This is a truly historic MLB postseason...

[Pokemaster Ash]

It all started with the Cleveland Indians defeating the Toronto Blue Jays to win the ALCS and the AL Pennant, reaching the World Series for the first time since 1997 with a chance to win for the first time since 1948.

...However that gets completely blown out of the water tonight, with the Chicago Cubs defeating the LA Dodgers to win the NLCS and the NL Pennant, reaching the World Series for the first time since 1945 with a chance to finally put an end to the infamous 108 years of misery with the first championship since 1908.

This is going to be a fun and wild ride...

[Drago]

Cubs all the way. Munenori Kawasaki FTW.

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

I wish I could go back to the beginning of the season and put some money on the Cubs.

[Magmar]

Go, Cubs!!
xoxo from Chicago

[Jeff]

So, I'm still bitter over the Orioles' exit from the Postseason. After such an evenly matched game with the Blue Jays, the O's manager decides to put in the most inconsistent pitcher on the team, who promptly gives up a pair of singles, still doesn't get pulled, and then ends the season on a walk-off 3-run homer. I'm just glad the Indians knocked out the Jays, and I really don't care who wins the World Series at this point. I do wish I could go back and put some money on the Cubbies though.

[Drago]

So, I'm still bitter over the Orioles' exit from the Postseason. After such an evenly matched game with the Blue Jays, the O's manager decides to put in the most inconsistent pitcher on the team, who promptly gives up a pair of singles, still doesn't get pulled, and then ends the season on a walk-off 3-run homer. I'm just glad the Indians knocked out the Jays, and I really don't care who wins the World Series at this point. I do wish I could go back and put some money on the Cubbies though.

Thanks for the reminder! I forgot how awesome that Wild Card game was.

[Number1ChanseyFan]

haha I have always joked that if this world series match up happened it would be the end of the world, because the world could never accept a situation where one of these 2 teams HAD to win it all! But, what can I say, seeing the Indians back for the first time since 1997 is a dream come true, I am so proud of what they accomplished, especially dealing with all of their injuries, I mean how many teams could survive losing their best all around best hitter for basically the entire season, then lose their #2 and #3 starters in September, having a bottom third payroll, and make it this far?

The Indians definitely need to play from in front early, that will be huge because the Cubs won't hit Andrew Miller, I love the way he is being used, he is such a huge safety net for that first jam you get into in the middle or late innings. I am curious to see if CLE can exploit Lester's inability to throw to first and hold runners, the Dodgers tried but mostly just made noise.

This series does feel a tiny bit weird though, whenever the Indians weren't in it, I always had a soft spot for the Cubs, but I certainly don't now! Bring on the goats and extend the curse to 109 years!! It is funny, nobody outside of Cleveland is giving them much chance, and honestly no one outside really is rooting for them either, but that will just make it that much sweeter if we pull it off!! Besides, the Cubs have already accomplished their biggest accomplishment since 1945 by just making it to the World Series!! That is more than enough for now, maybe next year to win it all... this is our time!!

Wonder how I will be looking back at this post on Saturday, or November 2nd, or someday in between, whenever this is over... ^_^

[Pokemaster Ash]

While this certainly would have made for one of the most improbable matchups, I think the one possible World Series matchup that would define End of The World would be Cubs vs. White Sox (at least, prior to 2005). I mean, either way Chicago's got a title, just a matter of which team gets it. Of course, both teams being that good is....usually a longshot at best.

And given my track record for talking about postseason sports, I'm obviously behind the Cubs all the way. It was awesome to see the Sox win it all in 05 (I like them too, just not as much, blasphemous as that might sound to baseball purists), it's time to finally make history, and I think this Cubs team can actually do it.

As far as field conditions, I'd consider things neutral (gonna be cold as heck in Cleveland or at Wrigley). Cubs DEFINITELY have home crowd advantage (and they travel well), and while I admit the Indians have some good arms in the bullpen, the Cubs starting rotation has not been easy to beat for the most part. Also if I remember right, Cleveland has a pitcher coming into the series not having been in a game in a month and a half, a position player who hurt himself in the post-ALCS festivities, and that pitcher who sliced his finger open (I'll admit he probably won't be bleeding all over the mound, but that's still probably going to affect his throwing......and I had to be eating dinner when that happened too >_<). Cubs at least not dealing with any lingering injuries, though the reappearance of Kyle Schwarber (lost for the whole season to this point after a nasty injury in April) as a possible DH could be interesting. His is a bat to not take lightly...

