Three years ago today, the Chicago Cubs began their first and only NLDS Game Five of the current window. I tend to think winning the 2015 and 2016 series in four games left us unprepared for the stress of an early postseason elimination game, especially since we were coming off a dang GAME SEVEN IN THE WORLD SERIES. Wasn’t everything supposed to feel stress-free at that point?
But we wanted a repeat, and we knew the Cubs were still pretty darn good in 2017. Getting to the NLCS again felt like a bare minimum accomplishment (and, as time bore out, it was).
When I think about Game 5, I mostly think about the crazy inning against Max Scherzer, about how the Nats kinda got screwed, about the Willson Contreras pick at first base, the LOL Jayson Werth whiff in left field, and about the herculean Wade Davis effort. But I forget that the Cubs were down 4-1 in the game, making the whole thing an impressive comeback win.
If you want to re-live it (now stress-free), MLB has your condensed game right here:
Bonus? The win, which wound up kinda being the Cubs World Series that year, gave us one of the best Jon Lester moments:
We were reminded by @BleacherNation that today is the anniversary of Wade Davis closing out the NLDS victory over Washington in 2017.
That means it’s also the anniversary of one of the greatest interviews in Cubs history with Jon Lester pic.twitter.com/mVxJw3s3VL
— Cubs Insider (@realcubsinsider) October 12, 2020