The even year magic is dead. The curse of Billy the Goat and the Chicago Cubs? I don’t know. But the memes were busy making fun of the San Francisco Giants and their incredible choke-job, allowing the Chicago Cubs complete their three wins in the NLDS, and move forward on the road to making the World Series.
But it’s hard not to make fun of the Giants for two reasons: Like every successful team (three world series titles 2010-2014), their fans become to obnoxious to ignore, and collapses like theirs in the second half of the season and in game 4 are just too hard not to make memes of.
The Giants had a three-run lead heading into the ninth. Matt Moore was sizzling, striking out 10 batters, giving up just two hits, both to David Ross. And then he got pulled out by Bruce Bochy, and everything fell apart, partially because Bochy lost his cool. Derek Law gave up a hit and run and got pulled. Javier Lopez did the same and got pulled. Sergio Romo as well. Will Smith blew the lead and lost the game. Hunter Strickland came on, giving up the game-winning run, but did get the final two outs. The Giants needed five relievers to get out of the ninth.
And the Cubs? The best team during the regular season had a rough time getting hits in this series, but it’s over with, waiting for the Nationals or Dodgers. Their bullpen didn’t mess up this time (unlike John Lackey) and Aroldis Chapman made quick work of the Giants in the ninth with three batters struck out. Wilson Contreras and Javier Baez will be the heroes for tying and winning the game, and maybe breaking one “curse” will help them break the biggest one of all.