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Yeah, the Cubs rotation is a little worrisome, at least the Indians have faced all of them except for Hendricks, and although I think he has over achieved this year, there is no doubt that a hot pitcher is dangerous... Lester has given us the most trouble, but in the past we never had a good speed team that should be able to put pressure on him. We do ok against Lackey, and have actually hit Arrieta hard, although we have only faced the good Cubs version once, but we did beat him last year before he went on that crazy streak. And yeah, I am a little worried about Schwarber... I know he can hit, and I have seen guys come off of the DL and get crazy hot... I think he will have an extreme series one way or the other, he is either going to be rusty, or he is going to hit everything in sight.

As for our injuries, I wonder about Kipnis, he is the type of player who would go out with a broken ankle and say he is fine, he never asks out of a game, but I am worried about him playing at less than 100%. Probably Salazar is the biggest question mark, he has had various nagging injuries since the All Star game, and one time he came off the DL without a rehab assignment against the White Sox and it was ugly. Bauer should be fine as long as the finger doesn't open up on him... in the Toronto game he was throwing his fastball and curveball just fine, so luckily the injury itself doesn't seem to be impacting his ability to throw. Hopefully he can go in game 2 and we can put Tomlin in game 3, he would be better off pitching to a NL lineup, and he handles the bat extremely well, he can bunt AND hit very good for a pitcher. Actually Kluber can hit a little too.

[Pokemaster Ash]

Well the only games you'd have to worry about the pitcher batting are Games 3-5 (if it gets to 5, but I see this being a close series).

Also while Lester himself might not handle base runners that well, our catchers make up for it. They've gunned down plenty of runners in pickoffs and steal attempts this season, so trying to mess around on the bases could hurt the Indians more than help them.

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Can't believe it's less than 2 hours away now... its funny, I appreciate this so much more now... I have been watching them since 1995, when they were starting their run as the dominant team in the Central. It was fun, we would get out of uniforms and wear Indians stuff at school, we got to watch the 1:00 games in the ALDS on the little TVs in the classroom... everybody loved the Indians, and even after the 1997 heartbreaker, I thought they would be back there again in no time, I thought they would always be good! Now I realize just how hard it is to get to a World Series, let alone win one... And a matchup of the 2 longest droughts in the game... it really is special, it's rarer than a once in a lifetime opportunity.

[Knight of Time]

Well, there's no denying that this World Series is going to be a historic one...but I have to side with the majority here and go for Chicago, not just because it's been over 100 years since they won a championship, but let's be honest, I was really gunning for Toronto to pull off another upset this year after their 3-0 sweep of Texas in the ALDS. But now that the Blue Jays are out, I just hope that the Cubs will avenge Toronto's series loss to Cleveland. Sorry to the Cleveland fans here (especially you Christen), but I want to see the Cubs win it all, even if Cleveland doesn't go down without a huge fight.

[Pokemaster Ash]

Well it wouldn't be the first time Chicago took down an opponent who defeated Toronto before if they can. *glance back at the 2013 NHL playoffs*

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Yesssss!! ^_^ Game 1 went about as good as I ever could have hoped!! Unexpected HR power from Perez, got 6 from Kluber, and the bullpen held it down... if there was anything a little concerning though, the Cubs seemed to have a little better approach against Andrew Miller than Boston or Toronto, they worked him pretty hard, especially the Baez at bat, he was on everything that he threw, not used to seeing someone that comfortable against him. Seems like the Cubs hitters like fastballs

[Pokemaster Ash]

Well the Cubs looked more like the Cubs tonight, proving they can adapt to the teams they are facing. They had some solid at-bats and good hitting (could have done better in some situations tonight, but can't argue with the end results), Arrieta was sharp after a bit of a shaky start (not as much as Lester had), and they're heading to Wrigley Field with the series split 1-1 after getting the first win for the franchise since Game 6 of the 1945 World Series .

Man, it's going to be crazy in Wrigleyville this weekend.

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Yep, this game didnt go good at all, didn't even seem as close as the 5-1 score made it seem. The Cubs were better hitting, pitching, and fielding... had a couple of chances with Arrieta's early control problems but couldn't put any good swings against him. So now it's a best of 5 with Chicago having home field advantage. Hoping Tomlin and his new curveball heavy approach works better against the Cubs.

So Schwarber is limited to pinch hitting in Chicago? That is really gonna be hard on Joe Buck. Oh well... I am sure he will still talk about him most of the game!!



Oh, and we have another fan giving us some love!!

[Pokemaster Ash]

Joe Buck starts getting painful to listen to this time of year. While he IS a good broadcaster, his enthusiasm varies quite a bit depending on what teams are still alive at this time of year (much as he tries to hide it, it's quite obvious he's a Cardinals homer, and not really all that thrilled to be calling a game with a Chicago team in it (Cubs, White Sox, or even the Bears)).

