Another Historic Moment For the 2015 Chicago Cubs

Before 2015, it had been quite some time since the Chicago Cubs brought exciting baseball to Wrigley Field.

But the drama they lacked in their recent seven-year playoff drought they are seemingly making up for all in one season.

Night by night. It’s something new. And it’s all special.

Enter Chris Denorfia. Monday night’s hero broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the 11th inning of a makeup game against defending American League champion Kansas City Royals with a line-drive homer, his third of the year, giving the Cubs a 1-0 win in their final regular season game at the Friendly Confines in 2015.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Denorfia’s “no-doubt, line drive into the left-field bleachers off Miguel Almonte gave the Cubs their major-league leading 13th walkoff victory of the season.” That’s the most for the team since 1932, when they made the World Series.

But the individual accomplishment is more remarkable than that. Denorfia became the first pinch-hitter in baseball history to hit a walkoff homer for the only run of an extra-inning game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. It was also the first time a Cub hit a walkoff homer at Wrigley in extra innings of a scoreless game since Joe Pepitone in 1971.

Even with a possible Cy Young candidate in Jake Arrieta notching a 20+ win season and young hitters like Kris Bryant leading the way from the plate, it may come down to the role players - ones like Denorfia - if the Cubs are going to continue this magic into October.