October 15, 2016

Daily Herald, Chicago Cubs' Lester finds his comfort zone http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161014/sports/161019147/

Daily Herald, Epstein enjoyin support of Chicago Cubs fans http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161014/sports/161019144/

Daily Herald, Hendricks will start Game 2 http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161014/sports/161019138/

Daily Herald, How Chicago Cubs fared against Los Angeles Dodgers during season http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161014/sports/161019136/

Daily Herald, Players to watch as NLCS gets going Saturday http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161014/sports/161019126/

Daily Herald, Chicago Cubs set sights on Dodgers starter Maeda in Game 1 http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161014/sports/161019131/

Daily Herald, Bernfield: Dodgers' year continues after Scully http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161014/sports/161019134/

Daily Herald, Rozner: How much does Kershaw have left for Cubs? http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161014/sports/161019146/

Cubs.com, Cubs once again rely on Lester to set tone http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/206117520/cubs-confident-in-jon-lester-in-nlcs-game-1/

Cubs.com, Hendricks cleared for NLCS Game 2 start http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/206117760/cubs-kyle-hendricks-to-start-nlcs-game-2/

Cubs.com, Cubs need Bryzzo to produce for trip to World Series http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/206132764/cubs-need-kris-bryant-anthony-rizzo-to-hit/

Cubs.com, 3 keys for Cubs to reach World Series http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/205898792/javier-baez-crucial-for-cubs-in-nlcs/

Cubs.com, Heyward making impact despite down year at plate http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/206116424/jason-heyward-finds-ways-to-help-cubs/

Cubs.com, Year after moonshot, Schwarber a spectator http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/206116996/cubs-kyle-schwarber-enjoying-cheerleader-role/

Cubs.com, Old bullpen rules tossed out this postseason http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/206134922/old-bullpen-rules-tossed-out-this-postseason/

Cubs.com, Keeping score: Wrigley's operator retiring after season http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/206117162/wrigleys-scoreboard-man-is-fred-washington/

ESPNChicago.com, Cubs call on their own Clayton Kershaw for Game 1 of NLCS http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/42101/chicago-cubs-call-on-their-own-clayton-kershaw-to-pitch-game-1-of-the-nlcs-vs-los-angeles-dodgers

ESPNChicago.com, Cubs won't alter rotation for NLCS, Joe Maddon says http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17796254/joe-maddon-chicago-cubs-sticking-same-rotation-nlcs

ESPNChicago.com, Manager matchup: Cubs' Joe Maddon vs. Dodgers' Dave Roberts http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/42112/manager-matchup-cubs-joe-maddon-versus-dodgers-dave-roberts

CSNChicago.com, The Dodger Moves That Directed Cubs Toward The NLCS http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/dodger-moves-directed-cubs-toward-nlcs

CSNChicago.com, How Cubs Built A Bigger And Better Version Of Last Year’s NLCS Team http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/how-cubs-built-bigger-and-better-version-last-years-nlcs-team

CSNChicago.com, Jon Lester: Cubs In 'Better Place' After 2015 NLCS Experience http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/jon-lester-cubs-better-place-after-2015-nlcs-experience

CSNChicago.com, Cubs Prepared For Their Own Clayton Kershaw Moment http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/cubs-prepared-their-own-clayton-kershaw-moment

CSNChicago.com, Dodgers Expect Closer Kenley Jansen To Be Available For Game 1 Of NLCS Vs. Cubs http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/dodgers-expect-closer-kenley-jansen-be-available-game-1-nlcs-vs-cubs

CSNChicago.com, Dodgers To Start Kenta Maeda In Game 1, Likely Clayton Kershaw In Game 2 Of NLCS Vs. Cubs http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/dodgers-start-kenta-maeda-game-1-likely-clayton-kershaw-game-2-nlcs-vs-cubs

Chicago Tribune, Way NLCS with Dodgers setting up looks perfect for the Cubs, but … http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-cubs-success-seems-set-sullivan-spt-1015-20161014-column.html

Chicago Tribune, Albert Almora Jr. thrilled father finally gets to meet grandson http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-albert-almora-cubs-side-spt-1015-20161014-story.html

Chicago Tribune, Look for Cubs to add left-hander as they and Dodgers weigh roster decisions http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-nlcs-roster-decisions-bits-cubs-spt-1015-20161014-story.html

Chicago Tribune, Joe Maddon-Andrew Friedman relationship adds compelling subplot to NLCS http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-maddon-friedman-connection-cubs-haugh-spt-1015-20161014-column.html

Chicago Tribune, Cubs hope their methods more successful than ballyhooed 'Dodger Way' http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-way-dodger-way-nlcs-spt-1015-20161014-story.html

Chicago Tribune, Rookie manager Dave Roberts perfect fit with Dodgers http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-dave-roberts-dodgers-side-spt-1015-20161014-story.html

Chicago Tribune, For Javier Baez, making acrobatic tags is 'just natural' http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-javier-baez-tags-spt-1011-20161015-story.html

Chicago Sun-Times, Can Cubs stop Roberts from stealing another October upset? http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/can-cubs-stop-roberts-from-stealing-another-october-upset/

Chicago Sun-Times, Cubs’ Maddon on pressure: ‘Run toward it — it’s a good thing’ http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/can-cubs-stop-roberts-from-stealing-another-october-upset/

Chicago Sun-Times, This time around, it seems that luck is with the Cubs http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/this-time-around-it-seems-that-luck-is-with-the-cubs/

Chicago Sun-Times, Roberts expects Jansen ready for Game 1, Kershaw for Game 2 http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/roberts-expects-jansen-ready-for-game-1-kershaw-for-game-2/

Chicago Sun-Times, Concussions played role in retirement decision for Cubs’ Ross http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/concussions-played-role-in-retirement-decision-for-cubs-ross/

Chicago Sun-Times, Rookie Zastryzny could be big lefty weapon vs. Dodgers in NLCS http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/rookie-zastryzny-could-be-big-lefty-weapon-vs-dodgers-in-nlcs/

-- Daily Herald Chicago Cubs' Lester finds his comfort zone By Bruce Miles To see Jon Lester now with the Cubs is to see a different guy from when he first got here. At the end of his second season in Chicago, Lester is more willing to reveal a little more of his personality and yes, even a sense of humor. The other day in San Francisco, he was asked about being on Twitter. "I hate it," he said with a smile before adding that he tweets in support of his charitable foundation. He also was asked about being mistaken on Twitter for presidential debate moderator Lester Holt and whether he had met Holt. "I have not, no," he said. "I don't do anything with politics. I'm not on that." Lester has turned out to be everything the Cubs hoped he would be when they signed him to a six-year, $155 million contract in December 2014. After going 11-12 with a 3.34 ERA last season, he had Cy Young-caliber year this season, going 19-5 with a 2.44 ERA. He started and won Game 1 of this year's National League division series against the San Francisco Giants, and on Saturday night, he gets the assignment of pitching against the Los Angeles Dodgers' Kenta Maeda in the opener of the championship series at Wrigley Field. Lester says his increased comfort level has been a gradual process. A shoulder ailment in his first spring training with the Cubs set him back physically, and he admitted to trying to put too much symbolic weight on his shoulders for much of last season. But by the time the Cubs reached last year's NLCS against the New York Mets, Lester has loosened up quite a bit.

"I think it's a gradual process," he said Friday before the Cubs and Dodgers worked out. "You get thrown into a city with all these -- I talk about expectations -- expectations on your back. "You want to live up to those, not only as a player and as a teammate and somebody that's involved in the city and the community. "There's a lot of things last year, man: getting settled in a new place, figuring out what's going on here, the travel, the teams, all that stuff. Obviously, your teammates are first and foremost, getting to know them. "So, yeah, you spend a full year together and you grind through that season and you make the playoffs and you come back this spring and we had two new guys come in, three new guys, one that I already knew (pitcher John Lackey). "You're obviously going to feel more comfortable that second year as opposed to just getting thrown in that first year with a whole new atmosphere in front of you." Behind the plate for Lester's start, as always, will be veteran catcher David Ross, who caught Lester when both were in Boston and who has had the role of Lester's personal catcher in Chicago. Ross has noticed Lester's growing comfort level. "I think there's a lot that goes into that with a second year around, having a successful season, not battling through the stuff he had going on in spring training last year and never really finding his rhythm until the second half and really wasn't as good as he could have been," Ross said. "This year, building on spring training and going all the way through, he's way more comfortable, being more comfortable with the guys. "The expectations of the contract is more over with. We've got Lackey in here, who is good for him. Yeah, he's definitely more comfortable, but there's a lot that goes into that." When the Cubs signed Lester, they said they were getting a pitcher who could not only win, but lead other pitchers by example. Manager Joe Maddon cited Lester pitching 8 innings in Game 1 of the NLDS to outduel the Giants' Johnny Cueto. "That was a spectacular game, and he was able to go 8 and do what he did," Maddon said. "Having this experience definitely matters, especially as a starting pitcher. He's going to walk out there, he's going to be very comfortable in that moment, actually, inspired by that, I believe. "Watched him the last game against the Giants, really calm demeanor. Threw the ball where he wanted to, him and David always worked well together. "And I think, I want to believe, that the rest of the group grasped a little bit of courage from that fearless nature that he demonstrates as a starting pitcher in the playoffs. "So all of that's there. And I witnessed it from the other side, too, when he was with the Red Sox. He's good. And right now he's at the top of his game." -- Daily Herald Epstein enjoyin support of Chicago Cubs fans By Bruce Miles

