These guys don’t feel like the same old Chicago Cubs.
World Series favorites since opening day, the Cubs took another step in their championship chase by scoring four runs in the ninth inning of Game 4 to come from behind and beat the San Francisco Giants 6-5 and win their NL Division Series.
“You could see it coming. You could see little signs. We’ve done it before and the guys, we don’t quit,” Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler said. “It’s a little more special doing it here. They for sure were thinking that they won it. But we play 27 outs and we don’t give up until we win.”
Seeking their first World Series title since 1908, the Cubs will get a few days of rest before opening the NLCS at Wrigley Field on Saturday against the Los Angeles Dodgers or Washington Nationals. That matchup is tied 2-all heading into the deciding Game 5.
Chicago was swept by the New York Mets in a four-game NLCS last year. However lefty Jon Lester who wasn’t needed to pitch a potential Game 5 in the Division Series is ready to fly the W with confidence.
“Nobody really cares in there about a curse or a goat or anything else,” he said. “If we make a mistake, we’re not going to blame it on a curse or anything else like that. We’re going to blame it on ourselves and be accountable for it and move on to the next play or the next moment. … We’ve got too many young guys in there that don’t even know what that stuff is, you know what I mean? So, it’s almost better to play naive and just go out and worry about us, worry about the Cubs and not anything else in the past or, like I said, any animals.”
The beat goes on in Wrigleyville, but will it be their party? The Cubs are 0-4 in the LCS. Lost in 1984, 1989, 2003 and 2015.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.