New York Mets swept the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series by winning 8-3 on Wednesday-evening (October 21).
With this, the Mets won the series 4-0 and will return to the World Series for the first time since 2000.
In that year, they lost the 'Subway Series' to the New York Yankees.
The last time, the Mets won a World Series was in 1986!
That came against the Boston Red Sox after the wellknown 'ball-through-the-legs' of first baseman Bill Buckner.
The Mets will open the World Series next Tuesday at the winner of the American League Championship Series.
After completion of the game, National League Honorary President Bill Giles handed out the Warren C. Giles Trophy for the National League Champion (named after his father) to Fred Wilpon, the Chairman and CEO of the Mets.
Shortly thereafter, Daniel Murphy, who homered again tonight, also received a trophy, as he was named Most Valuable Player of the series.
And with that, Chicago won't play in the World Series again.
The last time, the Cubs were in the Series was in 1945, which then they lost for the seventh consecutive time.
The last time, the Cubs won a Series was in 1908.
That also means, that a remake has to made of the 1989 movie Back To The Future, Part II.
In that movie, the main characters arrive in 2015 on this date (Octber 21) and the learn that the Cubs had just won the World Series.
Well, because of this specific date, today, it was Back To The Future Day.
But the real October 21, 2015 had a different script.
Earlier today, the Toronto Blue Jays won 7-1 vs. the Kansas City Royals in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.
With that, Toronto forced a sixth game, which will be played on Friday in Kansas City.
Starting pitchers tonight were righthander Jason Hammel for the Cubs and lefthander Steven Matz for the Mets.
Jason Hammel was 10-7 this season with a 3.74 ERA and 172 strikeouts in 170 2/3 inning.
In his career, Hammel is 0-3 against the Mets with a 4.91 ERA.
This season, he started once against New York and then had a no-decision.
Hammel was the starter for the Cubs in Game 4 of the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals, but had a no-decision in what was to become a 6-4 win for the Cubs.
24-year old rookie Steven Matz was 4-0 in six starts this season and finished with a 2.27 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 35 2/3 inning.
Matz was the starting and losing pitcher for the Mets in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers
Tonight is the first time he pitched against the Cubs.
Despite losing this series, Cubs-Manager Joe Maddon can look to a successful first season in Chicago.
Maddon is the son of an Italian father and shortened his family name from Maddonini, and a Polish mother.
But in this series, it were the Mets who were victorious under Manager Terry Collins.
Collins and Maddon were both linked to each other while both worked for the Anaheim Angels.
In 1997-1999, Collins was the Manager of the Angels and Maddon was his Bench Coach.
In September 1999, Collins resigned, then Maddon succeeded him for the remainder of the season.
The Mets again opened the score in the first inning, this time scoring four runs with two outs, thanks to two back-to-back homeruns!
Curtis Granderson led off with a single, then two outs followed.
Granderson then stole second base and Yoenis Cespedes walked.
Hereafter, Lucas Duda was the batter.
He had not been successful this postseason, as he struckout 13 times in the eight previous games played.
But now, he connected well on a pitch by Jason Hammel and hit a 3-run homerun!
Hereafter, Travis d'Arnaud also homered to make it 4-0 in favor of the Mets.
Next batter Michael Conforto was then hit by a pitch and Wilmer Flores singled, but they were left behind.
By the way, Cespedes left the game in the second inning with a shoulder-injury.
In the top of the second inning, David Wright walked for the Mets with one out and that led to an early departure of Jason Hammel.
Travis Wood took over and was greeted with a single by Daniel Murphy.
With two outs, Lucas Duda struck again and this time delivered a 2-run double to lift the lead to 6-0.
...Wrigley Field will see action again in 2016...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
After having retired the first eight batters in a row, Steven Matz walked David Ross with two outs in the third inning, but a flyout followed.
In the next inning, Matz gave up hit(s) and run.
Jorge Soler led off with a double, then the bases got loaded when Kris Bryant walked and Anthony Rizzo singled.
Next, third baseman David Wright made a great catch on a hard line drive by Starlin Castro for the first out.
The Cubs then scored on a grounder by Kyle Schwarber, but a pop-foul ended the at bat.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Matz got two quick outs, but then Dexter Fowler singled, with the ball dropping near the foul-line between two players.
Hereafter, Jorge Soler also singled, which led to a pitching change.
Veteran Bartolo Colón took over.
Colón has the same two numerals in his age as Matz, only reversed.
Matz is 24, Colón is 42.
The veteran ended the inning with a strikeout.
In the top of the sixth inning, Wilmer Flores led off with a triple.
Hereafter, Kirk Nieuwenhuis lined out.
In the previous inning, Nieuwenhuis had entered the game as new leftfielder when Colón became the new pitcher in a 'double switch'.
Two grounders followed and so, Flores stranded on third base.
In the top of the seventh, the Mets were productive again off of new pitcher Pedro Strop.
Daniel Murphy led off with a double, then moved on a sacrifice bunt by Juan Lagares.
The bases then got loaded when Lucas Duda walked and Travis d'Arnaud was hit by a pitch.
But the Mets left the bases loaded.
The Mets added more runs in the top of the eighth off of new pitcher Fernando Rodney.
He struckout the first two batters, then walked David Wright and then faced Daniel Murphy.
The lefthanded powerhitter then homered again, as he had done also in the previous five games!
With homeruns in six straight postseason-games, Murphy set a new record.
Before today, he shared the record with Carlos Beltran, who had homered in five consecutive game in 2004 while being with the Houston Astros.
With his homerun, Murphy lifted the lead to 8-1.
In the bottom of the eighth, Chicago was able to do something back off of new pitcher Tyler Clippard.
Jorge Soler led off with a double, then rookie Kris Bryant drilled a homerun to make it an 8-3 score.
But that was to be all, the Mets simply played a very strong series!
And with that, the New York Mets re-wrote the script of Back To The Future, Part II.
(October 21)
Mets sweep Cubs to go to the World Series!
CHICAGO, Illinois (USA) -
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