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Comeback Cubs? Don’t count ’em out
- Updated: October 30, 2016
CHICAGO — So you think this is bad?
Of course you do if you’re a Cubs fan. But hang in there. Don’t touch that dial.
• Game 5: Tonight, 8 ET on FOX
As dark as this looks, the 3-1 deficit to the Indians is nothing compared to what Theo Epstein, Terry Francona and the Red Sox faced en route to breaking the Curse of the Bambino in 2004.
Game Date Time (air time/game time) Matchup TV Gm 1 Oct. 25 CLE 6, CHC 0 Gm 2 Oct. 26 CHC 5, CLE 1 Gm 3 Oct. 28 CLE 1, CHC 0 Gm 4 Oct. 29 CLE 7, CHC 2 Gm 5 Oct. 30 8 p.m. CLE @ CHC FOX *Gm 6 Nov. 1 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX *Gm 7 Nov. 2 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX * If necessary | All times listed ET • World Series coverageShop for postseason gear: Cubs | Indians
If you thought Wrigley Field was quiet in the late innings of Cleveland’s 7-2 victory in Game 4 on Saturday night, you should have been at Fenway Park with the Yankees on the verge of an American League Championship Series sweep in 2004.
• Shop for Cubs World Series and NL champs gear
You could have held a quarterly shareholder’s meeting in the box seats in the seventh and eighth innings after the Yankees — who had won, 19-8, the day before to go up 3-0 in the series — scored two runs in the sixth to take a lead in Game 4.
Dave Roberts, of course, stole second base in the ninth inning, the Red Sox won in 12 innings, and Boston wouldn’t lose again until 2005.
Hey, if you’re going to win your first championship in forever, you might as well do it in style. Like they say, go big or go home. The Cubs would rather this be simpler, for sure, but now they have a chance to double down on epic.
It isn’t farfetched to think the Cubs can still come back to win their first World Series since 1908.
“We have to have a one-game winning streak tomorrow,” manager Joe Maddon said. “And if we do that, I really would be feeling pretty good about going back to Cleveland.”
No team since the 1979 Pirates has done what the Cubs are now forced to do — win Game 5 at home and then go to the visiting park to grab Games 6 and 7.
But the Cubs are set up do something special, provided they can get a few big hits somewhere along the way. They’re 5-for-37 with runners in scoring position through four games, and that .135 average in the biggest spots isn’t going to get anyone organizing a parade down Michigan Avenue.
So, of course, Maddon — the less-is-more manager — is essentially making the batting cage off …
