Some ghosts never die, as Chicago Cubs fans know all too well.
Chicago Cubs fans of all ages are nervous. Their team has coughed up most of a 5-game lead in a fraction more than a week, and with less than three weeks remaining in the season the prospect now looms large that the charging Milwaukee Brewers may catch the North Siders. It could even happen this week.
Cubs fans of a certain vintage are even more nervous because they recall a similar September week nearly a half century ago. On Sept. 11, 1969, they woke up to the realization that for the first time all season , their heroes were not in first place. A night earlier, the Cubs had lost 6-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies and were passed in the standings by the surging – and eventual champion — New York Mets.
To Cubs fans who have seen age 60, the parallels between September 1969 and September 2018 are eerie…and then some. The only question yet to be answered is: Will that parallel continue, taking the Cubs to a second historic meltdown?
Here is the dual chronology, beginning with this preface. On Sept. 2, 1969 the Cubs defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-2 and held a lead of 5 full games over the Mets. On Sept. 2, 2018, the Cubs defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 8-1 and held a lead of 5 full games over the Brewers. Then the following occurred.
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1969: On Sept. 3, Jim Maloney shut out the Cubs 2-0, but Chicago’s lead held at 5 games because the Dodgers beat the Mets 5-4. The Cubs (as well as the Mets) had an off day Sept. 4, and they returned to Wrigley Field Sept. 5 to open a three-game weekend series with the Pirates. Pittsburgh torched Ken Holtzman 9-2, and when New York split a double-header with Philadelphia Chicago’s lead was down to four and one-half games. The Pirates beat up Fergie Jenkins the next day 13-4 while New York’s Don Cardwell shut out Philadelphia 3-0. That moved the Mets within 3 and one-half games by the evening of Sept. 6. Pittsburgh completed a series sweep the next day while the Mets won again, this time 9-3 over the Phillies behind Nolan Ryan. The Chicago lead was 2 and one-half.
2018: On Sept. 3, the Cubs traveled to Milwaukee for the first of two head-on clashes with the Brewers, and lost 4-3 when they failed to turn a double play on Christian Yelich’s 9th inning ground ball to Kris Bryant with the bases loaded and one out. They lost again the next day (11-1) before salvaging the series’ final game 6-4. The outcomes left their margin over the Brewers at 4 games. It went to 4 and one-half the evening of Sept. 6 when the Cubs beat Washington 6-4, but slipped to 4 games the next day when they were rained out as the Brewers won.
The Cubs made up that rainout as part of a Sept. 8 double-header, but lost both games. Max Scherzer silenced them in the first game, and in the second Cole Hamels failed to hold an early 4-0 lead built on Victor Caratini’s grand slam. Washington rallied to win 6-5. Milwaukee won again, cutting the Chicago lead to 2 and one-half games.
1969: On that same day 49 years earlier, the Cubs opened a two-game showdown series with the Mets at Shea Stadium, taking a 2 and one-half game advantage into the contests. But Jerry Koosman beat Bill Hands 3-2 on Sept. 9, then on Sept. 10 Tom Seaver whipped Jenkins 7-1 in what came to be known as “The Black Cat game” because the supposedly jinx-carrying animal cavorted around the Cubs dugout. Whatever role the cat played in it, the Mets were within one-half game of the lead.
2018: Following another rainout in Washington this past Sunday – Milwaukee won again to reduce Chicago’s lead to 2 games – the teams opened their second showdown series, this time in Chicago. The Brewers won 3-2, the winning run scoring on a Carl Edwards wild pitch. That moved the Brewers to within a single game of the lead.
1969: On Sept. 10, the Cubs traveled to Philadelphia, where Rick Wise and the 5th place Phillies knocked them out of the lead for the first time all season, 6-2. Before a delirious double-header crowd in New York, the Mets swept Montreal 3-2 and 7-1 to take a full-game lead.
The 1969 Cubs would never be as close to the pennant again. They lost 11 of their final 19 games and finished 8 games out of the divisional lead, having gone 9-18 in September.
The 2018 Chicago Cubs have lost six of their first 10 September games, and they face the Brewers again both Tuesday and Wednesday in Chicago. By the time the series ends the Cubs could be three games on top again…or they could be out of first place entirely. If the latter happens, the ghosts of 1969 will be running rampant in Wrigleyville.