An interesting thing happened this past Tuesday night at AT&T Park in San Francisco, where the Chicago Cubs won the National League division series in four games over the Giants. For the entire game, Giants fans turned the ballpark into a sea of black and orange, their team's colors. After the Cubs staged a stunning comeback to win the game, the Giants fans headed home. What was left was a small patch of Cubs blue behind the visitors' first-base dugout. The Cubs fans who stayed to cheer on their team and give them a curtain call also chanted, "Theo, Theo," in honor of team president Theo Epstein, who has engineered a rebuilding of this team. "That was cool," Epstein said Friday as the Cubs worked out at Wrigley Field. "Our fans are traveling so well these days. It reminded me a little bit of the Pittsburgh game (the Cubs winning the wild-card playoff) last year, a similar dynamic. "It's great. It's a collective experience in the postseason: players, front office, fans, ownership. Everyone's in it together. "It's wonderful to have that kind of support and passion." Epstein recently signed a new five-year contract extension to remain team president. He came to Chicago in the fall of 2011 after serving as general manager of the Boston Red Sox. Born in New York and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, Epstein entered a whole new culture in Chicago. Now it seems as if he's part of the fabric of the city and the Midwest. "You've got to live somewhere for a few years and open yourself up to the experience and understand the history and understand where people are coming from," he said." Without even knowing it, you start to feel it yourself. I've definitely had that experience." Were there any misconceptions about Chicago that Epstein might have had? "I guess I didn't quite realize how badly they wanted to win," he said of Cubs fans. "I thought it was more about the experience. But they want to win and deserve to win." -- Daily Herald Hendricks will start Game 2 By Bruce Miles Right-hander Kyle Hendricks threw another bullpen session Friday, and he will start Sunday night in Game 2 of the National League championship series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field. The starting rotation will follow that of the division series: Jon Lester in Game 1 followed by Hendricks at home, then Jake Arrieta and John Lackey in Los Angeles. Hendricks made it through only 3⅔ innings in Game 2 of the NLDS because he was hit on the right forearm by a line drive off the bat of the Giants' Angel Pagan. From the get-go, Hendricks said he was OK. "It's good to go," he said Friday. "Whatever game they want to come and let me know, I've told them I'm healthy and good to go as of 2-3 days ago, when I did my first throwing, about 120 feet, and it felt great. "So I was able to go into my normal bullpen program after that. There was no discomfort at all." His first NLCS:

Shortstop Addison Russell will be appearing in his first NLCS. He missed last year's championship series against the Mets because of a hamstring injury he suffered in the division series against the Cardinals. "I'm excited," he said before Friday's workout. "The body's feeling good. It's going to give me some new insight. It's going to give me a chance to get out there and feel the types of pressures we're going to have this series." Russell was 1-for-15 in the division series. "I don't think my game has gone off at all," he said. "I just missed a few balls. That's the reason you come back. You absolutely love this game, and you're just that close. I'm having fun. I know my teammates are having fun." First baseman Anthony Rizzo also was 1-for-15 in the NLDS, but in Game 4, he singled and drew 2 walks. Selling the game: Cubs manager Joe Maddon was asked whether having teams such as the Cubs, Dodgers, Indians and Blue Jays in the two championship series is good for baseball. At first, Maddon laughed at the notion that all four teams have had "multiple decades" without a championship. "We have more than multiple decades, but ..." Maddon said. "My take-away, just watching the playoffs, the games that I've had a chance to watch and of course being absorbed in our own, this has all got to be good for baseball. "For that group out there that finds baseball boring, at least tune in. And if you don't understand what's going on, have somebody sit next to you that does. "That's the biggest rub that I have going on right now is that if you want to attract younger fans, teach them what's going on out there. "These games have been fascinating, and there's a lot of good young stars out there, too, that I would like to believe that a lot of our youth in this country could identify with. And we want to get more of the youth playing baseball. "So, I've been really enthralled by this entire thing." -- Daily Herald How Chicago Cubs fared against Los Angeles Dodgers during season By Bruce Miles The Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers played seven times during the regular season, with the Cubs winning three of four at Wrigley Field and one of three at Dodger Stadium. Here is how each game went: May 30: Cubs 2, Dodgers 0 Travis Wood saved the day at Wrigley Field for the Cubs after starting pitcher Jason Hammel left after 2 innings with cramping in his right hamstring. Wood worked 4 innings of hitless relief to get the win. May 31: Dodgers 5, Cubs 0 Jake Arrieta pitched 7 shutout innings for the Cubs, but relievers Clayton Richard, Adam Warren and Trevor Cahill gave up all the Dodgers' runs late.

June 1: Cubs 2, Dodgers 1 Jon Lester pitched a complete-game 4-hitter, and Kris Bryant hit a 2-run homer in the third inning for the Cubs. June 2 Cubs 7 Dodgers 2 Kyle Hendricks worked 8 innings of 3-hit, 2-run ball for the Cubs, who got home runs from Javier Baez, Jason Heyward, Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. Aug. 26: Cubs 6, Dodgers 4 (10) Bryant hit a pair of home runs, including the game-winner in the 10th as the Cubs battled from behind all night at Dodger Stadium. Mike Montgomery started for the Cubs and pitched 5 innings. Aug. 27: Dodgers 3, Cubs 2 Manager Joe Maddon pulled Hammel after only 2⅓ innings, as Hammel gave up 5 hits and 3 runs. The bullpen held the Dodgers scoreless on 1 hit the rest of the way, but the Cubs could not come all the way back. Aug. 28: Dodgers 1, Cubs 0 Lester went 6 shutout innings, but the Dodgers got an unearned run in the eighth, and that's all they needed. -- Daily Herald Players to watch as NLCS gets going Saturday By Scot Gregor It's on the next round of the playoffs, and in one corner stand the Chicago Cubs, healthy and well rested after eliminating the San Francisco Giants in four games in the National League division series. The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the other corner, and they are beat up and tired after slipping past the Washington Nationals in five games. The Cubs look to have the upper hand in the NL championship series against a Dodgers team that used a franchise-record 55 players this season and had 28 different players on the disabled list. Here are three players to watch from each team: CUBS Javier Baez Whether he was tagging Giants pitchers with his bat or tagging San Francisco baserunners with his glove, Baez was quite a sight in the NLDS. The energetic infielder still has a big swing, but he's no longer a strikeout machine. Defensively, he is a wizard at second base, shortstop and third, and good luck finding another big leaguer with quicker hands. Aroldis Chapman He actually looked human in Game 3 of the NLDS, coming on in the eighth inning with San Francisco runners on first and second and no outs. The cannon-armed closer struck out Hunter Pence but was lifted after yielding a 2-run triple to Conor Gillaspie and RBI single to Brandon Crawford.

Don't expect Cubs manager Joe Maddon to call on Chapman for a six-out save in the NLCS. Pitching the ninth inning only in Games 1, 2 and 4 vs. the Giants, Chapman allowed no runs, 1 hit and had 5 strikeouts. Anthony Rizzo If he builds off Game 4 of the NLDS, Los Angeles is in big trouble. Rizzo was 0-for-13 in the first three games against the Giants and looked uncharacteristically impatient at the plate. In Game 4, the Cubs' stellar first baseman had a pair of walks around a single. DODGERS Clayton Kershaw If you woke up late Thursday night, turned on the marathon Dodgers-Nationals NLDS Game 5 and thought you saw Kershaw come out of the bullpen and close out Washington in the ninth inning, it wasn't a dream. In full-blown desperation mode, L.A. turned to Kershaw, and the ace left-hander came through. As the NLCS opens, can Kershaw come back on short rest and start Game 2 on Sunday night at Wrigley? It's looking that way. The Dodgers' rotation has been a mess due to injuries for most of the season and it desperately needs Kershaw, who also made 2 starts in the NLDS. Justin Turner Still a bit of an unknown outside of Los Angeles, Turner is making a name for himself in the playoffs. After establishing career highs with 27 home runs and 90 RBI during the regular season, the 31-year-old third baseman was 6-for-15 with a homer and 5 RBI in the NLDS. Corey Seager There are talented young shortstops everywhere you look in the major leagues, and Seager's name is near the top of the list. Favored to win NL Rookie of the Year honors after posting a .308/.365/.512 hitting line with 26 home runs and 72 RBI during the regular season, the 22-year-old Seager disappeared in the NLCS, going 3-for-23 while striking out six times. -- Daily Herald Chicago Cubs set sights on Dodgers starter Maeda in Game 1 By Scot Gregor The Chicago Cubs can wonder about Clayton Kershaw's availability for Game 2 of the National League championship series all they want -- as soon as Game 1 is in the books. In Saturday night's playoff opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field, right-hander Kenta Maeda gets the ball opposite Cubs lefty Jon Lester.

