So, the Cubs and the Dodgers. Game One. National League Championship Series. Middle of the way through the NLDS that sentence looked improbable at best. The Cubs were woeful in relief, not much better on the starting pitching side of the fence, and hitting precisely nada. Yet, they are here.
The Dodgers steamrolled Arizona to the point the ref was stepping in to stop further damage. Many are expecting a similar result against the Cubs this series. However, whilst much has been made of the damage the five game series versus the Nationals has potentially done to the Cubs, and the Dodgers have figuratively been sipping Pina Colada's and getting caught in the rain whilst the Cubs were toiling, this won't be a sweep. Mark my words. The belief is back in this Cubs team, you could sense that by the way they went about it in Washington. Whilst there were some freakish plays, that undoubtedly helped the Cubs along in Game 5, the main talking point has to be the belief shown by this team, that seems in the past few seasons to have more lives than ten cats combined.
The Cubs touched down in Los Angeles around 29 hours before the first pitch against the Dodgers, and this may seem a concern to a lot in the media, that is still plenty of time to adjust and get ready to play. You get less forgiving schedules in the regular season, the players will be up for it, lets forget making excuses before the game has even begun. Jose Quintana gets the nod in Game One, and the best we can hope for, after using pretty much every pitcher in the Chicago area in most games in the NLDS, that things can calm a little, and starting pitchers can actually go fairly deep into games for the rest of the postseason, but let's not hold our breaths. And a hit or two from Jason Heyward would be nice, but maybe that's asking too much.
Anyway, Game One of the NLCS is nearly ready, and let's enjoy some baseball!
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