After 71 years, Chicago Cubs’ faithful may witness their team clinch the long-awaited pennant they so desperately desire.
- Los Angeles Dodgers (2-3)
- Chicago Cubs (3-2)
- NLCS, Game 6, 8:00 pm EST, FS1
- Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
The horrors of Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS against the (then) Florida Marlins can quickly be erased. The nonsensical talk of a curse; the silly belief of bad spirits siding with the franchise.
All of that can potentially be eliminated with merely one more stellar nine inning performance out of a team that executed 103 of them over a 162-game span in the regular season.
Tonight, it is about nothing other than the two men toeing the rubber for their respective teams. Two men who have greatly aided their pitching staff’s success. One who has been a constant for the entirety of the season, and one who has overcome a significant injury and revamped his “best pitcher in baseball status” at the most opportune time.
Kyle Hendricks and Clayton Kershaw.
Throw the regular season in the trash. This is about tonight, and tonight only.
The two squared off back in Game 2. Hendricks was good enough, but Kershaw was great. The eventual outcome reflected just that.
Simply put, the Cubs need more than good enough tonight if they expect to avoid an anything-can-happen Game 7 — we know how that went down 13 years ago, following a dreadful Game 6 letdown.
Kershaw has found his identity on the postseason stage, something that was nowhere to be found in his first handful of tries under the spotlight. Hendricks, on the other hand, has shown an exceptional quality of limiting the damage, yet has been nowhere near what he can be.
Location has been problematic for the 26-year-old, who must bury his sinker at a much more promising clip. When the most devastating pitch in his arsenal is not placed at the ankles, or the least fattening corner of the strike zone, this happens: