October 18, 2017 Paving a path to a Cubs comeback from 3-0 NLCS deficit Bases-loaded walk of Darvish the new low in Cubs' free pass-haunted October

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1 October 18, 2017 ESPNChicago.com, Paving a path to a Cubs comeback from 3-0 NLCS deficit nlcs-deficit ESPNChicago.com, Bases-loaded walk of Darvish the new low in Cubs' free pass-haunted October ESPNChicago.com, Chris Taylor takes turn in starring role as Dodgers push Cubs to brink of elimination NBC Sports Chicago, Winter is coming for Cubs team that looks checked out of NBC Sports Chicago, Why Cubs' bullpen struggles could damage their chances of rallying in the NLCS NBC Sports Chicago, For Cubs, it looks like 2015 all over again as Dodgers ready the brooms in NLCS NBC Sports Chicago, Ben Zobrist breaks down how Dodgers pitching has made Cubs offense disappear NBC Sports Chicago, Record-setting futility and the 5 biggest things from Cubs-Dodgers Game 3 nlcs-darvish NBC Sports Chicago, Is Joe Maddon covering for Wade Davis? Where do Cubs go from here? Chicago Tribune, Cubs on brink of elimination after Dodgers cruise in Game 3 Chicago Tribune, 9 pivotal moments from Cubs 6-1 loss in Game 3 of the NLCS story.html Chicago Tribune, Getting embarrassed in the NLCS? That's Cub column.html Chicago Tribune, It seemed like old times at subdued Wrigley Field in Cubs' Game 3 loss

2 Chicago Tribune, Cubs running out of resources trying to solve Dodgers in NLCS Chicago Tribune, NLCS Game 3 turning point: Chris Taylor's third-inning home run Chicago Tribune, 'Bullpenning' all the rage as playoff teams yank starters earlier and earlier story.html Chicago Tribune, Jake Arrieta plans to savor his Wrigley Field start while hoping for more Chicago Tribune, Wade Davis once killed a bear but is left off list of players likely to conquer animal story.html Chicago Tribune, NLCS Game 4 pitching matchup: Jake Arrieta vs. Alex Wood story.html Chicago Tribune, Joe Maddon hopes walks by Cubs relievers take a hike story.html Chicago Sun-Times, MORRISSEY: Cubs response to World Series hopes? Walk Yu Chicago Sun-Times, Dodgers clout Cubs again 6-1 to push defending champs to brink Chicago Sun-Times, Puig playing like a kid, performing like a man for unbeatable Dodgers Chicago Sun-Times, Kris Bryant admits Cubs are tired. Sadly, the whole world can tell Chicago Sun-Times, TELANDER: Game 4 starter Arrieta deserves big hand from home crowd Chicago Sun-Times, Javy Baez doesn t start, still hitless after pinch-hitting Daily Herald, Cubs bats stay quiet, Dodgers lead NLCS Daily Herald, Maddon: 'I thought C.J. was the right man' against Darvish Daily Herald, Imrem: Get used to seeing Cubs, Dodgers in playoffs Daily Herald, Rozner: Cubs go quietly into the NLCS night

3 Daily Herald, 3 questions for Chicago Cubs heading into Game 4 of NLCS Daily Herald, Arrieta in a familiar place as Cubs' Game 4 starter in NLCS Daily Herald, Cubs' Maddon comfortable with how he uses closer Davis Cubs.com, Cubs on brink of elimination after Game 3 loss Cubs.com, Cubs will look to make magic happen in NLCS Cubs.com, 3 keys for Cubs to keep their season going Cubs.com, Short starts, ineffective bullpen derail Cubs Cubs.com, Rested Arrieta looks to extend Cubs' season Cubs.com, Cubs' hopes for rally fade after 'weird' 6th Cubs.com, LA eyes World Series; Cubs look to stay alive Cubs.com, Schwarber a bright spot with dinger, defense Cubs.com, DYK? Facts, figures from Tuesday's LCS action ESPNChicago.com Paving a path to a Cubs comeback from 3-0 NLCS deficit By David Schoenfield Yes, the outlook isn't brilliant for the Chicago National League baseball club. After a 6-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Tuesday, Chicago Cubs fans shuffled out of Wrigley Field, some snapping a selfie with the field and the scoreboard in the background, most trudging despondently down the ramps of the old ballpark, the realization that the season is almost over after eight-plus months of box scores and highlights and cheering and washing that lucky Anthony Rizzo T-shirt for the next game. But it's not over. Not yet. Sure, the Dodgers are up three games to none and that means it's an almost impossible to task for the Cubs to rally, but such a comeback has happened once before. Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein knows about that one. He was the general manager of the 2004 Boston Red Sox, the miracle team that rallied in the ALCS against the New York Yankees and went on to win the World Series.

