Cubs' Quest For National League Pennant Begins at 19:08

CHICAGO, IL - The Chicago Cubs won’t know their opponent in the National League Championship Series until after Game 5 of the National League Division Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals Thursday night, but they do know when they will begin the NLCS at home.

It will be Saturday night, Oct. 15, at 7:08 p.m. That’s 19:08 in military time. The first five games of the NLCS are all scheduled to start at that time.

And why not. The year 1908 has long been associated with the last time the Cubs won the World Series. They haven’t made the World Series in more than half of that time, and the latest numerical coincidence is just the next factor the team will need to off-set to break a generations-old curse.

First, the Cubs needed to slay the dragon that is the San Francisco Giants and the west coast team's knack for winning World Series titles in even years. The Giants were unstoppable in winning world championships in 2010, 2012 and 2014 and had won ten consecutive postseason match-ups.

It looked like destiny may be on the side of the Bay Area team once again when they came from behind to beat the Cubs in Game 3 of that series in extra innings and led 5-2 in the ninth inning of Game 4 with a winner-take-all date in Chicago all but set.

But a four-run ninth inning rally that will go down as one of the most memorable moments in Cubs history reversed the previous omens both the Cubs and Giants had in the playoffs. For a change it was the Cubs team coming through in the clutch and the Giants taking a knee when it mattered most.

Next up, it’s the Billy Goat. The famed “Cure of the Billy Goat” dates back to 1945, the last time the Cubs won the National League Championship. When management at Wrigley Field denied a goat entry to a World Series game against the Detroit Tigers that year, a fabled curse began that stated the Cubs would not make it back to the World Series. In 71 years, they still haven’t.

But the team is now four wins away from putting that to rest. Sure, they’ve been here before. But not with the talent and apparent clutch factor of the 2016 team.

So let’s do it. Let’s put the Billy Goat to rest and see the North Siders make it back to the World Series.

And let’s start at 19:08.

photo by Ramon Castillo, used with permission.