Having dropped today’s makeup, no-mold, Stephen-Strasburg-dominated Game Four, the Cubs will face the Nationals in a decisive Game Five in Washington tomorrow.
Tensions are high.
And they’ve been high here in the postseason for three straight years for the Cubs, but that doesn’t mean that tomorrow’s game won’t be a rarity.
Consider this: the Cubs started their postseason run in 2015 with a winner-take-all game in Pittsburgh, the Wild Card Game. They won that one and moved on to the NLDS, which they took from the Cardinals 3-1. They then lost four straight to the Mets in the NLCS.
In 2016, the Cubs won the NLDS 3-1 over the Giants, and then beat the Dodgers 4-2 in the NLCS. It wasn’t until the 2016 World Series that the Cubs faced another elimination game – three of them, to be precise. The Cubs, of course, went on to win games five and six, setting up a decisive, winner-take-all Game Seven … arguably the greatest game in baseball history.
And now, here we stand in 2017, and the Cubs will play only their third winner-take-all game in this three-year postseason run. Interestingly, the first two also came on the road, and the Cubs won them both.
Tomorrow’s winner-take-all will come in Washington. Nighty night. Sleep tight.