September 26, 2015 Chicago Tribune Cubs Secure First Playoff Berth Since
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September 26, 2015 Chicago Tribune Cubs secure first playoff berth since 2008 after Giants lose to Oakland By Mark Gonzales It took some help from the Oakland Athletics late Friday night, but the Chicago Cubs received their first National League playoff berth since 2008. Despite a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday at Wrigley Field, the Cubs (89-64) backed into the playoffs by virtue of the Athletics’ 5-4 victory over the Giants (79-74) at the Oakland Coliseum. The Cubs are assured no worse than playing in the NL wild-card game on Oct. 7 – with the Pirates (94-60) being their likely opponent. The wild card game will be played at PNC Park as long as the Pirates finish ahead of the Cubs. This marks the fifth playoff appearance in 10 seasons for manager Joe Maddon, who directed the Tampa Bay Rays to four American League playoffs (2008, 2010-11, 2013). This also is the first playoff berth for the Ricketts family, which purchased a majority interest in the Cubs from the Tribune Co. in October of 2009. Some Cubs players and manager Joe Maddon said after Friday's game that they didn't plan on staying up to await a Giants result. “No. I won’t,” outfielder Chris Coghlan said. “I’m going to get rest. We play at (12:05 p.m.).” Maddon had an interesting way of explaining how he might follow the Giants-A’s game. “Probably when I have to go to the bathroom at night,” Maddon quipped, adding that the Cubs could celebrate “maybe via text.” But the Cubs' Dexter Fowler and Jake Arrieta apparently stayed up. Fowler tweeted a photo of himself and Arrieta with the message "#letsgo #playofftime." The defending champion Giants were eliminated from wild-card contention. -- Chicago Tribune Playoff-bound Cubs have to put their party plans on hold By Paul Sullivan Luke Bryan's "If You Ain't Here to Party" played on the clubhouse speakers Friday morning as the Cubs got ready for their afternoon game against the Pirates. Across the street from Wrigley Field, the marquee at Murphy's Bleachers read, "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody," while fans put on their pregame buzz in anticipation of a playoff-clinching win. By the late innings, most of the executives from the business operations department were sitting by Chairman Tom Ricketts near the Cubs dugout, and co-owner Laura Ricketts joined them in the bottom of the ninth, just in time to see Starlin Castro's RBI triple pull the Cubs within a run. It was almost 77 years after Gabby Hartnett's "homer in the gloamin'," the walk-off shot against the Pirates at Wrigley that vaulted the Cubs into first place and on to a pennant. Everything was seemingly falling into place for a little deja vu, and everyone was in the mood to watch a sunflower shower after another walk-off win. But there is no scripting in baseball. No gloamin'. No home run. Pirates closer Mark Melancon struck out Jorge Soler and Javier Baez to strand the tying run at third, and the Cubs' champagne party was put on hold. They only had to wait about seven more hours, as it turned out, as the Giants lost 5-4 to the A's to let the Cubs back into their first postseason since 2008. What the Cubs planned to do Friday night was left to our imaginations because most of them had bolted by the time the clubhouse opened after the loss. Manager Joe Maddon speculated they would celebrate "via text" if the Giants lost. He was certain he would not be up to watch it but said he would check the score at some point. "Probably when I get up to go to the bathroom at night," he said. And his players? "I'm sure there is going to be that curious group, no question," he said. David Ross and Jon Lester said they weren't among that group, citing the noon start Saturday. Both said the team party could wait until Saturday if the Cubs sleep-clinched a playoff spot. Friday's game was a bit of a letdown, but nothing compared with how it might feel if winning pitcher Gerrit Cole does the same thing to the Cubs in the wild-card game Oct. 7. Fortunately for the Cubs, they will have Jake Arrieta facing Cole that night, and the confidence level among Cubs fans when Arrieta is on the mound is similar to the blind faith in a Tom Skilling blizzard warning. As for the party that was postponed, at least we got a glimpse this week of what it might look