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CHICAGO – After the practice on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, worried Joe Maddon offered these words to the post office.
"If we hit, we can go to the World Series, if we do not …" Maddon does not have to finish her sentence.
His Cubs did not face Colorado left-hander Kyle Freeland or five relief players in the Wild Card match against Wrigley Field (NL). They return home after losing 2-1 to the Rockies in 13 innings.
This marked the longest playoff game in the history of Wrigley Field in time (4:55) and inning.
The Cubs made him equal in eighth place 1-1 thanks to a double RBI by Javier Baez.
The Rockies won with three singles in two outings in 13th against Kyle Hendricks of Trevor Story, Gerardo Parra and Tony Wolters. Wolters had not been touched in his last nine regular season games. It was that kind of night.
All of this follows the Cubs' 3-1 loss to the Brewers on Monday at Wrigley Field, which gave the Brewers the central crown of Newfoundland and put the Cubs in the wild. The Rockies will face the Brewers in the NHLDS.
This game becomes an instant classic of October. He had everything, including the embrace of the Rockies' third base player, Nolan Arenado, in 11th place on the defensive player's choice. As a result, Arenado did not take the first step but the referees let him slip.
The Freeland dominated the sleeves of 6 ² / on after three days of rest. He finished the regular season with a 2.85 record and a 17-7 record. He went 9-1 with a 2.39 ERA in the second half. He kept him in the playoffs.
The Cubs just could not put together against Freeland.
"He is a very good pitcher. I told his brother last year and look where we are tonight, "Maddon said.
Last year, Maddon bought a hiking bike from a Tampa store where Freeland's brother works. Yes, it can be a small world of major leagues.
Maddon will use this bike much sooner than he would have liked in October. Although this game marked the fourth consecutive appearance in series for the Cubs, a franchise record, many questions arise. A season of 95 wins, the second-best mark in the NL, means little because of defeat.
The manager emphasized the team's courage after the defeat but noted that the offensive misfortunes persisted throughout the season.
"We just had a small offensive challenge at the end of the year and it hurt us but as a group and talented and the way we interact, I could not ask for more," said Maddon. "We need to determine the offense in the offseason. We left too much chicken on the bone. We had a lot of opportunities.
"I think you will see a lot of these guys rebounding offensively next year because they're very talented and they're young and they're not hurt."
Cubs will need to do extensive research to find out why the offense has disappeared at the most critical time of the year.
Before the match, Baez sounded the alarm saying, "We have to stop worrying about the other teams. We have to go and have fun. We have to go and compete. If we do that, no team can beat us, and they know it, that's why they run a lot of their mouth because they know we are the best. "
The Rockies scored the first goal during a Charlie Blackmon ride, made by Jon Lester, dubbed an ivy wall against DJ LeMahieu, who placed Blackmon in third position and a sacrificial fly. ; Arenado.
The Cubs had only three hits in their loss to the Brewers on Monday. They had six hits on Tuesday night.
Just two years ago, the Cubs broke their fate and won the World Series for the first time since 1908. Last year, they ran out of gas in the NLCS. This year, they were unable to visit the SDNL.
Maddon is one of the great free thinkers of the game. In the low season he will have many things to ponder. His lost attack led to a lost season.
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