If the Cubs are even thinking about the possibility of facing Kershaw in Game 2, manager Joe Maddon is going to make sure the focus stays on Maeda, a 28-year-old rookie from Japan who was 16-11 with a 3.48 ERA during the regular season. "Let's play Saturday's game," Maddon said. "That's all I'm concerned about. "That's how I operate. That's how I want our group to operate. The moment you start getting ahead of yourself a little bit, it can bite you quickly. So, that's it. "Kershaw is outstanding, there's no question. He's one of the best in the last 50 years or whatever. But that's just one pitcher. We have to worry about tomorrow's pitcher." Maeda, who did not face the Cubs during the regular season, started against the Washington Nationals in Game 3 of the NLDS. It did not go well. The right-hander lasted just 3 innings and gave up 4 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. "It was my first time pitching in a postseason and it was an experience that I never experienced before," Maeda said through a translator. "This time around, since it is my second time around, I think I'll be able to imagine better what it's going to feel like. "Last time around I couldn't really pitch the way I wanted to. With that in mind, I want to definitely pitch well and hopefully contribute to a win for the team." Maeda is up against a Cubs team that still should be riding high from an impressive ninth-inning rally that eliminated the San Francisco Giants from the NL division series in four games. "They're a very good lineup, from what I know," Maeda said. "They came up, they won the regular season with a pretty good record. They won the division series and they're on pretty good momentum. So what I'm going to try to do is to stop the momentum." Not only is Maeda facing a lineup that is heating up at the right time, he has to try matching Lester, who pitched 8 shutout innings against the Giants in Game 1 of the NLDS after making 15 quality starts in as many tries at Wrigley during the regular season. "The first one against the Giants, that was a spectacular game," Maddon said of Lester. "Right now, Jonny, having this experience definitely matters, especially as a starting pitcher. He's going to walk out there, he's going to be very comfortable in that moment, actually, inspired by that, I believe. "He's good. And right now he's at the top of his game. I mean, from what I've seen, he's had a couple hiccups, which everybody does. But, man, he's been pretty much right on the last couple months, including the first game of the playoffs." -- Daily Herald Bernfield: Dodgers' year continues after Scully By Jordan Bernfield "It's time for Dodger Baseball!" Vin Scully's season may be over, but the Dodgers' year continues. After beating Max Scherzer and the Nationals Thursday night, Los Angeles advanced to the National League championship series for the first time since 2013. The Dodgers exhausted their pitching staff to get here. First-year manager Dave Roberts used ace Clayton Kershaw three times in five games. Kershaw started games one and four, and came out of the bullpen to record his first career save in game five.

Rich Hill threw twice in the NLDS, including game five. Closer Kenley Jansen fired 51 pitches in 2.1 innings Thursday to hold the lead for Kershaw's save. Twenty-year-old starter Julio Urias even tossed a pair of innings in relief to get the Dodgers into the NLCS. Los Angeles' starting pitchers posted a 7.29 ERA in the series, yet still advanced. A franchise historically known for great pitching, the Dodgers surmounted injuries and staff inconsistencies this season in their quest to reach the World Series for the first time since 1988. The Dodgers overcame a lack of quality starting pitching depth with trial by fire, using 11 different pitchers in at least five starts, and still managed to post the fifth best staff ERA (3.70) in baseball. L.A. began the season with Kershaw atop its rotation, followed by free agent signings Scott Kazmir and Kenta Maeda, lefthander Alex Wood and youngster Ross Stripling. Kazmir suffered a thoracic spine injury, Wood had an arthroscopic debridement of his pitching elbow, and Stripling -- who had Tommy John Surgery in 2014 -- has been held back by shaky performance. The Dodgers called up Urias and acquired Hill at the trade deadline from Oakland to plug the holes. Their biggest setback came when a herniated disk sidelined Kershaw following his start on June 26th for more than two months. The Dodgers were eight games behind the Giants in the National League West. But without their ace, they made up 12 games in the standings and held a four-game lead on the night he returned in early September before winning the division title. Los Angeles went 38-24 during that stretch, posting winning months of July and August, and finished with a red-hot 17-10 month of September. Just as the Dodgers pieced together their rotation all season, they'll have to get even more creative heading into the NLCS. Los Angeles starts Maeda in game one. Kershaw could start game two, but given his workload in the prior series, he may be limited against the Cubs. Hill pitched on three days' rest in Game 5 on Thursday, leaving Roberts with the unenviable task of carefully managing his tired pitchers against a Cubs offense that -- when at its best -- wears down opponents with a patient approach at the plate. The Cubs are getting the Dodgers at the right time -- when their pitching staff is worn down from a hard-fought series against Washington. If they can take advantage, they'll have a good chance of reaching the Fall Classic for the first time since 1945. • Jordan Bernfield is an anchor and co-host of "Inside The Clubhouse" on WSCR 670-AM The Score. He also works as a play-by-play broadcaster for ESPN. Follow him on Twitter@JordanBernfield. -- Daily Herald Rozner: How much does Kershaw have left for Cubs? By Barry Rozner As Clayton Kershaw was working his way back into the lineup, some actually wondered if the Dodgers were better off without him. After all, they became the hottest team in the second half with Kershaw on the disabled list because of a bad back. It was absurd considering Kershaw was the best pitcher in baseball when he got hurt.

Fast forward to Kershaw taking the mound three times in the NLDS against the Washington Nationals. The Dodgers won his 2 starts and he got the save in a deciding Game 5. Three appearances, 3 victories. Needless to say, as Kershaw goes, so go the Dodgers. So now you have to wonder how much he can do for L.A. in the NLCS against the Cubs, having thrown 110 pitches on three days' rest in Game 4 of the NLDS, before taking one day off, throwing a full bullpen and getting the final two outs of Game 5. There's no way Kershaw can start Game 1, so he's expected to start Game 2 with four days off since his last start, but only two days since the performance in Game 5. Kershaw's in line for 2 starts in this series and potentially more late relief, but he's coming off a heavy workload after a return from injury. Just how far can the Dodgers push their $215 million ace? He did miss two months with a back problem before coming back late in the season, and his postseason track record ain't all that hot anyway. It does bring back memories, however, of one of the greatest pitching performances in postseason history, and it was another Dodgers ace who led his team to a World Series victory. In 1988, Orel Hershiser went 23-8 in the regular season with a 2.26 ERA, 15 complete games, 8 shutouts, 267 innings pitched and a record 59-inning scoreless streak to end the season. He was, appropriately, the unanimous Cy Young Award winner. In the NLCS -- there was no NLDS then -- Hershiser was brilliant in Game 1 against the Mets and Dwight Gooden, but Jay Howell blew the save and Los Angeles lost Game 1. Hershiser started Game 3 on three days' rest and was great again, but the L.A. bullpen again blew the save and the Dodgers trailed 2-1 in the series. The very next day Hershiser came in to save the game in the bottom of the 12th at Shea Stadium as the Dodgers tied the series at 2-2. With two days to recuperate, Hershiser then pitched a 5-hit shutout and closed out the Mets in Game 7 to win the NLCS, capturing LCS MVP honors. On three days' rest, he started World Series Game 2 -- the day after the "Kirk Gibson Game" -- and tossed a shutout, this time a 3-hitter as the Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the Fall Classic. Again with three days off, Hershiser pitched another complete game in the fifth game of the series and finished off Oakland with a 5-2 victory and took home the MVP award. Of course, Hershiser was never the same after that magical 1988 season and horrific workload, and 18 months later he was on an operating table. It's easy, at times like this, to think of Madison Bumgarner two years ago against Kansas City, starting Games 1 and 5 of the World Series and then saving Game 7, throwing 5 innings of relief and 68 more pitches. My lasting memory of the 2005 World Series is of Mark Buehrle walking to the bullpen before the top of the 14th inning of Game 3, a few minutes before Geoff Blum hit his home run.

Once the ball left the yard, Buehrle started getting hot, and when Damaso Marte got in trouble because of an error in the bottom of the 14th, in came Buehrle with a man on and two outs, even though he had thrown 7 innings only two days before. Buehrle, the 17th pitcher of the night, volunteered, and Ozzie Guillen was happy he did. Buehrle recorded his first pro save since 1999 at Class-A Burlington. Few in Houston noticed Buehrle walk to the pen that night, but Nats fans were well aware when Kershaw made the trek Thursday night, a visible "oh no" response before Kershaw recorded his first pro save since rookie ball 10 years ago. It seems, however, that Kershaw will have to be superhuman to lead his Dodgers past the Cubs, and he admitted Thursday night to total exhaustion. It remains to be seen just how much he has left to give. -- Cubs.com Cubs once again rely on Lester to set tone By Jenifer Langosch CHICAGO -- With their come-from-behind victory to finish off the Giants in San Francisco, the Cubs not only earned themselves a three-day period to recharge, but they also avoided having to roll over their rotation. And so, instead of starting a win-or-go-home game Thursday, Jon Lester rested and waited and readied for another Game 1 assignment to add to his already extensive postseason resume. This one will come Saturday, when the Cubs and Dodgers open the National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field (8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT). "Obviously for me, it's a great honor, especially with the staff that we have," Lester said of drawing the start opposite Los Angeles righty Kenta Maeda. "It's a huge honor, especially for an organization like this, to get the ball again and try to go out and give us a good start, like last time, and give us a chance to win." The left-hander has become well-acquainted with the October stage over his 11-year career – and thrived on it. Since his first playoff appearance in 2007, Lester leads all pitchers with 106 postseason innings. Over that stretch, he ranks third with 15 starts, third with seven wins and sixth with a 2.63 ERA (min. 40 innings). And this particular spot is one that Lester knows remarkably well. Over the past four years, he has started the first game of a postseason series six times. Add in the American League Wild Card Game start he drew with Oakland in 2014 and his contributions in Boston's '08 and '09 playoff runs, and Lester has been tapped for a series-opening start nine times. It's a resume that adds to the confidence the Cubs have in sending their regular-season ace to the mound to set the tone for the best-of-seven series. "Having this experience definitely matters, especially as a starting pitcher," manager Joe Maddon said. "He's going to walk out there, [and] he's going to be very comfortable in that moment, actually inspired by that, I believe. And I want to believe that the rest of the group grasped a little bit of courage from that fearless nature that he demonstrates as a starting pitcher in the playoffs." The Cubs utilized Lester's performance in Game 1 of the NLDS as a springboard in that series. Lester scattered five hits without allowing a run over eight innings to buy time for Javier Baez's game-winning home run. The Dodgers understand well the challenge Lester will present. In a June start against them at Wrigley Field, Lester threw a four-hit complete game in which he struck out 10 and walked none. He then went to Dodger Stadium in August and twirled six shutout innings.