A little disappointing Schwarber wasn't cleared to play on the field, but he's still a potent bat that can come off the bench in a pinch hitting situation. Speaking of, when the hitters are hot, it really doesn't matter what's being thrown at them. They will hurt a pitcher if they get something even remotely good to hit (and reports are that the wind will be blowing out for Game 3 at Wrigley). Hendricks is pretty tough at Wrigley (the Dodgers were crazy lucky to beat him in NLCS Game 2 and got stomped by him in Game 6), so this could be an interesting game.

[MToolen]

I'm aware he's a big homer. It's the same every time the Blues play the Blackhawks and the national announcers can't say enough about Chicago. It's nice to be wanted once in a while!

[Pokemaster Ash]

Well, in fairness to the national hockey broadcasts, Eddie is a former Blackhawk (and when not working for NBC, is part of the Blackhawks' local TV crew), so obviously he's going to show some love for his old team. Doc just seems to like the city in general, and you can't deny the Blackhawks have been pretty epic in recent years.

Back to baseball, tonight marks the first World Series game played at Wrigley Field since 1945. The crowd will certainly be pumped up for this one. I wonder what they're going to do for the 7th inning stretch in Games 3-5, though... Wouldn't be too surprised to see a video of Harry Caray on the big video board (they've done that before for special occasions), or maybe Ernie Banks or Ron Santo on the board as well (among other legends who couldn't make it to see this). Cubs certainly have their share of celebrity fans as well, so maybe Bill Murray up in the booth?

EDIT: Man, what a close game. And it's Bill Murray up for the 7th Inning Stretch for Game 3

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Wow... what a nailbiter, it was kinda funny that such a big deal was made over the wind blowing out and no one even came close to hitting one out, although Soler may have had an inside the park HR if he had ran hard on the ball that Chisenhall messed up in the outfield. I am definitely relieved to get a win at Wrigley out of the way right off... now we just need more of the same from Kluber... and everybody else, it's looking like the Indians are going to have to win low scoring games the rest of the way, the games seem more specialised than ever with bullpens this postseason.

I think Bill Murray had 1... or 5 too many before that 7th inning stretch

[Pokemaster Ash]

Yeah, I don't know what was up with that either. Wind blowing out and nothing came even close to going deep...

Don't write the Cubs off yet, though. They were in a similar situation in the NLCS and came back to take the series (though admittedly the home field situation was reversed, and boy did I want to see them win it all at Wrigley). On top of that, Cubs seem to do quite well when seeing a pitcher the second time around (they struggled against Kershaw in Game 2 of the NLCS, but let him have it in Game 6), so Kluber might not be as much of a sure thing as you may think. On top of that, thanks to whatever weird plan the Indians have, their starters are operating on short rest from here on in, which might leave the Cubs an opening to take advantage of.

...Still, I REALLY wanted to see the Cubs go into the rematch with Kluber up 2-1 in the series rather than trailing. I think these games might kill me at this rate... @_@

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Yeah it was especially weird since Tomlin was always a flyball pitcher and had issues with home runs, but ever since his horrible August, he seems to have fixed that issue when he started throwing the curveball a lot more... and yeah I think that startan Kluber today is mostly about having hI'm available for game 7 as well... usually teams that have the best luck against him are other Central Division teams that are aggressive with his fastball early.. despite the fact that he throws pretty hard and it has a lot of horizontal left to right movement, it has been fairly hittable, again I think his breaking pitch is going to br very important... I am a little surprised that they are going back to Bauer in game 5 though, esepically if Chicago ties the series up. I think he is the the worst matchup that we have against the Cubs, he throws lots of high fastballs, and while his breaking stuff can be very effective a lot of times, especially early, he has no control of it at all...

But, I don't make the decisions, and everything Tito does this postseason seems to work out, I thought he started pulling players and went to Andrew Miller way too early in a tie game last night, I can't help but think in a tie game, it is an emotional boost for the other team once they get Miller out of the game.

And no, I am not counting the Cubs out at all, I don't consider anything over until it's over, heck I was nervous when we were up 3-0 in the Toronto series and we lost game 4... Just watch a replay of the 9th inning of the 1997 World Series, that was enough to traumatize anybody!! Especially a 12 year old.

[Pokemaster Ash]

Yeah, well, not that we've got pleasant memories over here either (1989, 2007-08, 2015, 1984 and especially 2003 are STILL a source of some major postseason pain to Cubs fans to this very day; I'm only personally familiar with their slaughter at the hands of the Diamondbacks, Dodgers, and Mets and the 2003 NLCS that went from glory to death with one infamous foul ball). It's a very big deal the Cubs actually won the Pennant and made it to the World Series this year. Now we fans want them to win it and finally put to rest all that talk about curses, goats, 100+ years, and especially "Wait 'til Next Year..." We're freakin' tired of waiting, damn it!

