Monday's gut punch of a loss stirs up Cubs fans' memories from the 2003 NLCS

After seven scoreless from Jameson Taillon and with a nice 3-0 lead heading into the eighth inning Monday night, it felt like things were on cruise control for a Chicago Cubs team that had run of six straight victories and had won nine of 10.

Instead, Jorge Lopez - who has been near-untouchable since joining the Cubs earlier this summer - got roughed up for a pair of home runs in the top of the inning and before it was all said and done, the Pirates added one more for insurance in the ninth en route to a 5-3 win.

Just how jarring was this loss? Well, the last time the Cubs lost in such fashion, let's just say it was a night none of us will ever forget - despite our best efforts.

Of course, that affair became known as 'The Bartman Game' in the years that followed - but there was so much more to that loss than one foul ball that drifted into the seats down the left-field line. There was a sense of inevitability as Mark Prior mowed down Marlins hitters all night long. The excitement that coursed through Wrigley after Sammy Sosa doubled to plate the first run of the game in the bottom of the first.

That eighth inning, in which the Marlins plated eight runs, again, was so much more than one fly ball. One fly ball doesn't equal eight runs. The booted double play ball from Alex Gonzalez. A feeling of total deflation that settled over the ballpark as talks of curses and 'lovable losers' picked up as the scattered optimists looked ahead to Kerry Wood and Game 7.

Monday night didn't carry near the same weight as that chilly October night nearly 21 years ago. But playing with the narrowest of margins, it was a game the Cubs needed to and should have won. Instead, it has all the makings of one we circle in a few weeks if Chicago misses the postseason by a lone game when we close the book on the 2024 season.