It’s happening: Cubs make a rare case for baseball greatness

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TNS

Chicago Cubs fans in the bleachers wave their "W" signs after Game 3 of the National League Division Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs on Monday, Oct. 12, 2015, at Wrigley Field in Chicago. (Chris Lee/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS)

ALFRED O'BRIEN, Sports Editor

As any Cubs fan might tell you: it’s a long time coming. This past Tuesday night the Chicago Cubs made MLB postseason history after winning the fourth game of the National League Divisional Series against the powerhouse favorite, St. Louis Cardinals. This is the first time (100 years in the making) the Cubs have ever won a post season series in Wrigley Field. The Cubs, after winning only their second post season series in their 107-year championship drought, have every right to celebrate.

The postseason has not been kind to Chicago in the new millennium (Northsiders still cringe when the name Steve Bartman is uttered). What might be more surprising than the rare postseason appearance is how the Cubs achieved it: by simply dismantling St. Louis. Even with the series lasting four games, it was never really close. Chicago teed off on Cardinals’ pitchers for 10 homeruns, with nine of them either leaving Wrigley Field or currently rolling around on top of the scoreboard. With 15 of 20 runs scored in the series coming off of homeruns, this is the third highest ratio in postseason history. Translation: The Cubbies have the bats.

After a convincing series win such as this, Chicago proved that talent has trumped tenure. St. Louis has been in the upper echelon of baseball for years now. Having endured what seemed like two season’s worth of injuries, the Cardinals still pulled off a 100-win season.  Seeing them in the playoffs happens as often as UNI students getting blown away by the wind on campus. But Chicago, having five straight losing seasons under their belt, went from worst to first overnight.

With 97 wins on the season, fans, and even management, watched as the season went from cautiously optimistic to interesting to having Wrigley Field erupt. It just might be the best ballpark for home field advantage in the postseason. This is not a fluke. Chicago currently has rookies Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber, Jorge Soler and Kris Bryant practically leading the charge.  The team is very young, making 26-year-old first baseman Anthony Rizzo seem like a veteran. What fuels this team is fresh, youthful talent.

When you combine a guru of a manager in Joe Maddon with  videogame like batting power ,strong pitching from the likes of Jon Lester, Jason Hammel and the historic uprising of Jake Arrieta, you’ll have the ingredients for a quality team well after whatever might happen this season. Arrieta, who has been almost unhittable, owns the lowest ERA in the second half a MLB season at 0.75. When he took the mound vs. the Cardinals his ERA was 0.73; almost superhuman numbers.

The series win vs. the Cardinals was historic, but the postseason is far from over. Chicago needs to achieve a lot more in the coming weeks to be considered truly great. But all of critics of the “Lovable Losers” must agree that the hype is over. If naysayers still doubt Chicago, they are now a tough team to bet against. Las Vegas now has them at the best odds to win the World Series at 5-2. And the last three teams to knock off the Cardinals in the postseason? They either won or made it to the World Series.

As the late, great Yogi Berra once said, “Its ain’t over ‘till its over,” but Cubs fans can feel the curse on their shoulders getting just a little bit lighter.