EDIT: Well, it's Vince Vaughn for the 7th inning stretch, but........Ugh, I just have no words for this... I think I'm going to be sick x_x

[Number1ChanseyFan]

1 win away!! ^_^

Tonight again went as good as I could have hoped!! Cubs wanted to get aggressive on Kluber early on but he adjusted really well. Big 3 run home from Kipnis gave us some breathing room, a little shocked to see Miller sent out for 2 innings with the game tomorrow. So tomorrow is a matchup of pitchers that stuggled and lost their first outings... I have to admit, Cubs catchers do a really good job of controlling the running game, even when Lester is pitching... I just hope Bauer has his good curve tomorrow.

[Pokemaster Ash]

Eddie Vedder and Harry Caray singing the 7th Inning Stretch for the Cubs tonight (I knew that video board would get used in these games).

Boy, what a nail-biter, but the Cubs are still alive! The bats didn't wake up quite as much as I'd hoped, but it was enough with how awesome the pitching and defense were (but geez, that was a lot of work for Chapman). Well, on to Game 6, and maybe this win goes a long way for them (at least I hope so).

Between the 7th inning duet and the clutch win, what a great way to close the Wrigley Field season (the only thing that could have been better was winning the series at Wrigley). Let's see what happens from here on...

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Ouch... what a... bummer... I was counting outs after the Ramirez home run, just wanting so bad ti hold on to that lead until Miller time... and then hoping that the Chapman move would backfire, hoping that maybe he would tire out a little by the 9th, lose something on the fastball, maybe someone would finally catch up to one... or hoping that something bizarre was about to happen when Chapman failed to cover 1st in the 8th...

So, now it will be the first ever November game in Cleveland... hoping to take care of this soon, don't want a Game 7, kinda happy that we will get it done at home if we get it done.

[Pokemaster Ash]

I was worried about the Chapman move too, but he came through in the end.

Well, it's uncharted territory for the Cubs too. First November game for them EVER. Let's see how they handle it

[Number1ChanseyFan]

So... how is it going over there? Can't help but I have this nagging feeling that tonight is pretty much game 7, I just feel like if the Cubs win tonight then they are going to win tomorrow too.

[Pokemaster Ash]

...I'm going to be nervous until all is over, really.

Cubs off to a rather strong start tonight, but one must always be cautious with these things

[Number1ChanseyFan]

Wow, now it is my turn to be sick... can't believe this thing got out of hand so fast.

[Pokemaster Ash]

Well now it gets REAL interesting. It's going the full 7 games and the Cubs' bats seem to be awake. Depending on how much Kluber still has in the tank (with this being a short-rest start after a short-rest start), how sharp Hendricks is, and what sorts of tricks the managers might pull, this could be one for the ages.

Also historical rarity, Addison Russell with the Grand Slam early in this game for the Cubs, the 19th in World Series history. The last time a Grand Slam was hit in a World Series game was 2005 by Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox (...that makes me feel good about this...)

[Number1ChanseyFan]

WINNING!!!!!

Wild Thing Ricky Vaughn is coming to the game tonight!! Just what we needed, this is sure to get the crowd fired up tonight!! I hope we win this thing... if we pull it off, I will be ok if this is the only time I ever get to see it... its been such a strange season... so much has gone wrong, but every time something has gone wrong, something really good has come out of it... and all I keep thinking about, is if we blow this, just how hard it is to get to this point! And the fact that we have probably about 2 more years after this one in our window to contend.

[kurai]

SORRY CHICAGO/CLEVELAND, YOU HAVE TO WAIT EVEN LONGER #TARP

[Pokemaster Ash]

I have no explanations for this game... This game was going to be a case of "Who knows what's going to happen?" to begin with, but now...

[kurai]

the chicago cubs have won the world series

[Pokemaster Ash]

No more curses, no more goats, no more Next Year! IT'S FINALLY OVER!

CHICAGO CUBS WIN THE WORLD SERIES!!!

[Number1ChanseyFan]

meh, don't really know what to say.... coming all the way back to tie it... just made it more disappointing in the end... just like 1997 all over again haha... and now the Indians are the new Cubs. 69 years and counting!! Only 40 more years and we can break the all time record! It will be officially ours after the 2056 season!!

[Pokemaster Ash]

Hey, the Indians put up a damn good fight. That was a hard-fought win by the Cubs, both tonight and the series as a whole. If they can keep that up, they probably could win it fairly soon.

[Drago]

I think the most important thing in all of this is that Munenori Kawasaki is a World Series champion. This calls for a bush party.

[Pokemaster Ash]

Well he wasn't on their active roster in the playoffs, but he does get a ring along with everyone else.