Chicago Cubs Advance To NLCS Playoffs After Decades of Stagnation

The Chicago Cubs may have finally broken their decades-long curse by advancing to the NLCS Playoffs following their 6-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night. This marks the second time that the Cubs have reached the playoff stage since 1908, 10 years before the end of World War I and 14 years before the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. It is also the first playoff-clinching win at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs will move on to play the New York Mets at Citi Field in Flushing, N.Y., on Saturday. The game will air on TBS. The Mets defeated the Dodgers 3-2 in Los Angeles on Thursday night. The Dodgers are missing second baseman Chase Utley, who is out for the second game in a row after a nasty slide that left Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada with a broken leg in the seventh inning of Game 2 of the series on Oct. 10, 2015 in LA. Utley is eligible to resume playing pending an appeal that will be decided on Monday.

The dirty play has re-ignited a heated debate on the definition and legality of hard slides in Major League Baseball. Second base is considered one of the most dangerous spots on a baseball field. In early 2014, the MLB instituted a new rule intended to reduce hard collisions at home plate between catchers and incoming base runners to a minimum. However, no similar rule currently applies to collisions at second base, and unlike catcher, shortstops and second basemen generally aren’t wearing any protective padding.

As a result of this win, the Cubs have now defeated the two teams with the best records in baseball: the St. Louis Cardinals (100-62) and the Kansas City Royals (95-67), whom they defeated 1-0 on Sept. 28 at home in Chicago.