4 Here's the thing: That comeback seemed even more impossible than this one appears to be for the Cubs. Even forgetting the enormous weight of the history between the Red Sox and Yankees franchises, the Yankees had won Game 3 by the beastly score of "The Yankees stripped the Red Sox of all dignity last night," wrote Boston Globe scribe Dan Shaughnessy. "So there. For the 86th consecutive autumn the Red Sox aren't going to win the World Series." Let's use their comeback as a blueprint for the Cubs. Game 4: Red Sox 6, Yankees 4 (12 innings) The first key is to have the right mindset and keep a positive attitude. Back in 2004, Red Sox manager Terry Francona said, "I can't bail. I won't bail on these guys." Joe Maddon echoed those thoughts after Tuesday's loss. "I've got the little wristband on 'We never quit.' Something we've talked about the last three years," he said. Game 4 featured the famous David Ortiz walk-off home run in the 12th inning to win it, but before that the Red Sox tied the score in the bottom of the ninth off Mariano Rivera. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts knows a little something about that game. He was the pinch runner who stole second base and then scored the tying run on Bill Mueller's base hit. He was asked about that on Tuesday and while he said he never specifically mentions that piece of history with his players, he did say, "A message I do bring up is the sense of just being prepared for a particular moment, and I was in 2004." As invincible as Rivera seemed in 2004, so does Kenley Jansen in He blew one save all season. In seven innings in the postseason, he has allowed two hits and one walk with 12 strikeouts. As the Red Sox got to Rivera, the Cubs will have to get to Jansen. Ortiz eventually hit the home run off Paul Quantrill. No doubt, it's time for Rizzo or Kris Bryant to hit a big home run. The winning pitcher in that game? Curt Leskanic. Somebody deep in the Chicago bullpen will have to come up big. Game 5: Red Sox 5, Yankees 4 (14 innings) Ortiz won this with another walk-off hit, after the Red Sox had rallied in the eighth inning with two runs to tie it. The Dodgers will be starting Clayton Kershaw in this game, but the Yankees had a pretty good pitcher going as well in Mike Mussina. Lesson here: Just because the opponent has a future Hall of Fame starter yes, Mussina is a future Hall of Famer doesn't mean you can't win the game. The hero for Boston was Tim Wakefield, who pitched the final three innings in relief. A veteran starter coming out of the bullpen with a clutch extra-inning relief appearance? That sounds a lot like John Lackey, doesn't it? "Your back's absolutely against the wall," Maddon said. "Tomorrow is a Game 7. We have three or four Game 7s in a row coming up right now. We've got to counterpunch it at some point, and that's absolutely necessary tomorrow. We need to gain some kind of mental momentum, and obviously that's our last chance to do it tomorrow." Having to win four Game 7s means Maddon will undoubtedly have to scramble with his pitching. That's why Lackey probably becomes an important guy at some point, unless the Cubs get some lights-out performances from the starters. An extra-innings victory, like the Red Sox had, also will help because it may then force Roberts to scramble with his pitching staff. An advantage the Dodgers have right now is they don't have to do that; if the Cubs can somehow force that to happen make Jansen and Brandon Morrow throw a lot of pitches, or Kenta Maeda to go several innings in relief, then suddenly the Dodgers bullpen will be forced to use some of the back-end guys and you never know what can happen at that point. Game 6: Red Sox 4, Yankees 2 Curt Schilling's Bloody Sock Game. He allowed one run in seven innings and Mark Bellhorn hit a big three-run homer off Jon Lieber.

5 With Jake Arrieta going in Game 4 and Jose Quintana in Game 5, this would be Jon Lester's game. He doesn't need a bloody sock, but if anybody is up for a shutdown game, it's Lester. Score early off Rich Hill when the Bellhorn equivalent hits a three-run homer how about Jon Jay as the surprise hero? and Lester goes seven or eight and the Dodgers never get to Morrow and Jansen with the lead. Game 7: Red Sox 10, Yankees 3 Now all the pressure will be on the Dodgers. Hey, the Cubs already have a World Series title. They're playing with house money by this point. The Dodgers, meanwhile, haven't been to a World Series since In this game, the Red Sox jumped all over Kevin Brown. Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the first and then Johnny Damon hit a grand slam in the second. As good as Yu Darvish looked in Game 3, he's certainly capable of a blowup start. Remember that 10-run outing he had back in July for the Texas Rangers? Or the two games in early September for the Dodgers when he twice allowed five runs in outings of three and 4⅓ innings? When his fastball command wavers, teams can get to him. The Red Sox also had to scramble for a starter in this one, as Derek Lowe started on two days' rest. The Cubs probably won't have to do anything crazy like that, as Kyle Hendricks would be starting on normal rest. But if things get dicey, they could use Arrieta and Quintana in relief. Maddon said he wasn't going to do anything out of the norm before Game 4. He said he has three meetings each season: spring training, the All-Star break and before the playoffs. "There is nothing inspirational I could possibly say that's going to make a difference," he said. "I trust our guys." Plus, my cab driver on the way to the park guaranteed the Cubs would come back. "Look at last year," he told me. "Even when they were losing, they still believed in themselves. They will do it again." ESPNChicago.com Bases-loaded walk of Darvish the new low in Cubs' free pass-haunted October By Jesse Rogers CHICAGO Four pitches. It took exactly four pitches in the top of the sixth inning of Game 3 of the NLCS to define the Chicago Cubs' season. Mega-talented and ultra-inconsistent reliever Carl Edwards Jr. walked Dodgers starter Yu Darvish on four pitches with the bases loaded and two outs. "Just couldn't get down in the zone," Edwards said after an ugly 6-1 loss. Darvish, who spent his entire MLB career in the American League until July 31 of this year, had 31 career at-bats and only one walk before that moment. But Cubs relievers just can't help themselves. Not Tuesday, not last round, not all of the second half of the season. They've walked themselves to the brink of elimination as the Cubs are down a nearly insurmountable 3-0 in the series. "Walks are difficult," manager Joe Maddon said before the game. "It's difficult to manage the walk. I can't deny that. How do you fix it?" That might be a question for the offseason as the Cubs are one day away from possibly ending their title defense. Of course, when you score four runs in three games, you don't deserve much in terms of victories, but who says you can't win a low-scoring playoff game? Three times the Cubs have actually given their pitchers a lead in this series and three times they've given it back and then some. There is plenty of blame to go around. After all, the Cubs have walked 43 batters in eight playoff games. That's not just one guy losing his command. "C.J. has been that guy," Maddon said of Edwards. "[Pedro] Strop, to a certain extent, has been that guy also. [Mike] Montgomery, this year, during the course of the season showed that propensity also."