like when the Cubs actually do celebrate together. Addison Russell took a video of one of their regular postgame parties and posted it to his fan page on Facebook. "They like to see what's going on here in the clubhouse, and I like to enlighten them a little bit to see what's going on," Russell said. Back in 2003, first baseman Eric Karros carried around a small video camera and shot footage inside the clubhouse and dugout during the stretch run and the memorable postseason, including the infamous Game 6 of the NLCS. Karros eventually got the videos digitalized but has kept them private after promising his teammates he wouldn't release them without their permission. "It's going to be one of those things that I'm going to pass on and my kids will be cleaning stuff out and they'll find it," Karros told me in 2010. "And then they'll be on like one of those Ken Burns baseball documentaries." Russell's clubhouse video is already a smash hit. It had more than 146,000 views as of Friday night. It's hard to tell who is who during the smoke-filled light show, but it looked like a good time. Kris Bryant wasn't aware of Russell's video, though he said he would do an internet search. "I'm not on Facebook," Bryant said. "I'm left out." Kyle Schwarber also said he had not seen it. "I must've been in there," he said. "That's what makes this team awesome. We take every win the same as if we were in the playoffs. It's just how this team is put together." Schwarber was at Indiana University only 16 months ago. He said he never celebrated a college win with as much glee as he has done in Chicago. "This is something new to me," he said. "I'm living it up right now." As well he should. Tom Cruise put it best in "Risky Business": "Time of your life, huh, kid?" -- Chicago Tribune Rest over suspense for Cubs players By Mark Gonzales The Chicago Cubs’ 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates prevented them from celebrating a National League playoff berth, and many team members weren’t going to stay up late to follow the San Francisco Giants’ game at Oakland. “No. I won’t,” outfielder Chris Coghlan said. “I’m going to get rest. We play at (12:05 p.m.).” Manager Joe Maddon had an interesting way of explaining how he might follow the Giants-A’s game, with a Giants loss giving the Cubs a playoff berth. “Probably when I have to go to the bathroom at night,” Maddon quipped, adding that the Cubs could celebrate “maybe via text.” But veterans David Ross and Jon Lester, who celebrated a World Series title with the Boston Red Sox in 2013, said they would make sure their teammates wouldn’t get cheated out of a celebration. “’We’ll show up (Saturday) and hopefully celebrate (Saturday) and have a good time and let these guys that have never experienced this really enjoy it, and hopefully they don’t hold anything back,” Lester said. “I know we got another week or so to go, and a lot of things can happen. But not many guys get the opportunity to play in the postseason. I hope guys really soak it in.” -- Chicago Tribune Pirates' Gerrit Cole stops Cubs, but they earn first playoff berth in 7 years By Mark Gonzales As the Cubs barnstormed through a 19-9 August and mounted a pair of five-game winning streaks in September, the likelihood grew that they would face Gerrit Cole in the National League wild-card game Oct. 7. Should the scenario crystallize by next week, the Cubs can be glad to have a catalog of what to prepare for when the Pirates ace is at his best. Cole prevented the Cubs from clinching a playoff berth Friday afternoon, and a couple of shortcomings lent perspective to the growth that remains after a 3-2 loss before 40,432 fans at foggy and breezy Wrigley Field. But the Cubs later clinched their first postseason spot in seven years when the A's defeated the Giants 5-4 in Oakland. Cole (18-8) limited the Cubs to four hits in seven innings. He's lined up to face Jake Arrieta (20-6) in the wild-card game. "If it comes down to (facing) Cole, we'll have to bring our 'A' game for sure," Chris Denorfia said. Denorfia ignited a ninth-inning rally with a pinch-hit double off closer Mark Melancon, and Starlin Castro tripled to put the tying run at third with young sluggers Jorge Soler and Javier Baez coming up. But Melancon struck out Soler and Baez to extend the Pirates' winning streak to seven — all on the road — and remind the Cubs of their lingering inability to adjust to situations.