Never a doubt.

cubs

It still hasn't really sunk in for me. Hendricks was so dominant that the game never really felt in jeopardy after the Cubs put up some runs. I mean, we all know better than to assume a victory, but Hendricks worked through each inning so briskly that I never had time to ponder the worst. In a lot of ways, he looked better than most of the no-hitters I've watched in my lifetime.

I'll have some more thoughts in the morning, but until then, I'm gonna try to get some sleep and hope this wasn't a dream.

When the Cubs went up 5-0 on Rizzo, it occurred to me that if the Cubs blew this, it was going to be one for the ages. And that that was pretty much not going to happen.

Toles' error in the first had the highest WPA of the game.

Yep, still real. It happened.

So glad I splurged. It was great seeing Spahn and Pops again, and meeting zonk, Elroy Face, then, and Weeks.

What a night.

Will be in Chicago next weekend. Don't think I'm buying tickets though.

one of the outdoor Wrigleyville parties last night: "Girls are free. 50 bucks a dude"

that is "so Chicago," I tweeted
:)

congrats again to all the long-suffering.

on yet another of my pilgrimages about 6 or 7 years ago to RF bleachers, a couple of young guys had signs that read "THIS IS THE YEAR." much mocking from other Cubs fans in the "this is the year for WHAT?" vein.

meanwhile, I had an aunt who was born around 1910. when the Phillies finally won their first WS in 1980, she told me wistfully, "I feel as if we've lost something - we were the only one of the original 16 teams that had never won."

something Irish about that, and that is us.

I covered the NY Rangers until a year before they finally broke an interminable losing streak in 1994 and won the Stanley Cup. the wait for Rangers fans was 54 years. you Cubs fans and your ancestors have waited for 2x54 years.

#illbehereallweek

It happened, guys. Going into the game I told anyone that would listen I felt no nerves whatsoever and couldn't be more confident. Don't know why or how, but never had a doubt.

Truly a pleasure meeting retro, Elroy, Pops, and Moses. Sorry I missed you, zonk. And also sorry I couldn't celebrate with you guys after... My friend and I stayed in Wrigley to soak everything in for what seemed like forever. Watched all the post champagne shower interviews after the players came back out and basically stayed until the kicked us out. By the time we got out, today's travel schedules dictated we needed to get back to Milwaukee.

Hopefully I'll be able to meet up again soon.

It happened, guys. It happened. Oh, and since I felt so confident about yesterday, just gonna say "sweep".

Hope so. Would be nice to have Sunday free. Just as long as it is a sweep going the right way.

If the Cubs have a chance to clinch at Wrigley, I'm going to try to be in Chicago for the game. I seriously doubt I'll get a ticket but I can be part of the riot afterwards.

Still in shock. I have watched the same replay of MLB Tonight enough this morning that I am able to do the dialogue before they do.

Great to meet everyone - sorry to miss ya weeks...

$2500 for SRO???!?!?!

$800 in Cleveland.... hmmmm...

$2500 for SRO???!?!?!

You can sit next to Marlins Man for the low, low price of $17,500

edit; Sorry, make that $40,000

The law of large numbers strikes again!

the wait for Rangers fans was 54 years. you Cubs fans and your ancestors have waited for 2x54 years.

I moved from Cincy to Philly in 1961 and since I had no rooting interest, I immediately became an Eagles fan. The football season had already started so the celebration of the 1960 Eagles' title was over. This is my 56th season waiting for an Eagles title -- I'm starting to think it will not happen within my lifetime. At least each of the other 3 franchises have won 2 titles, albeit 1 total in the last 33 years.

Yeah, looking at ticket prices... I don't think so. I'm glad I got in on the ground floor for the postseason action.

Any word on the ticket lottery yet? I keep checking my email.

I would expect the prices to drop somewhat once the rest of the tickets are released to the gen public. Not that they won't be crazy high, but I don't think today's prices are reflective of where they will end up.

After the NLDS, prices for Games 1 and 2 of the CS were in the thousands before the lottery. But last night you could go to Game 6 for 450ish.

when the Phillies finally won their first WS in 1980, she told me wistfully, "I feel as if we've lost something - we were the only one of the original 16 teams that had never won

Cubs/Indians being a new matchup, I count 23 possible World Series among the "original 16" franchises that haven't happened – too many to list here. Lots of the ones that did happened just once early on, of course, when every matchup was by definition in the set. (The Red Sox and Pirates are still waiting for a rematch of 1903.)