6 Maddon nearly named every reliever the Cubs employ. The walk to Darvish is just emblematic of a team that isn't or can't click on all cylinders. They're not even close. The Dodgers have something to do with that considering the Cubs began the series 0-for-29 against their bullpen, a record to start a postseason against anyone's relief staff, the Elias Sports Bureau reports. The Cubs finally got two ninth-inning hits in Game 3 before Kenley Jansen shut the door. Catcher Alex Avila had one of those. "Just as quickly as it changed for the bad, it can change for the good," Avila said of the series. It has to change quickly because the Cubs have used up their margin for error. The task at hand is monumental to keep hope of a World Series repeat alive. They'll need to be the second team to come back from a 3-0 series deficit and move on. "Win the first one," Kris Bryant said. "Then whatever happens after that we'll figure it out then." That's easier said than done, considering the Cubs are 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position in the series, including six strikeouts. Combine that with the walks and you can understand how their offense and pitching staff have both come up way short. "Walks hurt you," Avila said, stating the obvious. "That's been around forever. Not just the playoffs." Between the offense and the free passes, the latter has to be the more frustrating problem. Giving runs away instead of making the Dodgers earn them is about as bad as it gets. In Game 1, it was two walks in front of a Yasiel Puig double that fueled the Dodgers' comeback to tie the score in the fifth inning. In Game 2, Brian Duensing's lead-off walk in the ninth inning to Puig with the score tied set off a chain reaction resulting in another loss. Then in Game 3, Edwards' incomprehensible bases-loaded free pass to Darvish was the icing on the cake. "We have not been a command-oriented bullpen," Maddon said. "There is no question about it." So now the Cubs will turn to Jake Arrieta for perhaps his final start in a Cubs uniform. He issued five walks in his lone postseason start of 2017 so he'll fit right in if he picks up where the bullpen has left off. Then again, the Cubs need near perfection from their staff because they aren't hitting a lick right now. Anthony Rizzo is in his worst slump of the season if you take into account his usually keen eye at the plate. He has struck out 11 times with only two walks after finishing the year with more free passes then whiffs. Asked if he was drained from a five-game heavyweight bout with the Washington Nationals in Round 1, he wouldn't take the bait. "I can run laps around this place right now," Rizzo said. "We have a great job for a living. To say anyone is drained I have to disagree with that." He might run laps around the clubhouse, but he's not running them around the bases. No Cub is. Three have jogged around by hitting home runs, but that's all the offense they've mustered in the series. "This game is funny," Edwards said. "We will not give up." They better not or his declaration in Los Angeles that they would return there (for Games 6 and 7) will look awfully silly. The Cubs need to win the next two games for that to happen, then two more to get back to the World Series. It's unlikely, but not just because of history. They're getting beat by a better team, one that is pitching even better than the Cubs did last postseason on their way to a championship. Maybe that's why Rizzo isn't shocked by the situation his team is in: Down 3-0 to the team with the best regular-season record in baseball. "You can't ever be surprised in this game," Rizzo said. "They have a good team." That might be the understatement of the week.

7 ESPNChicago.com Chris Taylor takes turn in starring role as Dodgers push Cubs to brink of elimination By Bradford Doolittle CHICAGO Another game, another hero, and a perfect postseason continues for the title-starved Los Angeles Dodgers. This time it was Chris Taylor taking his star turn, fulfilling a teammate's wish after Game 2, as the Dodgers pushed the champion Chicago Cubs to the brink of elimination with a 6-1 win Tuesday at Wrigley Field. Taylor hit a mammoth home run off Kyle Hendricks and drove in another run with a triple as L.A. put a stranglehold on the National League Championship Series, leading three games to none. Taylor, a player who had one big league homer in 120 games before this season, now has two in the NLCS, continuing an unlikely breakout campaign that started with an overhaul to his swing that he underwent with the Dodgers' coaching staff. "To take a chance on trying to learn a new swing and to bet on yourself, and that's what he did," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "He committed to it. We saw early in spring training he was a different hitter." The Dodgers improved to 6-0 during this playoff run, the longest postseason win streak in franchise history. After the game, the Dodgers, on the cusp of their first pennant in 29 years seemed... business-like? "We'll come in tomorrow and figure out a way to win a ballgame," third baseman Justin Turner said. "That's kind of been the way we've gone about it all year long. Whatever happened the day before doesn t matter." Turner won Game 2 with a three-run, walk-off homer off Chicago's John Lackey a moment set up by the walk Taylor drew against Lackey with Turner on deck and a man on second base. About a half-hour later, Turner went to the media room in the bowels of Dodger Stadium and said, "I wanted to see C.T., to finish it. I thought he was going to get the big hit." Well, Taylor got two big hits on Tuesday. With the score knotted at 1-1 in the third, he jumped ahead of Hendricks and unloaded a home run that cleared the batter's eye beyond the ivy-covered center-field wall. Statcast measured Taylor's blast at 444 feet the longest homer it has tracked in this postseason. Taylor said he knew early on that the tweaks to his game were going to help. "To say I expected it to happen as fast as it did, I'd be lying," Taylor said. "Pretty much I felt really good right in spring training, which I was pretty shocked to see that kind of results that fast." Taylor's home run was the Dodgers' fourth go-ahead homer of the postseason. He has hit two of them, and Turner has hit the other two. Both of Taylor's homers have come in the NLCS, which makes him the first Dodger to hit multiple go-ahead blasts in the NLCS since Steve Garvey did so in "[Taylor's] at-bats are as professional as anyone in the lineup," Turner said. "He controls the strike zone extremely well. He's really a spark plug at the top of the lineup. That's why ever since he was put in that lead-off spot, he's [been] a game-changer for us." Taylor showed off his speed in the fifth by lacing a drive into the left-field corner and turning on the jets as he rounded second base. He slid into third ahead of the throw from Chicago's Kyle Schwarber, driving in Joc Pederson. Oh, and there is this: Taylor was making his first playoff start at shortstop in Game 3 after starting the first two games in center field. He became the first player ever to hit homers at both positions in the same postseason.

