.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
World Series: Cubs' Game 2 performance showed why they're poised to break The Curse
Despite winning 103 games in the regular season — nine more than the Cleveland Indians — the Chicago Cubs did not enter the World Series with home-field advantage.
They can thank Bud Selig and his “This One Counts” All-Star Game change for that.
When you don’t have home-field advantage in a series, the goal of the first two games is clear — get a split and take away that advantage.
The Cubs did exactly that in Game 2 of the World Series Wednesday. Home field advantage — deserved or not -- is no longer an asset Cleveland possesses.
Neither is control of the series.
Chicago’s 5-1 win in Game 2 was impressive, if imperfect, and it put the Cubs back in the driver’s seat in this now best-of-five showdown.
The World Series now shifts to Chicago, where the Cubs will have three straight home games needing three wins to claim the team’s first title since 1908. The Cubs enter those contests in a groove and with the confidence that head-to-head with Cleveland, they’re the better team.
The Cubs are certainly the better team with starting pitching — it was predicted before the series started, but it was affirmed by Jake Arrieta’s no-hit performance through 5 1/3 innings Wednesday.
Arrieta wasn’t his sharpest to start the game — his control wasn’t present for the first two innings — but he began to rely on his fastball and before you knew it, he was entering the sixth without having allowed a hit.
Jason Kipnis’ single with one out in the sixth broke up the chance at history — there was a long way to go and little chance Arrieta would have been allowed to make it anyway, as his pitch count was high from the early game struggles — and then he scored two batters later on a wild pitch.
Still, the performance was wildly impressive — a testament to Arrieta’s competitive spirit in a big moment. Indians starter Trevor Bauer faced similar control issues early but was unable to fully recover — he was pulled after getting 11 outs and allowing two earned runs.
Bauer’s performance was the worst-case scenario for the Indians, who were reluctant to use relief ace Andrew Miller after a 46-pitch outing Tuesday night. Cleveland doesn’t just want to go from starter to Miller — they need to do it. A comeback win in Game 2 became highly improbable the second Bauer was pulled in the third.
Cleveland is already planning on pitching Corey Kluber — the Game 1 hero — on three-days rest in Game 4, but he can only start three games in the series. Cleveland will need another starter to step up and help them win a game — against the Cubs' lineup, unless it’s just Miller, no bullpen can be trusted.
The mismatch in starting pitching depth will likely be apparent again in Game 3, when Josh Tomlin (4.40 regular-season ERA) will duel National League Cy Young Award candidate Kyle Hendricks, who authored a pennant-clinching performance for the Cubs the last time he took the mound.
Anything can happen when the game actually starts, but Chicago has to like their position.
They have to like it at the plate as well. Chicago might have been shut out in Game 1, but they left 20 runners on base against Kluber and (mostly) Miller. The chances were there.
They were there again Wednesday and the Cubs didn’t even take full advantage of all of those opportunities — they scored five on nine hits but stranded 24 in the contest. Unless this Cubs team goes into a deep slump — the kind they started the NLCS with and broke out of as the series progressed — or the opponent has a performance for the ages (as Kluber did in Game 1), one has to believe these Cubs are undeniable at the plate in this series.
Cleveland might be talented and scrappy, but it’s hard to imagine them matching the Cubs' offensive output, particularly when you then factor in pitching.
The Indians also showed cracks in the field — every little thing matters in the playoffs and particularly in the World Series. Lonnie Chisenhall’s decision to avoid the cutoff man in the first inning was certainly part of the Cubs’ first run and Kipnis, playing second on a sprained ankle, had two errors in Game 2.
The Cubs have not been flawless, but you can see why they had arguably the greatest defense in Major League history this year.
No matter which way you slice it, the Cubs have the advantage in this series, and now that Cleveland has lost theirs, the upper hand has shifted to the Cubs as the World Series heads to Chicago.