This matchup looks just as lopsided on paper, as the Dodgers ranked last in the Majors with a .214 average, .291 on-base percentage and .333 slugging percentage against left-handed pitchers during the regular season. As for Lester, he has recorded a quality start in all 16 of his home appearances (including the postseason) this year. "We'll see what they do and we'll make adjustments off that as we go," Lester said. "Like I keep saying, it's that fine cat-and-mouse game of being a pitcher. We know this is going to be a long series, so hopefully we can get it going in the right direction [Saturday]." -- Cubs.com Hendricks cleared for NLCS Game 2 start By Carrie Muskat CHICAGO -- Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks passed all the tests and will start Game 2 of the National League Championship Series for the Cubs on Sunday (8:08 p.m. ET/7:08 p.m. CT, FS1). Jon Lester will open the best-of-seven series on Saturday at Wrigley Field (8:08 p.m. ET/7:08 p.m. CT, FS1), and be followed by Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey, which was the same order the Cubs used in the NL Division Series. Hendricks was the only question mark after taking a line drive off his right arm in Game 2 of the NLDS. He did not play catch until Tuesday in San Francisco. "I made it clear to them I'm ready," Hendricks said Friday after a side session at Wrigley. "It was clear a couple days ago. Once I was able to get back on my normal throwing program, I was good to go. ... There's no discomfort. I'm good to go." The Cubs preferred to have Hendricks start at home to take advantage of his comfort level there. He finished the regular season leading the Major Leagues with a 1.32 ERA at home in 15 games (14 starts). Lester was third with a 10-2 record and 1.74 ERA in 15 games at home. • The Cubs will announce the NLCS roster Saturday, and were still debating whether to carry 11 or 12 pitchers. Rookie Rob Zastryzny was hoping he was added. In his third big league outing, the lefty threw 3 2/3 innings in relief at Dodger Stadium. "I've thrown against them before," Zastryzny said. "It's them making adjustments, me making adjustments." He did stay up to watch the Dodgers and Nationals battle in Game 5 of their NLDS. "I wasn't rooting for anybody -- it's not about me, it's about the team," he said. "If they give me the chance I'll be more than ready." • The Cubs' rotation has gotten most of the attention this season, and finished on top of the Majors with a 2.96 ERA. But the bullpen ranked sixth in the NL with a 3.56 ERA, and so far this postseason, has combined for a 3.12 ERA, giving up six earned runs over 17 1/3 innings. "I'm never worried about the game, whether we're ahead or behind, with this bullpen," reliever Justin Grimm said Friday. "There's a lot of confidence in each of these guys. Once thing I've noticed in the playoffs and one thing I learned in the last series is you can't get caught up in things -- you can only worry about what you can control. You see [Dodgers closer] Kenley Jansen get taken out [of Game 5 of the NLDS], and realize it's all about what are we going to do to win right here at this moment. You may be hurt but you move on to the next one." The Cubs will counter with closer Aroldis Chapman, who was 3-for-4 in save opportunities in the NLDS. "He comes in, and he's throwing 100 [mph]-plus and he has a track record of closing ballgames and making it look easier than others," Grimm said. "He's the anchor. Just get the ball to him. I think that's how he changes [the game] and he allows us more options throughout the game."

• Javier Baez was the star of the NLDS for the Cubs, and is trying to take all the attention in stride. "I've got a job to do," Baez said Friday. "I'm not surprised [by what I've done]. I know what I can do, and I know what this team can do. I'm just having fun right now and trying to win." At the beginning of the year, Baez did not have a regular position with the Cubs. In the postseason, he's bumped Ben Zobrist to the outfield and taken over at second base. "That's something I fought for, and with everything that I did on the field, I'm getting my starts now," Baez said. Baez went to Zobrist for advice about how to play different positions during the season, and the veteran has helped the young infielder make the adjustment. He's played all of the infield positions this year. What's his best one? "For me, right now, it's second base," Baez said. "I haven't done much at short. I've played short all my life. I have a lot of fun playing shortstop." Watch Baez in batting practice. He's been using a turquoise-colored glove that has his sister's name, Noely, stitched on one side. She was born with spina bifida, and died in April 2015 at the age of 21. -- Cubs.com Cubs need Bryzzo to produce for trip to World Series By Phil Rogers CHICAGO -- Bryzzo is more than just marketing. It's shorthand for the best combination of young hitters in the Major Leagues. Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo are the guys who make the Cubs go. They're going to be right in the middle of things if the Cubs win the World Series this fall. But they haven't been leading men in any of their team's postseason victories over the last two seasons. And because baseball isn't basketball, here are the Cubs, still favored to beat the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, which begins on Saturday (8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT, FS1), and then to knock off the Indians or Blue Jays to win the World Series that has eluded the franchise since 1908. Rizzo, in particular, was out of sorts in the NL Division Series. He endured his first 0-for-6 since 2013 in Game 3 against the Giants and went 0-for-13 until a single off Matt Moore in the Tuesday clincher. But Javier Baez delivered all the heroics the Cubs needed, just like Kyle Schwarber and Jorge Soler did last October. "I think that says a lot about our team,'' said Jon Lester, who faces the Dodgers' Kenta Maeda in Game 1. "One of our big horses isn't swinging the bat well, and we got guys ahead of him and below him that are picking him up. Javy had an unbelievable series both offensively and defensively and really almost carried us. "K.B., I think, swung the bat pretty quiet as far as the media attention. I thought he had a lot of good at-bats and had the one big homer for us. I think there're a lot of guys in our lineup that haven't hit their stride yet, which is good, hopefully they do it. And if some of those other guys drop off a little bit, we'll have some other guys to pick them up.'' Bryant's ninth-inning home run off Sergio Romo extended Game 3. It was one of three hits he collected in the 13-inning loss, and it helped him finish the series 6-for-16. That was a major step in the right direction for the Bryzzo boys, who combined to hit .182 with four home runs and 20 strikeouts in nine postseason games last year. Shutting down Bryant and Rizzo was a key for the Mets in sweeping the Cubs in the 2016 NLDS, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sees a bigger picture.

"Those are two very good players, but you look at all the teams that we have played all year long, and the team that we just played this past series had some good players as well,'' Roberts said, referring to the Nationals. "I think it's a little bit more complex than Bryant and Rizzo. But, yeah, those are two good players.'' Roberts is right about the challenge of facing the Cubs being "more complex'' than merely pitching to Bryant and Rizzo. But the Cubs are at their best when Rizzo and Bryant are making an impact at the plate. They both hit .292 this season -- Bryant from the right side, Rizzo from the left side. Bryant, who is a strong favorite for NL Most Valuable Player, delivered 39 home runs and 102 RBIs while leading the league with 121 runs scored. Rizzo notched 32 homers, 109 RBIs and 43 doubles. The Cubs went 50-12 when Bryant drove in a run and 49-18 when Rizzo drove in a run. When Rizzo and Bryant both produced an RBI in the same game, they were almost unbeatable. A 5-3 loss to the Cardinals on April 20 accounted for the only blemish in a 20-1 record on those occasions. That's how dangerous they can be to opponents, and after two seasons together, they know it. Manager Joe Maddon hits Rizzo behind Bryant to make pitchers challenge him. He said the Giants pitched around Rizzo in the NLDS, causing him to expand his strike zone at times. San Francisco pitchers went to two-ball counts against Rizzo only twice in the first three games. He was more patient in the Game 4 clincher. It was a Bryant single and Rizzo walk that started the game-winning rally in the ninth inning. "Just keep playing,'' Bryant said. "All it takes is one pitch. Guys had great at-bats, battling, taking walks. That's something we preach. One pitch at a time. That last inning was perfect." Bryant and Rizzo pose a huge challenge for the Dodgers' rotation, which got two starts from Clayton Kershaw in the NLDS and still had a 7.29 ERA. Sooner or later, they're going to start feeding off each other again. You'll know it by the noise coming from the corner of Clark and Addison. -- Cubs.com 3 keys for Cubs to reach World Series By Carrie Muskat CHICAGO -- In the National League Championship Series last year, Mets pitchers stifled the Cubs and swept the series. Now that the Cubs have ousted the Giants in the NL Division Series, they need to regroup for the next round, which starts Saturday vs. the Dodgers (8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on FS1). The Cubs will likely hear more talk about the franchise's long drought since the last World Series championship -- 1908, in case you didn't know. They'll just shrug it off. "I think the biggest thing is nobody really cares in there about a curse or a goat or anything else," Cubs pitcher Jon Lester said. "If we make a mistake, we're not going to blame it on a curse or anything else like that. We're going to blame it on ourselves and be accountable for it and move on to the next play or the next moment. "Plus, I think we've got too many young guys in there that don't even know what that stuff is," Lester said. "It's almost better to play naive and just go out and worry about us, worry about the Cubs, and not anything else in the past or, like I said, any animals." The Cubs finished with a franchise-record 57 wins at Wrigley during the regular season. The crowd dances to each player's walk-up music. There are "W" flags all over town. In Spring Training, there was talk about how they