8 "To be able to start him in center field the first couple games and then to start him at short," Roberts said, "and to get on base, to slug, drive runs in, catch the baseball he's a huge asset for us." The reason Taylor was playing shortstop, of course, is that star Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager was left off L.A.'s NLCS roster because of a sore back. That was a cause of much anxiety when the announcement was made last weekend, a sentiment summed up by Seager himself, who said, "It sucks, to be honest." Between Taylor and Charlie Culberson, who played short in the first two games of the NLCS, the Dodgers have actually gotten more production from Seager's position than they did in the NLDS. Seager went 3-for-11 with one extra-base hit during L.A.'s sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Taylor and Culberson have gone a combined 4-for-10 with four extra-base hits while playing short. "It's kind of been next-man-up all year," reliever Brandon Morrow said after helping the Dodgers' impermeable bullpen stretch its scoreless streak to 10⅔ innings in the NLCS. "We've had guys step up in so many different situations. Through that amazing stretch we had in June and July, it seemed like it was a different guy every night. That's really been the feeling this postseason." Taylor's performance overshadowed another outstanding outing by Yu Darvish, who shut down the Cubs over 6 1/3 innings. Darvish allowed Schwarber's solo homer in the first inning but limited Chicago to one run and six hits while striking out seven. He was efficient as well, throwing just 81 total pitches. The only emotion the always-cool Darvish displayed on the field came when he drew a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk off Carl Edwards Jr. in the sixth to put the Dodgers up 4-1. "When I stood on the mound, facing a guy who throws 95, 96 with a cutter, he's got something special going, Darvish said through an interpreter. I didn't think I had a chance to hit. I just wanted to try to do something draw a walk or maybe get hit by pitch. Anything just to score runs. Darvish had just one career RBI and one career walk before that plate appearance. He became the first pitcher to be walked with the bases loaded in a postseason game since Philadelphia s Larry Christenson walked against the Dodgers in the 1977 NLCS. As Darvish walked off the mound in the seventh, he gave plate umpire Mike Winters a salute. And why not? Darvish's 42 percent called-strike rate was his third-highest of the season. "The story of the night, obviously, is Yu Darvish," Roberts said. "After that first homer that he gave up on the cutter that backed up, he was dominant. He just had that rhythm, the poise and didn't allow a whole lot of hard contact. He put us in a great spot, and we just fed off of him tonight." Still, the night also belonged to Taylor, and who could have predicted such a thing would happen when teams reported to spring training way back in February? Taylor had hit.240 over three big league seasons and was traded to L.A. from Seattle in an unheralded move in Taylor fits the mold of quite a few of the current Dodgers: strugglers turned into stalwarts. He had untapped innate abilities that he has been able to tap into in L.A., in his case through a swing reconstruction at an age when most players would be averse to such a makeover. "I knew I had to kind of make that drastic change right away and get out of my comfort zone," Taylor said. "Had no expectations going into it. I always have confidence in my ability, and obviously, I was hoping it would come." Indeed, it did. Taylor ended up as one of the NL's breakout players in a season in which he turned 27 years old. He hit.288 with 21 homers, 72 RBIs and 17 steals while playing five positions.

