Chicago Cubs: Did they go overboard in their St. Louis celebrations?

The Chicago Cubs exacted sweet revenge on their hated rivals in St. Louis, but did they go too far?

Wednesday, on a beautiful night in baseball heaven in St. Louis, the Chicago Cubs invaded the baseball paradise of the Cardinals by winning 5-1, clinching the N.L. Central for the second straight season. Their conquering was just beginning, however, when their reserves outlasted the Cards 2-1 in extra innings the following night, hammering that final nail in their rival’s postseason hopes.

Like any other team, the Cubbies celebrated with a dog pile and some sweet tasting champagne, which has been tradition in numerous sports for decades, but did their celebrating turn to gloating in the process, by rubbing salt in the fresh wound of the hobbled Redbirds? Tommy Pham thinks that it crossed the line, but decide for yourself, thanks to this video from USA Today.

The following evening, in a marathon eleven inning battle, Paul DeJong hit a long drive to deep center-field, that looked to have tied to game, which would have kept the faint playoff hopes of the Cards barely alive. Leonys Martin had other plans, perfectly timing his leap and robbing DeJong of his 25th homer of the season.

The deflating look and expression of DeJong in this video from Fox Sports Midwest, says it all:

"It feels like the rug got taken out from under me. End of the season, end of an opportunity for us… Now we just gotta rebuild and come back stronger next year."

The demeanor of DeJong, as well as the game’s final play sums of the Cards season in a nutshell: Close, but no so cigar. That was not the first time a Cards slugger was denied a home run in a critical game this season. Keon Broxton ended a game in a rare walk-off style, by robbing Randal Grichuk of a go-ahead two-run shot just a few weeks back in a vital game in Milwaukee.

Baseball is unforgiving, at times, and the Cards experienced that in spades throughout the 2017 campaign, but the Cubs celebrating was not one of those things the Cardinals should be frustrated or upset at.

Honestly, and this is coming from a Cardinals fan, I think the Cubs were warranted and deserving of their celebrating style. In fact, they have been classy with the fans in the process. Take a look at Addison Russell, who delivered the ultimate dagger to the Cardinal’s season with a deciding homer on Wednesday, interacting with a Redbirds fan are, who he (accidentally) got up-close and personal with earlier in that same game:

Anytime someone comes into your house, so to speak, and ends your season while extending their own, that pill is really hard to swallow. It’s especially difficult when your hated rival deals the final blow, sending you to the offseason golf courses much earlier than expected. A few weeks back, it seemed like the Birds on the Bat were hitting full-stride down the stretch, but they just ran out of gas. The Cards need to swallow their pride, work harder in the offseason, both in free agency and on their skills, and move on from the disappointing 2016 and 2017 campaigns.

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Meanwhile, the Cubs have the roster, manager, and swagger to become the first team since the New York Yankees of the early 2000’s to win back-to-back World Series titles. The Cubs will open up the postseason next week in the nation’s capital, as they take on the Washington Nationals in a best of 5 series.