The Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Tuesday night, winning the team's first National League Division Series title since 2003 in front of a raucous crowd at Wrigley Field.
Now, this is a life-giving sentence for Cubs fans, but it doesn't really do justice to how Chicago went about dispatching the league's winningest regular-season team.
The Cubs didn't beat St. Louis so much as carpet-bomb the Cardinals with sustained home run shots. Just as Jake Arrieta's pitching streak began to cool, Chicago's bats shouldered the heavy lifting with a historic, six-home run barrage in Game 3 of the series.
If you missed it, here's a visual synopsis of what happened:
Chicago's air raid bled over into Game 4, where rookie outfielder/miniature rock golem Kyle Schwarber teed off on a Kevin Siegrist pitch in the seventh inning.
Fans watched as Schwarber's shot cleared the digital screen in right field and disappeared, possibly leaving our planet to save Matt Damon.
The reality, however, is that Schwarber's space ball is still up there atop the screen, and the Cubs have since enshrined the artifact in a fitting resting place.
The Cubs tweeted a picture of the ball sitting in a glass case near the edge of the board:
As the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan reports, the team confirmed the ball's authenticity by checking for the postseason marking on the cover.
As for the shrine itself, this is the proper spot for that ball. It should always be watching from above. It was more astronaut than Rawlings, anyway.
As for the Cubbies, they'll face the winner of Thursday night's Game 5 showdown between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets.
Whoever they get, ace pitching will be pitted against a monstrous offensive arsenal. There's a good chance at least one ball will return to earth covered in Mars water.
Dan is on Twitter. He can't imagine how much gravel Kyle Schwarber has for lunch every day.
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