9 That full range of skills was on display Tuesday in front of a jam-packed crowd at Wrigley Field that didn't want to see it. Now, with one more win, the Dodgers will earn their first NL pennant and first shot at a World Series title since One more win. But don't tell anyone on the Dodgers that's all they need, even though 29 of the 36 teams that took a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series went on to sweep. "We've got to put it behind us," closer Kenley Jansen said after getting the last three outs of the game. "We're not getting excited over this. "We've been talking about it all year: trying to win a championship. We know how hard it is. We can't be excited and all that. We have to continue playing good baseball." NBC Sports Chicago Winter is coming for Cubs team that looks checked out of 2017 By Patrick Mooney Kyle Schwarber took a Babe Ruth swing on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, posed for a moment and dropped the bat out of his follow through, watching that Yu Darvish pitch soar 408 feet out toward the left-center field bleachers. Those carefree Cubs relievers shown on the video board wait, was that John Lackey bouncing around? danced in the bullpen in the first inning. This is exactly what the Cubs wanted: Grab an early lead? Check. Get one of their big boys going? Check. Energize the crowd of 41,871? Check. That sense of momentum lasted less than the time it takes to buy a beer or go to the bathroom at Wrigley Field, because the Los Angeles Dodgers look like the unstoppable force this October. Now Wade Davis may never pitch in this National League Championship Series and Wednesday night could be Jake Arrieta s final start in a Cubs uniform. Winter is coming after a 6-1 loss left the defending World Series champs looking mentally checked out of The Cubs played AC/DC and Motley Crue in their underground clubhouse and answered questions about why they believe they can match the 2004 Boston Red Sox who took down the New York Yankee Evil Empire, becoming the only team to come back from an 0-3 deficit since the LCS expanded to a seven-game format in But Kris Bryant s glassy look and bloodshot eyes told a different story, the reigning NL MVP admitting how draining those five games felt against the Washington Nationals in Round 1. But you kind of expect that around this time when games mean a lot, Bryant said. It takes a lot of energy to get ready for these games, and at the end, you feel wiped out. It s expected. But no one could have predicted this lack of buzz in Wrigleyville, which felt less than a lot of midweek games during the regular season. A silence fell over the old ballpark when Andre Ethier who has three homers across the last two seasons combined lined a Kyle Hendricks pitch off the video board in right field to lead off the second inning. Hendricks who has made 10 postseason starts across the last three years and kept the Dodgers completely offbalance last October on the night the Cubs clinched their first NL pennant in 71 years watched in the third inning as Chris Taylor crushed another home-run ball that bounced off the roof of the batter s eye in center field. I wouldn t say we re running out of gas, shortstop Addison Russell said. Every time we step on the field, I feel like we have a pretty good chance of winning. We re going to come into the clubhouse tomorrow positive and just ready to strap it on.

10 The Dodgers will be out for beer and champagne on Wednesday night and the chance to kick back and watch the Yankees and Houston Astros expend all their energy in the ALCS. Dodger manager Dave Roberts who pushed all the right bullpen buttons in Games 1 and 2 (eight no-hit/scoreless innings combined) toyed with the Cubs by letting Darvish hit against struggling reliever Carl Edwards Jr. with a two-run lead and two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth inning. Darvish showed bunt on all four pitches and drew a four-pitch walk and slammed his bat to the ground in celebration. The fans booed after Edwards struck out Taylor on three pitches to end the inning. We were there just as much as any other game, said Ben Zobrist, last year s World Series MVP. Mentally, there was no letdown. Physically, there was no letdown. It was just a matter of them capitalizing on some mistakes that we made. That s part of the game. And they didn t make a lot of mistakes. They played better baseball than us tonight. That s why they got the W. The Cubs committed two errors in Game 3 and then had a National-style meltdown in the eighth inning, from Zobrist misjudging the flyball to right field that dropped in front of him, to Mike Montgomery throwing a wild pitch, to catcher Willson Contreras getting crossed up on a swinging strike three, his glove nowhere near Montgomery s 92.7-mph fastball, which crashed into his right arm and ricocheted into the visiting dugout. A three-run game became 6-1 and head for the exits and then the offseason. There was Albert Almora Jr. in the ninth inning, driving a ball into the ivy in left field and sprinting right into lead runner Alex Avila at third base, bailed out only because Kike Hernandez waved his hand to signal a ground-rule double. At least that made All-Star closer Kenley Jansen work the last three outs, accumulated stress that might benefit the Yankees or Astros more than the Cubs. They are done, an NL scout wrote in a text message. You can see it in their faces. NBC Sports Chicago Why Cubs' bullpen struggles could damage their chances of rallying in the NLCS By Dan Hayes If the Cubs hope to comeback and reach a second straight World Series, they won t only have to overcome a lackluster offense. The bullpen has been equally unreliable for much of the postseason. The team s rotten relief surfaced yet again on Tuesday night when reliever Carl Edwards Jr. issued a bases-loaded walk to counterpart Yu Darvish. It s one of 23 walks issued by Cubs relievers during the 2017 postseason, the most ever by any team through its first eight playoff games. Edwards sixth-inning, run-scoring walk of Darvish was one of many Cubs miscues in a 6-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. But the moment was squarely in the spotlight as it opened the floodgates, brought out the boo birds and left more questions than answers for the Cubs, who now trail the series 3-0. I m still confident, Edwards said about his team s chances. There s no need to change it. I wouldn t sit here and say We re going to lose. We re still confident. We re ready. Like I said, it s a very fun sport and the tables can turn at any time. The Cubs need to flip those tables over pretty quickly if they want to repeat. Fixing an offense that has produced 2.75 runs per game in the playoffs is chief among the Cubs concerns.

