CHICAGO _ Bad things will happen, Cubs manager Joe Maddon warned. In October, it is inevitable. Decisions will backfire, 102-mph fastballs will get smoked for game-tying hits, the game will stop your heart.
So, Maddon called a meeting before the start of his team's postseason run to hammer home the message, one that seemed especially prescient in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
Pinch hitter Miguel Montero smashed a grand slam to break a tie in the eighth inning Saturday night, leaving Wrigley Field shaking in the wake of what became the Cubs' 8-4 victory over the Dodgers.
Summoned with the bases loaded and nobody out in the eighth inning, Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman blew the save, allowing Adrian Gonzalez's two-run single off a 102-mph fastball to tie it at 3. In the Cubs' eighth, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts turned into a riverboat gambler.
He ordered an intentional walk to pinch hitter Chris Coghlan to load the bases, all to force Maddon to lift Chapman for a pinch hitter. But that pinch hitter was Montero, whose long blast off Dodgers setup man Joe Blanton landed deep in the right-field bleachers.
Dexter Fowler followed with a solo blast of his own, capping a five-run inning that turned a night of ruin into one of revelry. The Cubs, trying for their first pennant since 1945 and first championship since 1908, took a critical first step toward eradicating those demons.
Since the league championship series shifted to a seven-game format 30 years ago, the team to win Game 1 has gone on to advance to the World Series 21 times.
The Cubs led 3-0 on Kris Bryant's RBI double in the first inning and Javier Baez's latest dose of postseason heroics in the second inning. First, he turned a center-field bloop into a run-scoring double. Later, after taking third on a wild pitch, he swiped home on a blown safety squeeze.
But the game would turn when Maddon gave a quick hook to starter Jon Lester.
Making his 15th postseason start, Lester was coming off a sterling effort against the Giants in Game 1 of the NLDS. He set a new postseason high by tossing eight shutout innings that night. He rarely looked comfortable Saturday night.
The Dodgers stepped out of the box, looking to disrupt his rhythm. It seemed to work. He fell behind in counts often. He couldn't get through the first batter of the game without a visit from his personal catcher, David Ross.
Yet, he held the Dodgers to just one run on four hits in six innings. His only blemish came against Andre Ethier, whose routine fly ball turned into a pinch hit homer thanks to the jet stream blowing out to left.
Otherwise, the Dodgers made hard contact, though they had nothing to show for it. No team in history turned more batted balls into outs than the Cubs this season, and that defense came to Lester's rescue.
The Dodgers hit scorchers to third base, first base and shortstop. But each of those heat-seeking liners found leather.
Twice, center fielder Dexter Fowler took away potential hits with diving catches.
Ben Zobrist made a big play in the second. With two outs, pitcher Kenta Maeda poked a single to left field. Slow-footed first baseman Gonzalez lumbered toward home from second, but Zobrist's one-hop throw beat him home where he was tagged on the chest by Ross.
And Anthony Rizzo smothered a grounder to his right to help take away a hit in the sixth.
Lester retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced, though that was more a function of the defense. It was surely the sound of those liners that prompted Maddon to lift Lester for a pinch hitter after just 77 pitches.
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