wanted to win this for catcher David Ross, 39, who is retiring at season's end. They hope his retirement party never ends. What do the Cubs need to do to advance to their first World Series since 1945? Here are three things to consider: 1. Keep Javier Baez in the lineup Baez, who began the season without a starting job, started at second base in all four games of the NLDS, primarily for his glove. He has contributed at the plate, batting .375 with two RBIs, including a go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning of the 6-5 win Tuesday in Game 4. The Cubs need to catch the ball, and Baez will likely provide more web gems in the next series. 2. Let's get some runs Pitchers drove in six of the Cubs' 17 runs in the NLDS. They will need to find offense somewhere else. Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell each went 1-for-15 in the four games. Maddon pinch-hit for Russell for the first time this season in the ninth of Game 4. Maddon was encouraged by Rizzo's at-bats on Tuesday, because the first baseman was more patient and walked twice. But pitcher Jake Arrieta is tied with Kris Bryant for the most RBIs in the postseason (three). The position players need to step it up. 3. Pitching, pitching and more pitching Cubs starters had the best ERA (2.96) in the Majors this year, and they need to continue that trend. Lester will be happy to start Game 1 of the NLCS at Wrigley, where he was 10-2 with a 1.74 ERA. The lefty had the best outing so far among the starters, throwing eight scoreless innings in Game 1 against the Giants. If he gets the go ahead, Kyle Hendricks could start Game 2 at home, which would also be a good thing. Hendricks was struck on the right forearm by a line drive in Game 2 of the NLDS, knocking him out after 3 2/3 innings. He posted a 1.32 ERA at home. Arrieta delivered at the plate, smacking a three-run homer in Game 3, and he held the Giants to two runs over six innings. The difference for the Cubs this season is the addition of Aroldis Chapman. Mets closer Jeurys Familia overwhelmed the Cubs in last year's NLCS. Chapman pitched in all four NLDS games, and he struck out the side in the ninth inning of Game 4 for his third save. -- Cubs.com Heyward making impact despite down year at plate By Jenifer Langosch CHICAGO -- For some, Jason Heyward's production will always be distorted by the eight-year, $184 million contract he signed last December. A financial commitment of that magnitude yields grand expectations -- and Heyward would be the first to admit that, as a first-year Cub, he did not live up them. Heyward's slash line of .230/.306/.325 during the regular season was uninspiring, and his .631 OPS was the lowest such mark in a seven-year career that had previously taken him through Atlanta and St. Louis. But to define Heyward's value solely by the numbers printed on the back of his baseball card would be unfair and incomplete. His contributions are more complex, and his presence among a crop of young position players critical to the cohesiveness that has developed within the clubhouse walls. "I think J-Hey is probably one of the most if not more professional guys I've ever played with," said Jon Lester, who will start Game 1 of the National League Championship Series for the Cubs against the Dodgers on Saturday (8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT, FS1). "J-Hey grinded his butt off this whole season. For whatever reason, he squared up a lot of balls this year that were hit at people, and you never saw him pout, never saw him give up. If anything, he almost worked too hard this year to make it better."

A chance to be on the team that ended the Cubs' championship drought was among the reasons Heyward declined offseason overtures from the Cardinals and Nationals to instead sign with Chicago. Four times he had been on a team that had qualified for the postseason. Four times that team fell short of reaching the NLCS. That changed on Tuesday, when Heyward scored the go-ahead run in a 6-5 win over the Giants in the NL Division Series that set off what the Cubs hope will be the second of four champagne celebrations this fall. "There is a lot of irony in it because the regular season didn't go exactly the way I wanted it to go," Heyward said. "But there were a lot of good things that happened for me personally just to help the team get to this point. Here I am with not the best regular season, but I'm going on to the NLCS for the first time in my career. It's something I don't take for granted." Coming off the most complete offensive season of his career, Heyward opened this year as the team's two-hole hitter. He remained there for most of the first half before his continued offensive struggles prompted manager Joe Maddon to drop Heyward down in the order. Heyward fit in the lineup's sixth spot in the NLDS and finished 1-for-12 against the Giants. Yet, Heyward sparked the team's three-run second inning in a 5-2 Game 2 victory, and he forced a rushed throw from shortstop Brandon Crawford that helped him reach base in the ninth inning of Game 4. "Again, we get caught up on batting averages," Maddon said. "And, of course, there's more in the tank for him with that, with his offensive numbers. But everything else he's done this year has been superlative. And I really appreciate good baseball. I don't think it's any coincidence that he's played on a 100-win team the last couple years." Mike Matheny, who managed Heyward in St. Louis last season, once described him as a player best appreciated when watched regularly. It was Matheny's way of pointing out how often Heyward had his fingerprints on a team's success, even if in more non-descript ways. This year, Heyward held up his reputation as a superb defensive player and is likely weeks away from collecting his fourth NL Gold Glove Award. Among all NL outfielders, he ranked first with 18 Defensive Runs Saved and first with an Ultimate Zone Rating of 19.8. Heyward has also established himself as an above-average baserunner, ranking above league average in number of times advancing from second to home on a single and first to home on a double. "He's just an old-school, come-to-play-every-day type of player," Matheny said when the Cardinals visited Wrigley Field in late September. "I thought he had some of the intangibles -- that old-school thinking of how the game should look and how the clubhouse should operate. You could see that he was always thinking about this club and not himself." After shying away from a return to St. Louis partially because he didn't want to be the centerpiece of an offense, Heyward has assimilated exceptionally well to his third team in as many years. At 27 years old, he's able to relate to the organization's young core while also bringing seven seasons of Major League experience to the bunch. The effusive praise offered by Heyward's teammates is evidence of an impact. "He's the best," said catcher David Ross, who was also teammates with Heyward in Atlanta (2010-12). "This guy is maybe one of the most professional guys I've ever been around. I think he brings a lot to this young group. I can't say enough about Jason Heyward. This guy's amazing." -- Cubs.com Year after moonshot, Schwarber a spectator By Carrie Muskat

CHICAGO -- The ball is perched on top of the right-field video board at Wrigley Field, protected by a plexiglass box. It's a piece of Cubs history from last year's postseason, marking Kyle Schwarber's monster home run in Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the Cardinals. Thursday was the one-year anniversary of that blast, which helped spark a 6-4 Chicago victory and eliminated powerful St. Louis from the postseason. The Cubs advances to the NL Championship Series again this year, against the Dodgers beginning on Saturday night ( 8 ET, 7 CT, FS1), but did so without Schwarber's bat, just his spirit. In the third game of the regular season, he tore the ACL and the LCL in his left knee after a freak collision with teammate Dexter Fowler at Chase Field. Schwarber's rehab has gone well, and he's been spotted doing light agility drills in the outfield at Wrigley Field. But his role this year is cheerleader, not slugger. His first road trip with the team was to San Francisco for the NL Division Series, but he isn't allowed to go far without a brace on his left knee. "It was only tough on me because I was so stressed out," Schwarber said Friday of the close games. "The easy part was watching and cheering the guys on. It's reality -- it is what it is. I'm embracing it and being able to yell as loud as I can to try to help them out. It was so much fun for me over there." He hasn't spent all of his time with the Cubs' medical staff. Before games, Schwarber was watching video of the starting pitchers, and when the Cubs were on the road, he would chart the outings as well. "I like to sit there and think, what's the possible options we can go with on this hitter?" he said Friday. "It's just a way to keep me in the game. For me to stay in the game, it's big for me. I can see how David [Ross] is thinking or [Willson Contreras] or [Miguel Montero] is thinking or what our pitchers are thinking. It's a good way for me to stay engaged." Schwarber, 23, wasn't sure where the home run ball was. He'll be happy to know it's close to the action as the Cubs continue their postseason run. It's hard to believe that was one year ago. "It was a cool moment for me personally, but overall, that whole last year, that whole last October was such an experience factor for us," he said. "Me, yeah, it was cool, but the only thing I remember was the crowd yelling their heads off. It was definitely cool for me, definitely cool for us younger guys. You get the experience of playing in those games and it's translating to this year." -- Cubs.com Old bullpen rules tossed out this postseason By Adam McCalvy CHICAGO -- The almighty save has roots right here alongside Wrigley Field's iconic ivy. The man who turned the ninth inning into the domain of millionaire "proven closers" was Jerome Holtzman, a correspondent for The Sporting News covering the Cubs, who in 1960 was sitting on the team bus in St. Louis when he scribbled out a formula to reward relief pitchers for their under-noticed work. Holtzman's formula was modified in subsequent years, but the save stuck. Now it is at the center of a debate that has found its way to the forefront in a 2016 postseason packed with late-inning drama, from Orioles relief ace Zach Britton waiting for a save situation that never materialized in the American League Wild Card Game to Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen pitching in the seventh inning of Thursday's decisive Game 5 of the National League Division Series. Is it time to throw out the old rules of bullpen management?

