Cubs Fall To Brewers 5-4, But Clinch First NL Central Title Since 2008 With Cardinals’ Loss To Giants

The Chicago Cubs lost to the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4 at Wrigley Field on Thursday night, but the windy city’s team and fans still had a reason to celebrate.

Cubs Fall To Brewers 5-4, But Clinch First NL Central Title

Despite their defeat, the Cubs captured their first NL Central title since 2008 after the St. Louis Cardinals fell 6-2 to the Giants in San Francisco later Thursday night.

Wrigley was still silent when Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams made the final out at AT&T Park. Nevertheless, a massive celebration on the streets of Chicago immediately began.

Late at night, the Cubs’ famous marquee lit up with a message, which the team posted a photo of on Twitter:

Last year, the Cubs secured a postseason berth as one of the NL Wild Card teams after the Giants lost on the West Coast.

Led by a fantastic pitching staff and MVP contenders Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, Chicago began this season with an incredible 25-6 start. After struggling just before the All-Star break, the Cubs went 22-6 in August to gain momentum in the NL race.

“This is just the first step,” manager Joe Maddon said following the Cubs’ game but before the Cardinals’ loss. “I mean, we have much larger baseball fish to fry in our skillet.”

The franchise will likely enter the 2016 playoffs as heavy favorites. According to the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, the Cubs are 9-4 favorites to win the World Series.

Maddon’s team is attempting to end the franchise’s renown championship drought, which dates all the way back to the 1908 World Series, when the Cubs defeated the Detroit Tigers.

“We’ve got a lot ahead of us. We really do,” president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said before the Cubs’ loss. “It kind of all boils down to how you perform in October.”

And Cubs players agree that they still have quite a bit of work left to do.

“Last year was exactly the same,” catcher Miguel Montero said after Thursday’s game. “Regardless, we have to come back tomorrow and win the ballgame. We’ve been playing good enough to not quit now. We want to keep rolling.”

This is the 16th time since the first World Series in 1903 that the Cubs have finished first in their league or division, although they are 2-for-15 in terms of winning the World Series during those seasons and are on a run of 12 consecutive first-place finishes that didn’t result in a World Series title.

Furthermore, it’s only the third time since 1903 that the Cubs have reached the playoffs in consecutive seasons. They made it as a wild card last year and made it to the NL Championship Series before being swept by the New York Mets.

The offseason additions of second baseman Ben Zobrist and right fielder Jason Heyward made Cubs fans even more excited, and both have delivered thus far. However, many of those same fans also witnessed the last division title, when the 2008 Cubs won 97 games and then were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division series.

“There’s no team I’d rather be going into October with,” Epstein said. “But there are never favorites in October the same way there are in the regular season.”

The Brewers won Thursday after pinch-hitter Scooter Gennett ripped a tie-breaking two-run double in the seventh inning. The Cubs closed to 5-4 with two outs in the eighth  on Heyward’s RBI double, and had two on, but Tyler Thornburg struck out rookie Wilson Contreras to end the frame. Thornburg, who pitched a scoreless ninth for his 10th save, fell behind 2-0 on Contreras before returning to strike him out.

“Tyler Thornburg, when he was in, there’s no bigger situation,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s not going to be in a bigger situation. He’s not going to be in a better atmosphere, and our guys are not going to be in better atmospheres than that.”

The Cubs and Brewers will face off again on Friday for the second game of their four-game series at Wrigely Field. Right-hander John Lackey will start for the Cubs, (93-53, 1st in NL Central) while righty Chase Anderson will take the mound for the Brewers (66-81, 4th in NL Central).

CHICAGO, IL – SEPTEMBER 15: Mike Montgomery #38 of the Chicago Cubs hits an RBI single against the Milwaukee Brewers during the fourth inning on September 15, 2016 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)