CHICAGO _ When closer Aroldis Chapman struck out Jose Ramirez for the final out of the Cubs' classic 3-2 victory Sunday night at a raucous Wrigley Field, he pounded his mitt twice.
Chapman received an even bigger hand than that from the crowd of 41,711 after recording the final eight outs of Game 5 of the World Series, a do-or-die scenario that will go down as The Aroldis Chapman Game. The left-handed flamethrower came on with one out in the seventh to throw 42 pitches, saving the season and justifying manager Joe Maddon's risky, unorthodox decision.
Maddon got away with pulling Jon Lester after six innings, handing a 3-2 lead to 25-year-old rookie Carl Edwards Jr. and asking Chapman to get the final eight outs. Smart? Lucky? Let's just say it worked out, so nobody on the North Side will dare complain, not after Chapman left them dancing in the aisles.
Had the Cubs lost to provide the working definition of the worst-case scenario for a baseball weekend, there would have been no sabermetric to measure the sadness, no analytic to explain the hurt. Instead, everybody can maintain the hope and keep the signs because this still really could be the year after a tense night of survival.
Lester gave up two runs in six innings, not exactly a dominant, Corey Kluber-like performance but a 90-pitch effort that looked like it deserved another inning. Lester's biggest mistake came with two out in the second when Ramirez lined a solo home run to left to scare the bejeebers out of every Cubs fan in America until Kris Bryant's homer in the fourth restored the color to their cheeks. Lester recovered and settled into a familiar rhythm until the sixth.
That's when the antics of Rajai Davis on the bases agitated Lester, who gave up a two-out, run-scoring single to Francisco Lindor to make it 3-2. As shaky as Lester appeared holding runners, Maddon pulling him after 90 pitches still came as a surprise. The Cubs signed Lester to a $155 million contract in December 2014 to decide must-win games like this one, not step aside in the seventh for a rookie pitching in his first World Series throwing to a rookie catcher.
The Cubs had an uncomfortable one-run lead to protect thanks to some rare offense in the fourth.
To lead off the defining inning, Bryant swung and everybody in the ballpark connected, their eyes following the path of Bryant's line drive to left-center until it landed in the basket 382 feet later. The eruption of emotion probably could be heard in the Loop. It wasn't the most majestic home run Bryant has hit in the old ballpark but definitely the most cathartic. From the bleachers to the box seats to the dugout, the release from fans was overwhelming, the relief overflowing.
Like Ben Zobrist's surprise bunt against the Dodgers in the NLCS, Bryant's home run seemed to shake the Cubs out of a hitting funk that had lasted too long. Relatively speaking, the three-run fourth qualified as an outburst at the plate.
In the stands came an outpouring of anxiety that had been building throughout the weekend's back-to-back losses and, perhaps to the more mature members of the audience, since the Cubs' last World Series victory at Wrigley on Oct. 8, 1945. You might say everybody who felt uptight was just following the orders of Maddon, who answered in typically transparent fashion pregame when asked what to tell fidgety fans.
"Please be nervous, absolutely," Maddon said. "You should be nervous. It's up to us to get you beyond that moment and get back to Cleveland."
Has a group of men ever been so giddy to return to Cuyahoga County?
But for one more night this magical baseball season, Clark and Addison was the place to be, drawing a new wave of celebrities that included Lady Gaga and Amy Schumer, John Travolta and Bonnie Hunt, among others. As much as drama charged the atmosphere, the price of tickets on the secondary market plummeted. One ticket broker from Texas who declined to give his name bought a ticket for $1,300 _ the same seat he said he sold for $8,000 Friday night for Game 1. Perhaps Cubs fans weren't as willing to dig as deep in their pockets, but their emotional investment remained significant.
While the offense abandoned Lester early, the defense edited several plays into the World Series highlight videotape. Bryant dived for a grounder. Anthony Rizzo caught a foul popup off David Ross' glove. But the most memorable effort came from right fielder Jason Heyward, who leaped on the wall down the right-field line and caught a foul fly in front of a couple of fans who didn't dare extend an arm and risk a tortured legacy in Chicago.
This was the night every decision paid off.
Before the game, Maddon described a text received from longtime Rays broadcaster Andy Freed, a friend of Maddon's from his tenure in Tampa. Freed grew up an Orioles fan.
"He was listening to (late broadcaster) Casey Kasem (on 'American Top 40') and they had the year 1979 on, and Andy wanted me to know in 1979, the Orioles were up 3-1 against the Pirates and the Pirates came back and won" Maddon said.
The 1979 Pirates are one of three teams that have come back from a 3-1 World Series deficit and won Games 6 and 7 on the road _ the challenge the Cubs face.
"So," Maddon said, concluding the story, "all these feel a little different."
This game sure was different, thanks to Maddon's big gamble. And, suddenly, the Series is far from over.