Anyway, if I'm counting right and I'm probably missing one, the Phillies are responsible for more of those failures to match up than any other team. They have played the Red Sox (1915), the Yankees (1950, 2009), and the Orioles (1983) plus the Rays, Jays, and Royals, but not the other five "originals."

The Yankees have played all eight NL originals, and the Dodgers all but one possible opponent. Dodgers-Tigers has never happened, correct? Or am I terribly wrong. I hope they didn't play last year, or something :-D

Good to know prices could drop greatly. I'm thinking I'm willing to pay about 500 dollars a ticket.

My sister bought her tickets to Game 3 last week - $5500 to sit in the upper deck. I'm jealous.

Cubs/Indians being a new matchup, I count 23 possible World Series among the "original 16" franchises that haven't happened – too many to list here.

I'll do it anyway. By teams not facing a particular AL original franchise:

Yankees: none
Orioles: Giants, Braves, Cubs
A's: Pirates, Phillies
Red Sox: Braves
Tigers: Phillies, Dodgers, Braves
White Sox: Cardinals, Pirates, Phillies, Braves
Twins: Phillies, Reds, Cubs
Indians: Cardinals, Pirates, Phillies, Reds

I get 20 missing, rather than 23. At a guess, the totals might disagree because of relocated teams? The Giants and Pirates both played the Senators (now Twins) in the Series, and the Cardinals played the Browns (Orioles).

Along with the Dodgers (who are indeed missing the Tigers), the Red Sox (Braves) and Giants (Orioles) are also only missing one opponent among the originals in the other league.

QUESTION:

If Schwarber makes the World Series roster, who gets left off?

Coughlan? (Was he even on the LCS roster - I forget).

You got it, I think, Eric. I missed the Cardinals-Browns (1944), the Reds-Tigers (1940), and the Giants-Red Sox (1912), which brings both of them down to just one missing opponent.

Coghlan played. Batted twice. Walked and scored on Montego's granny. Rob Z didn't get in a game.

22: probably Coghlan (he was on the LCD roster and I think his only appearance was drawing an intentional walk in advance of Montero's grand slam in game one).

Hendricks was so quick and effective that, unfairly or not, what really stands out to me about the defensive innings from last night's game are the three double plays.

The first one quickly wiped out the lead-off hit and set the tone for Hendrick's evening. The next double-play got the Cubs past that ominous "five outs away from the World Series" territory. And the final one sent the Cubs to their first World Series in more than seven decades.

In a way, it's fitting that the most crucial plays with the Cubs on the field put front and center their superb, smooth-as-silk defense.

Also, it's so cool to visit MLB.com and see "CHC" next to all of those late October dates on the schedule.

QUESTION:

If Schwarber makes the World Series roster, who gets left off?

Coughlan? (Was he even on the LCS roster - I forget).

Rob Zastryzny. They just added him to the LCS because the Dodgers were so vulnerable to LHP. I assume that's not true of the Indians. Zastryzny replaced La Stella, who serves the same role as Schwarber (left-handed hitter who should never play the field), but probably not as well.

Just to give you folks some frame of reference. My seats at Fenway are in the grandstand on the first base line, call it about 45-50 rows up. The guy in front of us paid $1,200 a seat for game one of the 2004 World Series.

Good luck this week. Believe me I've been there but try to enjoy it as much as you can. Soak in the fact that 28 teams and there fans are incredibly jealous of where you are.

One thing that will be very different for the Cubs is that the Indians have a pitching staff that is heavily right-handed. In contrast, three of the Dodgers starters were lefties, with three more in the bullpen. The Indians had two LHP in the ALCS, both in the bullpen: Merritt and Miller. Who of course combined have thrown 16 shutout innings in the playoffs.

The Cubs hitting this year did better against LHP (.759 OPS against RHP, .807 against LHP). However, in ten postseason games so far, the Cubs have faced six left-handed starters. They went 3-3 against them (1-1 against the Giants (Bumgarner, Moore), 2-2 against the Dodgers (Kershaw twice, Hill, Urias), and 4-0 against right-handed starters (Maeda twice, Samardzija, Cueto). So as is the case for just about everything, they are walking into this with a strong track record.

Not much to add other than holy Christ, this happened and is happening, I saw it happen, and I got to enjoy it with both old and new friends from BBTFdom.

Spectacular night all around. More, please.

guy sitting in the front row of the stands right under the basket (about a dozen feet from the baseline) for Game 7 of Knicks-Rockets in Houston in 1994 told me he paid $3,000 for the seat (in 1994 dollars, no less). I told him I'd try not to block his view*.
:)

* - our seats were folding chairs, so slightly lower than the regular seats. A few years later, the NBA finally realized they could make a fortune by sending the media into the nosebleeds and then selling our old seats. #funwhileitlasted

guys, if you can afford it, go. if not, don't be paying 18 pct interest on your credit card or crimping the family vacation....