11 But even if the Cubs offense puts on a hitting clinic, it s October and tight games are inevitable. With that in mind they ll also need more dependability from a group of relievers who has a 6.35 ERA and 23 walks against 24 strikeouts in 28 1/3 playoff innings. Walks were a constant issue for the Cubs bullpen in the regular season when they averaged 4.25 per nine innings. But that number has increased 7.62 in the playoffs. The problem surfaced at the wrong time Tuesday as manager Joe Maddon pulled Kyle Hendricks for Edwards with two on and no outs in the sixth and the Cubs trailing 3-1. Edwards sandwiched a pair of outs around a walk to Austin Barnes that loaded the bases. Joc Pederson s flew out for the second out, which appeared as if it would bring pinch-hitter Curtis Granderson to the plate. But the Dodgers stuck with Darvish and it worked as Edwards threw four straight balls to bring in a run. Darvish who only walked once before in 39 career plate appearances became the first pitcher to walk with the bases loaded in the postseason since Philadelphia s Larry Christenson in Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS against the Dodgers. Edwards recovered to strike out Chris Taylor, but walked off the mound to a chorus of boos. I thought C.J. was the right man, Maddon said. It's just the walk there, the walk, two walks really hurt us. Otherwise, he didn't give anything up. It was another lowlight for a pen that has seen John Lackey surrender Justin Turner s three-run, game-winning homer on Sunday, Wade Davis slip up against Michael Taylor in the NLDS and countless other struggles. Mike Montgomery allowed two runs (one earned) late Tuesday to raise his postseason ERA to The team s performance is in direct contrast with the lights out Dodgers bullpen. Los Angeles relievers have a 1.21 ERA with 23 strikeouts and only two walks in 22 1/3 innings. The Cubs will have to take on some of their counterparts qualities in order to pull off an improbable rally. But Edwards said he and his teammates aren t shaken. They ve just been very, very good at their jobs, Edwards said. It s not frustrating at all. It s just making pitches and I didn t, but it was just today. Come back tomorrow and win. There s more in us to keep striving (for). The thing is, we won t give up. I don t care what happens. NBC Sports Chicago For Cubs, it looks like 2015 all over again as Dodgers ready the brooms in NLCS By Vinnie Duber These 2017 Cubs aren t who they were back in But if the Los Angeles Dodgers, up 3-0 in this NLCS after Tuesday night s 6-1 win at Wrigley Field, sweep away the Cubs on Wednesday, fans will have trouble recognizing the difference. Just one defeat away from suffering the same fate the pre-world Series Cubs did two years ago, the similarities are most definitely present, chiefly in that the bats have gone completely silent against an elite pitching staff. Of course you ll remember that four-game set with the New York Mets, when a young starting rotation looked like it was entering a decade-long stretch of dominance by carving up the then-upstart Cubs. Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and Jacob degrom combined to limit the Cubs to five runs over 20.1 innings in the first three games of that series. The Cubs chased Game 4 starter Steven Matz before he completed five innings, but they still

12 mustered only three runs in an 8-3 loss that completed the sweep. And that bullpen had itself a darn good series, too. The Cubs hit.164 in those four games and reached base at a grotesque.225 clip. Flash forward to now, and the Cubs are on the verge of another sweep, their offense experiencing similar problems. The batting average through the first three games is.160, the on-base percentage even worse than it was two years earlier, a nasty.202. And much like in the 2015 NLCS, the Cubs' biggest boppers are struggling mightily. Kris Bryant was 3-for-14 against the Mets, he's 3-for-12 against the Dodgers. Anthony Rizzo was 3-for-14 against the Mets, he's 1-for-10 against the Dodgers. Kyle Schwarber was 2-for-14 against the Mets, he's 1-for-6 against the Dodgers. Of course we expected more, manager Joe Maddon said after the game. The Dodgers have pitched well. It s somewhat surprising. I don't want to use the word disappointing. Our guys are working really hard. They ve pitched well, hit a couple balls well. But overall, the three games, I guess their relief pitchers have pretty much thrown a no-hitter against us, so they ve been pretty good. It s true that in three games against the Dodgers, the Cubs already have hit more home runs than they did in the five-game NLDS against the Washington Nationals. But after grabbing early leads with home runs in each of the first three games of this series off the bats of Albert Almora Jr., Addison Russell and Schwarber, respectively there s been little, if any, further damage against a Dodger pitching staff that has looked downright filthy. The best performance by a starting pitcher came in Game 3, with Yu Darvish turning in the kind of outing the Dodgers envisioned when they made a deadline deal for the former Texas Ranger back in July. Darvish threw 6.1 innings of one-run ball Tuesday, the only real blemish being Schwarber s first-inning, opposite-field Schwarbomb. Darvish was so good that in a tight 3-1 game in the sixth inning, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts let his starter bat with the bases loaded. Darvish made his skipper look like baseball s all-time genius, drawing a four-pitch walk from Carl Edwards Jr. to force in a run. But, of course, what he did on the mound was far more impactful. He kept the Cubs looking outmatched, something that was a common occurrence against that Mets staff back in Yes, there are differences. There s no doubt the squads are two very different groups. And while Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill were very good in their starts, particularly Hill, the Dodgers haven t featured a string of sensational performances like that Mets team did. Instead, as Maddon mentioned, the Dodgers strength has been the bullpen. After going oh-fer against Dodgers relievers in the first two games, the Cubs finally snapped their streak with two ninth-inning hits against Ross Stripling on Tuesday. But they re still just 2-for-34 in three games. But the biggest difference of all between 2015 and 2017? The expectations. Two years ago, the Cubs had yet to smash that 108-year World Series curse and were fresh off the franchise s first postseason series win in more than a decade, just the franchise s second since capturing the 1945 pennant. The Cubs second-half surge that season had them playoff party crashers, a much different role than the defending champs. This time around, the Cubs entered the season as favorites to repeat. The first half was a big disappointment in the eyes of most fans not so much concerned with the effects of the World Series hangover and more focused on getting back to partying in early November. The second half was more like what was expected. And so while the Dodgers and the Nationals, for that matter were better regular-season teams, according to the 162-game records, there were expectations on the North Side for the Cubs to do it all over again. Instead, with one more showing like this by a slumbering Cubs offense against an elite Dodgers pitching staff, the sweep will be completed at Wrigley Field and it will be 2015 that happens all over again.