"Obviously, Tito's done a lot of that," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts in a nod to Indians skipper Terry Francona, who brought relief ace Andrew Miller in as early as the fifth inning in the AL Division Series against the Red Sox. "Guys around baseball are being more aggressive." Roberts was aggressive when he called for Jansen in the seventh inning against the Nationals, with a runner aboard and the Dodgers leading, 4-3. Washington loaded the bases that inning. but Jansen escaped. He was still protecting that one-run advantage as his pitch count topped 50 and his legs started turning to jelly in the ninth. That's when Roberts made his next unconventional move. He called for ace starter Clayton Kershaw, on one day of rest, to record the final two outs. Next thing they knew, the Dodgers were taking the field at Wrigley on Friday for a workout ahead of Saturday's NL Championship Series Game 1 (8 p.m. ET on FS1). "In theory, it's phenomenal and it's really not outside the box -- it really makes sense," Roberts said of his early call to Jansen. "But it's more of trying to -- and communicating with players to understand, to buy-in to accepting whatever situation is presented to them for that particular game. I think that, for me, that's something that I tried to communicate with our relief pitchers since day one of Spring Training. Fortunately, we have got such an unselfish group that the buy-in was there, and for us it's worked out." Said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons on Friday in Cleveland: "It's turning the baseball world upside down, the way bullpens have been used lately." Gibbons has used his closer, Roberto Osuna, for more than three outs on seven occasions in the past month, including in all three of Osuna's postseason appearances. Cleveland's Francona has been similarly aggressive with both of his top two relievers, left-hander Miller and right-hander Cody Allen. Miller entered Friday night's Game 1 of the ALDS in the seventh inning and pitched 1 2/3 innings, striking out five of the six batters he faced, in the Indians' 2-0 victory. Allen pitched the ninth for the save. On the NL side, Roberts used Jansen in four of the Dodgers' five NLDS games, including twice for more than three outs. Cubs manager Joe Maddon, however, has taken a more traditional approach with flame-throwing closer Aroldis Chapman. Only four of Chapman's appearances in the regular season spanned more than three outs, last on Sept. 4. When Maddon tried to coax a two-inning save from Chapman in Game 3 of the NLDS against the Giants, he surrendered three runs and took a blown save in a game the Cubs would lose in extra innings. "I think it's getting more play right now in regards to coverage, and you get all the different TV shows, where people are generating this kind of concept," Maddon said. "This is stuff that's been out there. I think it's just becoming more prominent and being spoken about more. And then, thus, you're seeing more of it in the game." It's also a product of the postseason. Both Maddon and Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman made the case that breaking away from the rules of bullpen management in the regular season is more complicated. "I think the regular season is obviously much more difficult with the way the incentive structure is set up currently," Friedman said. "Especially in arbitration. I think in the free-agent market, that's starting to change and evolve. But until the incentive structure is more in line, I think it's difficult. I think the postseason is very different. It's much easier to do in the postseason." Said Francona: "I don't think you're going to see as much [change] as people think, just because of the way our -- like the arbitration system, the way people are rewarded for saves. Again, I'd love to see that changed, because I think if that was changed, you would see how pitchers are used differently and I think we'd have a better game." Roberts and the Dodgers had more immediate matters on their minds Friday. The Dodgers did not arrive at Wrigley Field until after 4 p.m. local time, and Jansen was not available to discuss with reporters his status for Saturday night. Roberts said the fatigue affected Jansen's legs and not his arm, and predicted Jansen would be an option to pitch.

"I'll know more [Saturday], but do I envision a one-plus [inning] situation? Probably not." Roberts said. He quickly added: "But don't hold me to it." -- Cubs.com Keeping score: Wrigley's operator retiring after season By Carrie Muskat CHICAGO -- His name may not be familiar, but regular fans in the center-field bleachers know Fred Washington's face, which they've seen peeking out from one of the inning openings in the Cubs' linescore of the manually operated Wrigley Field scoreboard. Washington, 66, is hoping for eight more Cubs wins before he has his retirement party. Chicago opens the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers at home on Saturday (8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT, FS1). A member of the grounds crew, Washington started working at Wrigley on April 1, 1984, as part of the security staff. In 1990, he was switched to the grounds crew, and he now works with Darryl Wilson in the dark and dusty interior of the scoreboard. However, this season is Washington's last. "The highlight has been being there," Washington said. "Every game, no matter what's going on, you have a perfect seat. Part of your job is watching the game, and you can't miss much." Washington has seen plenty of bad Cubs teams, including the 101-loss season in 2012. Besides being cooped up in the scoreboard, which is not air conditioned or heated, what's the downside? "When your team isn't doing well, that's the low light," Washington said. This year has been a thrill. "When they clinched this year, I started to sing ["Go Cubs Go"], and I got all choked up in my voice," Washington said. "I told Darryl that I was up there trying to sing and I got choked up. He said, 'Man, I was down here crying.' "It's such an emotional thing when you've been suffering with them all these years, and they've done so well, and you're so proud of them. I just recently learned what crying tears of joy means." The Cubs players most likely don't know Washington. He's simply part of the crew that keeps Wrigley Field manicured, helping with watering the grass, raking the infield, whatever is needed. Everyone knows his or her job, and it's carefully choreographed. At game time, Washington climbs the ladder into the scoreboard. "I'm very endeared by the fans in the bleachers," Washington said. There are regulars who keep an eye on the inning-by-inning updates, which Washington and Wilson used to get on a teletype machine. Now, they have a computer. "They're very helpful," Washington said. "We have that human element, and we can make mistakes. They'll point and try to explain what's going on, but we can't hear because of the crowd noise. They're very helpful and knowledgable." Washington has seen it all and knows the devotion Cubs fans have for their team. There was one man who shaved a perfect Cubs logo on his chest. Another day, he spotted a woman with a perfect tattoo of late Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray on her right arm.

Washington's favorite photo is very grounds crew-related. They have a saying, "feeding the chickens," which refers to how they spread a substance called "Turface" on the mound. "I've got a perfect picture of a puff of this Turface before it hit the ground," Washington said. "I think that's the best picture I took in my life." So, what's next for a man who has had one of the best seats at Wrigley for 26 years? "I really don't know -- I haven't planned that far ahead," Washington said. "The years, they sneak up on you. Me retiring reminds me of a death in the family. If somebody notifies you that a loved one has passed, you acknowledge it, but it doesn't hit you now. I'm on such a 'Go Cubs Go' roll, I don't look at retiring. For me, that's almost like a negativity, because it will take me away from all this. This season has been so exciting -- you want to stay here." Washington has seen everything but a World Series. Do the Cubs need to do that this year for him to retire a happy man? "I would suggest -- I would demand it," Washington said. "I'm looking forward to it." On Saturday for the start of the NLCS, Washington will be in the scoreboard, watching. "All season long, if the Cubs play anybody, they should win two out of three," Washington said. "It's just natural for the way they've been playing. It's just like these young players, their confidence is growing -- and so is mine -- with this team. I've suffered with them for so long, and now I'm reaping the benefits. "It's like raising a kid and he goes to school and does well. You want to pat them on the shoulder, you want to hug them, and that's how I feel about this team. My retirement is not going to happen until everything is totally over with. I put my retirement on the back burner, and I put the Cubs first, because that's where they belong." -- ESPNChicago.com Cubs call on their own Clayton Kershaw for Game 1 of NLCS By Jesse Rogers CHICAGO -- Could the Chicago Cubs have their own version of Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw in the form of All-Star left-hander Jon Lester? The former two players have a postseason save on their résumé -- Kershaw earned his Thursday night in the Los Angeles Dodgers' series-clinching victory over the Washington Nationals -- but Lester has plenty of his own October success, culminating in two World Series championships with the Boston Red Sox. The 32-year-old is the clear leader in the Cubs' rotation right now, particularly considering they are set to face a Dodgers team loaded with left-handed hitters in the National League Championship Series, which begins Saturday night. Manager Joe Maddon didn’t hesitate in choosing his starter for Game 1. “To get picked again to go No. 1, that's really a cool honor,” Lester said Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field. “Our staff has been really, really good this year, and I think that, really, if you put all of our names in a hat and pulled one out, I don't think you could go wrong.” But choosing Lester was hardly a random maneuver by Maddon. Coming off eight shutout innings against the San Francisco Giants in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, he was the easy choice. It doesn’t hurt that the Dodgers hit just .214 against lefties in the regular season, either. Lester figures to play a big role over the course of this series as the lone lefty starter in Chicago's rotation. “He's good,” Maddon said. “And right now he's at the top of his game. I mean, from what I've seen, he's had a couple hiccups, which everybody does. But, man, he's been pretty much right-on the last couple months, including

the first game of the playoffs for him. So he definitely right now, the way he's going about his business, should really benefit the rest of our guys who walk on the field tomorrow.” In other words, Lester makes other players better simply with his presence. It wasn’t always the case last season, his first with the Cubs, but after taking a year to get comfortable, he’s re-established himself as the ace of the team and a true playoff great. His career 2.63 postseason ERA isn’t far off of Bumgarner’s 2.11 and is over two runs lower than Kershaw’s. “Getting settled in the new place, figuring out what's going on here, the travel and the teams, all that stuff,” Lester said of last season's adjustments. “And so, yeah, you spend a full year together and you grind through that season and you make the playoffs, you come back in the spring. I mean, we had, what, two new guys come in? Three new guys? One that I already knew. So, yeah, you're obviously going to feel more comfortable that second year as opposed to just getting thrown into that first year with a whole new atmosphere in front of you.” Lester is a “feel” pitcher, so sometimes that feel wasn’t there for him in the past. But the more he got to know the National League, the more comfortable he became. And this season's Dodgers seem like a perfect matchup. In two games against them in 2016, Lester has thrown 15 innings and given up just one run. Lester has also taken a larger leadership role in the clubhouse to go along with his improvement on the field. And he simply won’t accept the idea of a Cubs curse or thinking the worst will happen when issues arise on the fields. He didn’t claim to be speaking for his team when asked about it Friday, but he could have been. When things go south, the last thing any player is thinking about is past mistakes by Cubs teams none of the current players had anything to do with. “It's baseball,” Lester said. “It's part of the game. And like I said before, it doesn't mean it's a curse or it's a black cat or a goat or whatever else it is, it's us making physical mistakes and we're going to move on and move on to the next moment, and hopefully we're able to have that next moment and do better.” That’s actually a description of Lester from last season to this. He has moved on from some bad moments in 2015 to take hold of the Cubs' rotation and perhaps bring home his first Cy Young award. Meanwhile, this NLCS could elevate his status even further. Lester is on track to pitch in Games 1 and 5, if necessary. And considering the Dodgers' woes against left-handed pitching, maybe it's Lester running down to the bullpen late in a Game 7 situation. He won't take Aroldis Chapman’s job, but if a game goes to extra innings, Maddon must feel confident Lester is a guy he could go to. “He's going to walk out there, he's going to be very comfortable in that moment," Maddon said. "Actually, inspired by that, I believe." The Cubs are counting on it. -- ESPNChicago.com Cubs won't alter rotation for NLCS, Joe Maddon says By Jesse Rogers CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs will stay with the same pitching rotation for the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, manager Joe Maddon said Friday. Game 1 pitcher Jon Lester will be followed by Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey for Games 2, 3 and 4. "It's been configured," Maddon told media at Wrigley Field. Hendricks says he feels OK despite leaving Game 2 of the NLDS against the San Francisco Giants after taking a line drive off the forearm of his pitching hand.