Congrats, Cubs fans! Enjoy the next 10 days as much as you can!

Singles can sometimes be nabbed for much more reasonable prices.

Plus, one never knows. Depending on how the series goes, prices can swing dramatically. After game three in 2004, with the Sox up 3-0, tix for game four in St Louis were going for not too much more than face for those willing to do some last minute traveling.
Now, a seven game series between these two teams, with their histories, I'd love to see what game seven tix would go for.

As is, either way, my fellow Soxians are right. Enjoy being in the series. Savor the rarefied air. Thrill in the fact that the Cubs, The freaking lovable loser Cubs, may have the team of the decade playing.

C'mon, where's the 5-minute Indians preview?

I've paid very little attention to this team all year but here goes:

Offense is better than the overall numbers look -- the overall numbers are dragged down by a mostly terrible bench but the starters are pretty good and they cleaned up one weakness getting Guyer to mash LHP. There's no stud batter but everybody is a threat except for their horrible Cs (who will now hit 400 for the series). With 3 starting switch-hitters and Guyer (and others) available to PH for Chisenhall or Naquin, they aren't particularly vulnerable to LHR but you'll want two for Kipnis who they won't PH for.**

They led the NL in steals with 134 ... but use the slow-footed Carlos Santana in the leadoff spot which is kinda cool. They take a decent number of walks (4th in the AL), don't strike out overly much (7th), don't have a lot of power (10th in HR) ... but, again, those numbers are dragged down by the weak-hitting bench. 34 HRs for Santana and Napoli, 23 for Kipnis and 14 for Naquin in 365 PA are legit power threats.

Defense is OK by Rfield. Mainly everybody is average except for Naquin who is apparently unbelievably awful in CF and Lindor who is apparently excellent at SS.

The rotation of course is a bit of a mess due to injuries. Kluber is outstanding, Bauer is a moron and Timlin is oddly effective. The bullpen looks pretty scary for the Cubs.

Apparently their ballpark is the new Wrigley with a PF around 110 so expect some high-scoring games there ... and maybe don't freak out if we give up a couple of runs early in a game. Well, freak out less.

Anyway, overall "strategy" looks about the same. Make sure we beat the non-Kluber starters. Working the counts though won't necessarily be the way to do that, that just gets their killer pen into the game earlier. Ideally we score early off of Bauer et al, not just work them for counts and leave baserunners. If they get good Kluber starts, then the Indians really don't need more than 2 turns through the lineup out of their other starters.

On the pitching/defense side, the Cubs are pretty much the opposite and want their starters going deep. In that sense, Arrieta may be the key. I assume he's scheduled for games 2 and 6 and it seems prudent to win at least one of those games. Another key for the Cubs is whether Chapman can be effective in the multi-inning way that Maddon clearly wants to use him.

** In Lester starts, if he needs relieving early, it would be good to bring in a RHP and maybe you get those platoon RHB out of the game. Then they should be quite vulnerable to Monty, Wood, Chapman later.

C'mon, where's the 5-minute Indians preview?

Dude, I was hungover all day yesterday. I just got to work, and I guess I'll post one now. I'll just steal yours, and maybe add some commentary.

My morning kicked with a "So can we get by just updating the existing API until the new services suite is available in Q1 or are do we need a bridge created using the legacy suite" that I responded to with a "Well, if Schwarber has a good day at the plate they really should put on the world series roster"... it is going to be a rather unproductive week.

Cleveland tickets are down to $600... Wrigley tickets down to $2000 with lottery results still not revealed.

So, have they already done the ticket lottery for buying World Series tickets directly from the Cubs and just not bothered to e-mail the losers?

Because I'd gotten an e-mail telling me I didn't win the NLCS the day after the Cubs won Game 4 in San Fran. I don't want to start pricing tickets until (a) I know I can't buy them at face value, and (b) I'm sure all of the available tickets are out there, which I'm hoping will bring prices down a little (well, I'm hoping it'll bring prices down a lot, but that's not a realistic hope).

So, have they already done the ticket lottery for buying World Series tickets directly from the Cubs and just not bothered to e-mail the losers?

I don't think so -- no e-mail yet for me either. It landed next day following the NLDS, but I'm hoping everybody was too hung over Sunday to do anything and they're waiting for today.

It appears either prices got adjusted or people already jumped on the couple tix I saw under $2k -- there was a bleacher single for $1800 earlier this AM, but it's gone now.