big win in the Wild Card game, the Cubs fell to St. Louis in Game 1, losing in Busch Stadium 4-0 with Jon Lester taking the loss despite tossing a gem, giving up three earned runs in 7 1/3 innings of work, two of which came in the eighth inning. Game 1 was the last time the Cardinals got the best of the Cubs in the 2015 season.

In Game 2, the Cardinals struck first in the bottom of the first inning, scoring one run off a Matt Carpenter leadoff home run off Kyle Hendricks. It was at this point that the Cubs refused to go down easy, rallying for five runs in the second inning and another in the third. Hendricks gave up two more runs in the fifth, falling just short of eligibility for the win as Travis Wood would come in for relief. The Cubs evened the series at one game apiece.

Eventual National League Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta took the mound in Game 3, firing 5 2/3 innings and allowing four earned runs, also striking out nine Cardinals in the process. The story in this one was the long ball. The Cubs and Cardinals combined for eight home runs, six of which were hit by Cubs. The mark set a major league record for most home runs hit in one single game.

Game 4 is, even today, known as the Kyle Schwarber scoreboard game. In a game in which eight Chicago Cubs pitchers took the mound, the story was a go-ahead Anthony Rizzo home run in sixth and Schwarber’s seventh-inning insurance run bomb that landed near the Budweiser sign on top of the scoreboard in right field to put the Cardinals out of their misery for good. The Cubs’ Cinderella story continued and they advanced to the NLCS.