"I feel great," Hendricks said Friday. "Three days ago, I was able to go out and play catch for the first time, and [the hand] almost felt 100 percent. It's good to go. I've let everyone with the team know that." Hendricks' availability for Game 2 allows him to pitch at Wrigley Field, where he compiled a 1.15 ERA during the regular season. It also allows Arrieta to pitch at Dodger Stadium, where he threw a no-hitter last season. Lester was the obvious candidate for Game 1 after he shut out the Giants for eight innings in the Cubs' playoff opener. "Watched him the last game against the Giants, really calm demeanor," Maddon said. "Threw the ball where he wanted to, him and David [Ross] always work well together." The Cubs spent Friday working on fundamentals as hitters were required to bunt off a pitching machine. They then they took full batting practice. The team is hoping to break out of a mini-slump at the plate, though Tuesday's four-run rally in the ninth inning of Game 4 against the Giants may have provided the boost they were looking for. "A game like that could carry over," shortstop Addison Russell said. "We'll find out tomorrow." -- ESPNChicago.com Manager matchup: Cubs' Joe Maddon vs. Dodgers' Dave Roberts By Bradford Doolittle When the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers begin their highly anticipated National League Championship Series on Saturday at Wrigley Field, there will be no greater contrast between the teams than on the top steps of the respective dugouts. For the Cubs, you have the bubbly Joe Maddon, a 62-year-old mad scientist in his 12th full season as a big-league skipper. For the Dodgers, there is rookie manager Dave Roberts, 44, who has the more low-key personality and has earned raves for his work in guiding Los Angeles to its NLDS victory over the Washington Nationals. Besides differences in personalities and eye wear (or lack thereof), what are the strategic preferences of the two managers that may come into play over the next week? Let's run through a few tendencies and some other possible key decisions. Pitch counts According to BaseballProspectus.com, Maddon's starters averaged 94.5 pitches per outing, ranking eighth in the majors. The Dodgers ranked 28th at 87.6. However, much of this has to do with relative effectiveness. The Cubs' staff led the majors with 100 quality starts, while the Dodgers came in at No. 29. Neither skipper was prone to allow any really long outings, though, at this point, there aren't really any managers who do. Not even Dusty Baker. Still, we saw in the NLDS that Roberts isn't afraid to turn a game over to the bullpen much earlier than he would in the regular season. The only real bullpen game in the Cubs' win over the Giants came in Game 2, but that was necessitated by Kyle Hendricks' early exit after being struck by a ball. Reliever usage The Dodgers led the National League in both relief appearances and relief innings, which again is as much a reflection on a starting rotation that didn't settle in until late in the season as it is on the relief staff. Meanwhile, the Cubs' fine starting pitching allowed Maddon to use his bullpen less than any team in the league. Dodger relievers threw 120 more innings than Cubs relievers during the regular season. In the NLCS, there will be a couple of interesting things to watch. Roberts showed he's willing to play off of leverage, using closer Kenley Jansen for 51 pitches and bringing him on in the seventh inning of Game 5 of against Washington. Maddon tried to use Aroldis Chapman for a six-out save in Game 3 against the Giants, but it didn't work out, and it's hard to envision him going to Chapman that early again, much less in the seventh.

Also, it will be interesting to see how Maddon deploys his bullpen behind Game 1 starter Jon Lester. In Game 1 of the first round, Lester simply threw eight shutout innings and gave the ball to Chapman to finish. That's ideal. However, if Lester has a short-ish outing, the Dodgers will have an nearly all-lefty bench ready to combat the Cubs' primary set-up men, Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon, both righties. Lineups The Cubs have been more of a set-lineup team all season with variations to that based more on resting players than any effort to gain a platoon advantage. Under Roberts, the Dodgers have been a lot more prone to playing the lefty-righty game. According to baseball-reference.com, the Dodgers have had the platoon advantage in 61 percent of their plate appearances this season, ranking second in the NL. The Cubs rank sixth at 57 percent, a figure aided by Chicago's pair of regular switch-hitters, Dexter Fowler and Ben Zobrist. In Game 1, Roberts will have to decide whether to start hot-hitting catcher Carlos Ruiz against Lester rather than switch-hitting regular Yasmani Grandal. Doing so could give the Dodgers an early-game offensive boost. But it would limit Roberts late in a close game if they need to scratch out a tying run against Chapman. Maddon's big dilemma throughout the series will be one that he faced just once against the Giants: How to shape his lineup against the Dodgers' three lefty starting pitchers. When Madison Bumgarner started for San Francisco, Maddon went with an offensive group to start that included Jorge Soler going in the outfield. Miguel Montero started behind the plate, though that was due to his rapport working with Jake Arrieta. In the end, it'll come down to the Cubs' own starting pitcher and who likes to throw to whom. But there are several players with ugly histories against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, including Jason Heyward, who is 0-for-10 with seven strikeouts. All such matchup histories are invariably subject to the vagaries of small sample size, so Maddon will have to decide just how much weight he wants to give them. Substitutions Maddon doesn't substitute quite as much as it seems because so much of what he does is move guys around to different defensive positions. Still, the Cubs ranked ninth in the majors in non-pitcher substitutions and eighth in fielding replacements. Roberts ranked fifth, and the Dodgers had more pinch-hitting appearances than anyone, which speaks to the aforementioned preference for playing the lefty-righty game. Neither team relies much on pinch runners. Strategies The Cubs ranked sixth in sacrifice attempts (70, per baseball-reference.com), three more than the league average, and led the majors with eight squeezes for the season. The Dodgers were tied for 13th, 13 below league average, and had just two squeezes. Both teams ranked low in terms of productive outs and stealing bases. However, the Cubs ranked second in extra bases taken on the bases paths, while the Dodgers were eighth, right about league average. L.A. was more conservative on the bases in general, ranking 13th in making outs on the bases. No NL team made more outs on the bases than the Cubs. According to BaseballProspectus.com, the Cubs and Dodgers ranked fifth and 11th in the majors, respectively, in starting runners during a pitch. Replay According to the database at baseballsavant.com, the Dodgers ranked 17th, right at the big-league average, with a 54 percent success rate on Roberts' challenges. The Cubs and Maddon challenged more often (43 to 35) but less successfully (49 percent, ranking 23rd). --

CSNChicago.com The Dodger Moves That Directed Cubs Toward The NLCS By Patrick Mooney Joe Maddon remembers driving his RV from Pennsylvania through Virginia when Andrew Friedman broke the news over the phone that he would be leaving the Tampa Bay Rays for a president’s job with the Los Angeles Dodgers. That triggered the escape clause that Alan Nero, Maddon’s Chicago-based agent, had negotiated into the manager’s contract, getting a concession from a small-market franchise that would never pay top dollar for talent. Maddon initially didn’t even know the opt-out existed. That chain of events from October 2014 helped shape the National League Championship Series that begins Saturday night at Wrigley Field. Maddon and his wife Jaye hosting Cubs executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer at an RV park on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The Cubs firing Rick Renteria, who’s now resurfaced on the South Side as the White Sox manager. Friedman trying to meld the best parts of Tampa’s lean operation with Guggenheim Partners money and a Dodger Way of developing homegrown talent. “Andrew and I are really good friends,” said Maddon, who got his own five-year, $25 million contract. “I was really happy for him. Because being the age that he is – getting that opportunity to go to a market like that – I knew how much he wanted to do something like that. It was a perfect fit.” The Plan? It’s more like Controlled Chaos. This industry is too volatile and too competitive to follow some five-year plan and automatically go from 101 losses in 2012 to 103 wins this year. Humans play the games – not robots. Epstein’s front office laid out the scouting-and-player-development philosophies and worked within the financial parameters while chairman Tom Ricketts supported a long-range vision. But Maddon arriving like a lightning bolt shows some of the randomness and how the Dodgers shaped this Cubs team and what should be a must-see NLCS: • Only Epstein had the juice and the credibility to sell this teardown to Cubs fans and the Chicago media after winning two World Series rings with the Boston Red Sox. Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts – who played at Rancho Buena Vista High School in California with Cubs executive Jason McLeod – helped cement that legacy with his famous stolen base against the New York Yankees during an epic comeback in the 2004 American League Championship Series. • While pursuing Jon Lester, the Cubs worried about the Dodgers jumping into the bidding war and becoming the new Yankees. A highly placed Red Sox official predicted the Dodgers would try to make Lester an offer he couldn’t refuse during the 2014 winter meetings. But Lester doesn’t exactly have a Hollywood personality. Friedman wanted to build a roster around depth and flexibility. And the Cubs wouldn’t hesitate to do that six-year, $155 million megadeal all over again with their Game 1 starter. • If Lester doesn’t win a Cy Young Award this year, it might go to Game 2 starter Kyle Hendricks, a prospect the Cubs acquired in a buzzer-beater deal at the July 31, 2012 deadline. Remember, Ryan Dempster clung to his hard-earned no-trade rights, hoping to play with Ted Lilly at Dodger Stadium. Dempster said the Cubs put him on the phone with Ned Colletti – the Los Angeles general manager at the time – to hear that wasn’t going to be an option. The Cubs had already seen a trade with the Atlanta Braves collapse (Randall Delgado) and finally closed the Hendricks deal with the Texas Rangers. Baseball America listed seven pitchers on its top-10 list of Dodger prospects in 2012: Zach Lee; Allen Webster; Nathan Eovaldi; Chris Reed; Garrett Gould; Chris Withrow; and Josh Lindblom. • To market short-term assets like Dempster – and mold young talents like Hendricks – the Cubs have leaned heavily on the pitching infrastructure built with the help of ex-manager Dale Sveum and coaches Chris Bosio, Lester Strode and Mike Borzello.

