There is more baseball to be played.
That was hardly a guarantee on Sunday night, with Cleveland leading the World Series 3-1. But the Chicago Cubs fought back, earning a 3-2 win at Wrigley Field to send the Fall Classic back to Cleveland.
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Now, the Cubs find themselves still needing to win two more games, on the road, to end their famous World Series drought. Cleveland, meanwhile, is one win away from ending a World Series drought of its own.
So what are the key storylines for Game 6? And what are the teams saying in advance of the showdown?
One major factor for the Cubs will be the return of slugger Kyle Schwarber, who will be the team’s designated hitter.
“He’s back, and I’m sure he’s champing at the bit to get in the lineup,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo told Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. “He’s going to have big at-bats Tuesday, and he’s going to be ready for it. And he’s got all of our confidence behind him.”
Schwarber has hit .375 with two walks, two RBI and a run in three total appearances during the Fall Classic. Adding him back to the middle of the lineup gives the Cubs a major offensive boost.
Of course, the player who will be most important for Chicago on Tuesday is starter Jake Arrieta, who—unlike his counterpart, Cleveland starter Josh Tomlin—will be pitching on full rest. And Arrieta certainly isn’t lacking for confidence heading into his start.
“I get to go Tuesday and Kyle (Hendricks) will finish it off for us,” Arrieta told Paul Skrbina of the Chicago Tribune. “We like the way it lines up. We obviously have to get through (Sunday) before we can start thinking about anything else.”
Tomlin might have other ideas. Cleveland’s pitcher has been excellent this offseason, going 2-0 in three starts with a 1.76 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 11 strikeouts in 15.1 innings pitched. Certainly, Arrieta hasn’t matched those numbers (1-1 in three starts with a 3.78 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 16 strikeouts in 16.2 innings).
Cleveland also has a rested back end of the bullpen, where Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen have been so dominant. Miller has been ridiculous this postseason, giving up just one run in 17 innings while striking out 29 batters.
What makes him such a unique weapon is that he can be utilized at any point in the game, his willingness to do so and his ability to pitch multiple innings for Cleveland.
“He just wants to pitch when the game is on the line, in high-leverage situations,” Miller’s pitching coach, Jason Bere, told Sullivan. “He wouldn’t be able to do what he does if we didn’t have the other guys we have. Right now it’s working.”
For the Cubs, the recipe for success is simple: Don’t carry a deficit into the late innings. If Cleveland gets into the back end of its bullpen with a lead late in a game, the odds are high that it’ll win. In their two wins in this series, the Cubs didn’t trail late. In their three losses, they did.
Of course, that means sluggers such as Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist, Javier Baez and Addison Russell need to get on track. The Cubs have hit just .210 in this World Series, have scored 10 runs in five games and have been shut out twice.
Few lineups have more depth or talent, but as the old cliche goes, good pitching beats good hitting. And Cleveland’s pitching has been superb.
If the Cubs don’t pitch just as well—and perhaps get more Herculean performances from Aroldis Chapman, who earned the rare 2.2-inning save on Sunday night while throwing shadows past Cleveland’s hitters—or if the bats don’t awaken in a big way, Cleveland will be celebrating another title this year, this time at Progressive Field.
“We’re in a good position, still,” Cleveland first baseman Mike Napoli told David Waldstein of the New York Times. “We’re up, three to two, heading home. We did what we had to do here. We put ourselves in a position to win it in a crazy atmosphere. We’re happy what we did here, and now we’re going home to play in front of our fans.”
Cleveland will be hoping for just one win in front of those fans. The Cubs will be hoping to break their hearts, ending 108 years of suffering in the process.
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