13 NBC Sports Chicago Ben Zobrist breaks down how Dodgers pitching has made Cubs offense disappear By Patrick Mooney Ben Zobrist didn t look for any deeper meaning in Kyle Schwarber s first-inning homer off Yu Darvish on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, or hope that one swing could change the entire momentum of this National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Zobrist knows what it takes to win in October, the Cubs identifying him as the missing piece to their lineup after he helped transform the 2015 Kansas City Royals into a championship team, and then getting a World Series MVP return on their $56 million investment. That Schwarbomb turned out to be fool s gold, the only run the Cubs would score in front of a quiet, low-energy crowd of 41,871, the defending champs one more loss away from golfing/hunting/fishing/signing autographs at memorabilia shows. That was great to get a homer, but I d rather see some hits strung together, Zobrist said after a sloppy 6-1 loss, standing at his locker for almost 10 minutes, answering questions in the underground clubhouse. I d like to see a couple doubles together, a few singles, three or four hits in an inning. We just haven t done that. That s what makes rallies. They ve stayed away from those kinds of innings. That s why they re ahead right now. Darvish Jake Arrieta s replacement in the 2018 rotation? canceled out the two singles he allowed in the first inning by getting two of his seven strikeouts and answering some of the questions about how he would respond to all the pressure in October. Darvish a trade-deadline acquisition that had echoes of Theo Epstein s If not now, when? explanation for last year s Aroldis Chapman trade walked one of the 25 batters he faced and pitched into the seventh inning before handing the game over to a lights-out bullpen. There s nothing that we didn t see beforehand on video, Zobrist said. It s just a matter of we need him to make more mistakes, and we got to take advantage of those mistakes when he makes them. When he got to 3-2 counts, he wasn t throwing a heater. He was throwing the cutter, and it s a tough pitch to hit. You have to sit on it, and even then it s got good movement to it. He kept us off-balance. Forward-thinking manager Dave Roberts is at the controls of a Los Angeles bullpen that can match up against rightand left-handed hitters, target locations, unleash upper-90s velocity, execute the elevated fastball that messes with eye levels and lean on All-Star closer Kenley Jansen for multiple innings. The Dodger relievers essentially put together a no-hitter that lasted nine-plus innings across Games 1, 2 and 3. Together, they have pitched 10.2 scoreless innings, facing 36 batters and allowing two hits and a walk and hitting Anthony Rizzo with a pitch. They kept the ball on the edges and kept us off-balance, Zobrist said. They re not throwing the pitch in the middle of the plate when we need them to. They re keeping it on the edges and those are hard (to hit). When you got guys with good stuff on the mound, you need them to make some mistakes for you, or at least start walking some guys. When they ve gotten in those situations with a three-ball count, they re still making the pitch when they need to. They re not walking many guys and we are. That s why they re up 3-nothing.

14 Zobrist (4-for-23 this postseason) is now more of a part-time player/defensive replacement, no longer the switchhitting force who dropped the bunt at Dodger Stadium that helped end the 21-inning scoreless streak during last year s NLCS. Zobrist insisted the Cubs are still all there mentally, not checked out after a grueling first round against the Washington Nationals and a brutal walk-off loss in Game 2 at Dodger Stadium. He owns two World Series rings and one has the Cubs logo and this inscription: We Never Quit. We keep it loose all the time, Zobrist said. We know what s at stake. And we don t shy away from it. We look forward to the challenge ahead. It would be a great story for us to be able to come back in this series and win this series. We make adjustments, we take advantage of mistakes and we come out with a victory tomorrow. That s what we have to do. NBC Sports Chicago Record-setting futility and the 5 biggest things from Cubs-Dodgers Game 3 By Tony Andracki The Los Angeles Dodgers are looking more and more like the 2016 Cubs. But even the team that will live forever in baseball history didn't go up 3-0 on any opponent last fall. The Dodgers continued to outplay the Cubs in every single facet of the game Tuesday night, stunning the Wrigley Field faithful and defending champs with a 6-1 victory. Déjà vu? At this point, it would be impossible to ignore the parallels to The Cubs are now one game away from getting swept out of the NLCS at Wrigley Field. Just like when they ran into the New York Mets' power pitching two years ago. The Dodgers have run out Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Yu Darvish to mystify the Cubs while Alex Wood who led baseball in winning percentage with a 16-3 record in the regular season awaits for Game 4 Wednesday. The Cubs offense has disappeared and they're getting upstaged by a team that led MLB with 104 wins. What is it with these Taylors? Dude, guys named Taylor absolutely kill the Cubs now, apparently. After Michael A. Taylor nearly singlehandedly willed the Nationals past the Cubs in the NLDS, Chris Taylor is doing much the same thing with these Dodgers. Chris Taylor wasn't a part of this series last fall and is making up for lost time this week. He has a run in every game of the series to go along with five hits, including a solo homer in Game 1 and a homer and an RBI triple in Game 3 Tuesday night. Taylor came out of nowhere this year, bursting onto the scene with an.850 OPS, 21 homers, 17 stolen bases and 85 runs and he's been a difference-maker in this series. All the right moves

