From the Saturday, October 17, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …
The WISCH LIST
By Dave Wischnowsky
I’ve been to a Rose Bowl. I’ve been to a Final Four. I’ve even been to Games 6 and 7 of a National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field.
But I’ve never before been to anything quite like Games 3 and 4 of the NLDS between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, which at times this past week seemingly threatened to shake Wrigley into the lake.
Along with the rest of the North Side.
Against the Cards, the electricity generated by nine Cubs home runs could have lit the ballpark, even if it didn’t have lights. Around me in the bleachers, the crowd – often a distracted bunch – collectively hung on every pitch for all 18 innings and helped sing “Go Cubs Go” so loud it was heard a mile away. For my part, I yelled so much from right field that more than 48 hours later my voice was still listed as day-to-day.
Hopefully, it’s cleared to play again come Tuesday.
A huge reason why this NLDS was unlike any previous series that I’ve ever witnessed at Wrigley – including the epic games during the 2003 run – was because of the competition (beating the Cardinals still seems surreal), but also because of the sheer history of the moment.
Which, as it turns out, was even more historic than you thought.
Since the Cubs closed the NLDS on Tuesday, much has been written by Chicago media about how the win as the first time that the franchise had ever clinched a postseason series in the city. But what you likely don’t realize is that the Cubs’ victory was more momentous than that as it was the first time that either Chicago baseball team celebrated a postseason clincher within the city limits since the 1906 World Series.
And only because that never even left the city limits.
In the World Series 109 years ago, the White Sox topped the Cubs at South Side Park in Game 6 of the lone crosstown Fall Classic in history, sparking a celebration that surely rocked Chicago but also must have rankled the baseball gods because we hadn’t seen anything like it since.
Even though the Sox’s championship in 2005 ended an 88-year World Series title drought in the Windy City, until Tuesday Chicago still remained the “When-dy” City in regards to popping champagne at home.
Consider this curious run of postseason success – and failure:
2005: The White Sox won the ALDS in Boston, the ALCS in Anaheim and the World Series in Houston.
2003: Against the Braves, the Cubs lost a potential series-clinching Game 4 of the NLDS at Wrigley Field, before winning Game 5 in Atlanta. Then in the NLCS vs. the Marlins, the Cubs lost potential series clinchers in Games 6 and 7 at Wrigley Field.
1945: The Cubs lost the decisive Game 7 of the World Series to the Detroit Tigers at Wrigley Field.
1917: The White Sox won the World Series in Game 6 over the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.
1908: The Cubs won the World Series over the Tigers in Game 5 at Bennett Park in Detroit.
1907: The Cubs won the World Series over the Tigers in Game 4 at Bennett Park in Detroit.
For those keeping score, that adds up to seven Chicago postseason series victories since 1906, all of which were clinched on the road, and four times – three in 2003 and one in 1945 – that the Cubs had an opportunity to secure a postseason series championship at home only to fall short.
Finally, that streak has ended. Now, will a much more famous one be the next to follow?
Stay tuned.