If the Chicago Cubs are going to shock the world, they’re going to need to be like some idiots.
The Cubs’ season is on the verge of ending after they fell behind the New York Mets three games to zero in the National League Championship Series on Tuesday night.
For the Cubs to win their first pennant since 1945, they’ll need to become just the second team in Major League Baseball history to erase a 3-0 series deficit. The only team to do so, of course, was the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who shocked the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
One prominent member of the Cubs knows very well what it takes to erase a seemingly insurmountable deficit. Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein was the general manager of that Red Sox team that shocked the Yankees, so at the very least, the Cubs have that bit of mojo going for them.
“Nine different times this year we’ve won four or more games in a row, so let’s just do it a 10th time,” Epstein told reporters after Tuesday’s game, per ESPN.com. “Show up and win (Wednesday). We’re dangerous. It’s been done before, rumor has it. We can do it.”
Epstein, like old friend Kevin Millar, insists it just takes one win to get the ball rolling.
“We can (bleeping) do it,” Epstein said, according to CBSSports.com. “We’re good. We’ll win tomorrow. If we show up and win tomorrow, we’re dangerous.”
There’s also the parallel that the Cubs — like the Red Sox — are trying to do this against a team from New York, which is something first baseman Anthony Rizzo (a former Red Sox farmhand) pointed out Tuesday.
Of course, the Mets’ pitching staff owns the majors’ best postseason ERA so far and is more likely to make the Cubs one of the rest than it is to allow Chicago to join Boston in the history books.
Thumbnail photo via Jeff Curry/USA TODAY Sports Images