15 Dave Roberts has pushed all the right buttons so far in this series. After utilizing his bullpen in a perfect fashion the first two games in LA, Roberts then inserted veteran Andre Ethier and young centerfielder Joc Pederson into the lineup against right-handed Kyle Hendricks. Ethier homered on the first pitch he saw Tuesday night, silencing the 41,871 fans at Wrigley Field after they just watched Kyle Schwarber stake their team to a 1-0 lead just a few minutes before. Pederson led the fifth inning off with a double and came around to score the Dodgers' third run on Taylor's triple. Pederson's presence also pushed Taylor to shortstop, and we already know how that one worked out for Roberts and Co. Roberts even, inexplicably, pulled back pinch-hitter Curtis Granderson and let Yu Darvish hit with the bases loaded and two outs in a tight ballgame in the top of the sixth and then watched as the pitcher with four career hits and one career walk stared at four straight balls from Carl Edwards Jr. to force in a run. It's been quite a long time since something like that happened. Walking the walk To piggy-back off that Darvish base on balls, Cubs relievers have set a new record for postseason futility: The number 23 holds a special place in the hearts of Chicagoans, but that is not the number they want to see here. The Cubs bullpen that was among the game's best in the first half has flipped the script the last few months, unable to find any stability. Remember, the Cubs were already looking pretty solid before they went out and added Justin Wilson at the trade deadline. To that point, Wilson had been one of the top relievers in baseball and there was a lot of talk about how great he'd look in the team's October 'pen. Wilson isn't even active for this NLCS, though it's not like it mattered much. (Not) talking the talk The Cubs absolutely needed Bryzzo to step up if they were going to get back to the World Series for the second straight year. But Bryant had just two harmless singles in Game 3 while Rizzo added a single in four trips to the plate. That hit broke an 0-for-16 stretch from Rizzo since he had that epic "Respect Me!" rant in Game 3 of the NLDS. But, it's not like anybody else is hitting much either. Kyle Schwarber's home run in the first inning was the Cubs' only offense and they are now 0-4 this postseason when hitting a homer in a game. That's also the third straight game in which the Cubs jumped the Dodgers with an early homer and yet find themselves one game away from starting their winter earlier than desired. Part of the Cubs' inability to add on is their complete befuddlement by the LA bullpen, setting a new record by going 0-for-26 against Dodger relievers to start the series. All told, the Cubs are in a "sub-optimal" position right now, to borrow a phrase from Maddon. But hey, there was always last year.

16 NBC Sports Chicago Is Joe Maddon covering for Wade Davis? Where do Cubs go from here? By Patrick Mooney Is Cubs manager Joe Maddon taking the heat and covering for Wade Davis while the All-Star closer deals with atypical soreness in his right arm? No, no, Maddon said Tuesday when asked if Davis felt anything unusual that lingered into the National League Championship Series after last week s all-out effort eliminated the Washington Nationals from the divisional round. The Los Angeles Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven bullpen battle without Davis throwing a single pitch, the backlash from Cubs fans, Twitter and the national media again putting Maddon on the defensive, the year after he got second-guessed for pushing Aroldis Chapman so hard during the World Series. This NLCS truly is a bizarro world, with Maddon comparing the Buster Posey Rule to the Chicago soda tax, getting so little benefit of the doubt the Cubs really did beat the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 and working the baseball term dry-hump into one answer during Monday s Wrigley Field press conference. Maddon said he would have to check first with Davis who would have almost five full days in between relief appearances if the Cubs need a four- or five-out save in Game 3. Nevertheless, I always check, Maddon said. I can t just assume that. Maddon s Game 2 calculus on Sunday night at Dodger Stadium sticking with lefty reliever Brian Duensing in a 1-1 game to start the ninth inning and then bringing in John Lackey to serve up the walk-off, three-run homer to Justin Turner made you wonder if Davis was still dragging after ending Washington s season and traveling on the overnight cross-country flight that got diverted to New Mexico for about five hours when Jose Quintana s wife experienced a panic attack. I think he just got mentally exhausted, Maddon said. Physically, 44 pitches, he hasn t done that in a while. But also the seven outs and what it meant and the plane ride itself, sitting on the tarmac, there was a lot of non-rest going on right there, so it was harder to recover. So, no, he was fine for the last game, but we set up the parameters before the game. Maddon is sticking with his story, that he would only deploy Davis in a save situation and not use him for one out against Turner (1.115 career postseason OPS) or have him totally warm up without the guarantee of getting him into the game. To put Wade in that position would be wrong on my part, Maddon said. We had already talked about the circumstances, so my loyalty there lies with Wade, or my decision-making lies with Wade, nobody else. That was a heavy day for him (in Washington). Going into the last game in L.A., like I talked about, we talked about one inning only, and not to get up and not put him in the game. If you get him up and sit him down, then you have no idea what it s going to look like. My responsibility is to him, also, and to the players, so I told him that before the game, so I had to stick with our decision. Before finalizing the Jorge Soler trade at the winter meetings, the Kansas City Royals took the unusual step of allowing the Cubs to meet with Davis at his home in New York s Hudson Valley and go through a physical exam. The Cubs wanted reassurances after Davis spent parts of last season on the disabled list with a forearm strain and a flexor strain.