That sophisticated game-planning system has roots in Borzello’s time on Joe Torre’s staff, working with Dodgers catcher/future Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus. Applying Ausmus’ principles and taking it to the next level helped create value for pitchers like Scott Feldman and Jeff Samardzija, who got flipped for a Cy Young Award winner (Jake Arrieta), an elite setup guy (Pedro Strop) and an All-Star shortstop (Addison Russell). • Imagine the Dodgers lining up Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman to face the Cubs in a must-win NLCS game. Either the Dodgers made the correct zero-tolerance statement on domestic violence, or their high-powered front office didn’t do nearly enough homework on Chapman, or a Hollywood franchise didn’t want to deal with the PR fallout. Whatever combination of factors led to a deal with the Cincinnati Reds falling apart during the winter meetings, Chapman wound up with the Yankees, serving a 30-game suspension to begin this season, getting traded to Chicago and changing the entire look of this Cubs bullpen in October. “He’s fit in seamlessly with the rest of the group,” Maddon said. “With us, he’s been outstanding. And I only can judge or gauge him by my interaction with him. And it’s been really good.” -- CSNChicago.com How Cubs Built A Bigger And Better Version Of Last Year’s NLCS Team By Patrick Mooney The Cubs are a bigger, better version of the team the New York Mets swept aside in last year’s National League Championship Series, no longer just happy to be here and now fully expecting to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers this time. “A lot of us have a sour taste in our mouth from last year,” Kris Bryant said. “We’ll be ready for it. I definitely can’t wait.” That doesn’t guarantee the franchise’s first NL pennant since the year World War II ended, or its first World Series title since the Theodore Roosevelt administration. But the Cubs upgraded a 97-win team in all phases of the game, not overreacting to that four-game sample against the Mets as much as reinforcing what they already knew. Those young players who kept hearing how special they are – and how good this team should be for a long time – didn’t take the opportunity for granted and played with passion and focus. The media crush and every-pitch intensity won’t be intimidating or a shock to the system during Game 1 on Saturday night at Wrigley Field. “It’s great to have that experience,” said Jason Heyward, who played on the 100-win St. Louis Cardinals team the Cubs bounced from last year’s playoffs. “And not the ‘wow factor’ of doing it for the first time. And then it’s like: ‘Hey, we expect to be here.’ “Nobody’s surprised to be here.” To get back here, the final bill for free agents came in at almost $290 million, an itemized list that had a meet-the-Mets-again feel to it. Suffocated by New York’s power pitching, the Cubs added two switch-hitters to their lineup by winning the Ben Zobrist sweepstakes (without making the highest offer) and bringing back Dexter Fowler (in a shocking stealth-mode deal days after the you-go, we-go leadoff guy reportedly reached an agreement with the Baltimore Orioles). Stretched thin in the rotation, the Cubs signed John Lackey – the most valuable pitcher on that St. Louis team – and can now use the two-time World Series champion as a Game 4 starter. Shaky in the outfield, the Cubs added a three-time Gold Glove winner in Heyward to change their defensive identity.

Vulnerable in the running game, the Cubs fast-tracked Willson Contreras after only 55 games at Triple-A Iowa, promoting the dynamic catcher in the middle of June. By late July, the Cubs finalized a blockbuster deal with the New York Yankees for Aroldis Chapman, giving manager Joe Maddon a game-changer like Mets closer Jeurys Familia. “You just look up and down,” Bryant said. “This team’s a whole lot better. Just look at each individual player and how much better we are than we were last year. “I can say that for myself – I’m a way better player than I was last year. Look at Kyle Hendricks – unbelievable. Look at Jon Lester – he’s having a way better season than he had last year, too. “That just gives us all the confidence in the world knowing that each individual guy in here has done something this year to get better than they were last year.” Bryant topped his Rookie of the Year campaign with a 39-homer, 102-RBI MVP-caliber season. Hendricks went from a being a nominal fifth starter to winning the ERA title. Lester, the Game 1 starter, looked and acted far more comfortable during Year 2 of that $155 million megadeal, which might translate into a Cy Young Award. Addison Russell – who didn’t make last year’s NLCS roster while dealing with a strained hamstring – became a 21-homer, 95-RBI All-Star shortstop at the age of 22. Javier Baez, who looked rattled at times while filling in for Russell against the Mets, became the breakout star of this year’s NL Division Series, delivering big hits, making spectacular defensive plays and getting under the skin of the San Francisco Giants. “It’s hard to focus in the postseason with the loudness of the fans, but I’ve been working on slowing the game down,” Baez said. “That has been big for me (since) I was coming up to the big leagues. Now, I’m really good at it. Obviously, there’s still a little pressure and nerves. But you still have to play the game and keep slowing it down.” In a hypothetical best-of-seven series between the 2015 Cubs and the 2016 version, Bryant said, “We’d crush that team.” Now let’s see if these Cubs can handle another playoff-tested cast featuring Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Corey Seager, Justin Turner and Adrian Gonzalez. “Expectations and pressure,” Maddon said, “that’s the baseball fossil fuel right there. “My initial message to the boys was: Why would you ever want to be in a situation that doesn’t require a little bit of pressure added to it, or expectations? I would not want to go into a season having zero expectations and zero pressure applied to you because you’re going to finish fourth or fifth in a division. I mean, that’s a bad way to live. “Listen, if you hear the word pressure, you got to run toward it. That’s a good thing. That means we’re good and something good is attached to it.” -- CSNChicago.com Jon Lester: Cubs In 'Better Place' After 2015 NLCS Experience By Dan Hayes Jon Lester thinks the Cubs’ previous postseason experience has been a critical component this October. The veteran left-hander doesn’t know if they’d be here without it. Lester, the Cubs’ starting pitcher for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Saturday, said he isn’t sure that last year’s Cubs squad could have rallied to beat the San Francisco Giants in the National League Divisional Series. A day after they lost in 13 innings, the Cubs overcame a three-run deficit in the ninth inning on Tuesday to eliminate the Giants and avoid a winner-take-all Game 5. Lester attributes much of the team’s attitude to the 2015 postseason, when it was swept out of the NLCS by the New York Mets.

“Last year's team probably would have not won that Game 4 out there,” Lester said. “So I think that that's a big step for us. I think the biggest thing is just being on that stage, being in that moment of the NLCS last year. And I think it left a lot of bitter taste in guys' mouths as far as how far we had come that season to get to that point and then really not even put up a fight.” Much of the talk this postseason from Lester, catcher David Ross and manager Joe Maddon has surrounded how the team would handle the bad moments it surely would encounter this October. Maddon said before Thursday’s workout he likes how his team has started to learn how to win and pointed at Tuesday’s effort. That’s when the Cubs managed to rally even after Giants pitcher Matt Moore dominated them for eight innings. Lester said the team’s newfound attitude was born out of frustration of last year’s bitter defeat to the Mets, who effectively cooled off a previously hot lineup. “Those guys really dominated us,” Lester said. “We all kind of learned, especially for me and the pitching staff, is kind of identify the people that are swinging the bats, and we'll have a different approach against those guys. We basically let Daniel Murphy beat us last year. So I think looking back on that, if we can take that back and go back to that time and kind of sit down and then talk about it some more, we might have had a different approach. So I think that being in that moment and learning from that, moving on to this one, and I think a lot of guys are just in a better place.” -- CSNChicago.com Cubs Prepared For Their Own Clayton Kershaw Moment By Tony Andracki When Clayton Kershaw jogged out to the bullpen before the bottom of the ninth inning in the nation's capital Thursday night, the baseball world couldn't contain its glee. Kershaw didn't face Bryce Harper like all of Twitter wanted, but he did come in to get the final two outs and lift the Los Angeles Dodgers to an NLCS date with the Cubs. It was the first relief appearance for the three-time Cy Young winner and former MVP since 2009. It also illustrated the unconventional bullpen usage we've seen around the game this postseason. Closers and setup men are coming in in the fifth or sixth innings now. Modern managers understand the game's most high-leverage situations aren't always the 25th, 26th or 27th outs. Andrew Miller appeared in the fifth inning of Game 1 of the ALDS for the Cleveland Indians. Kenley Jansen entered in the seventh inning of Thursday's do-or-die Game 5 and threw a career-high 51 pitches before giving way to Kershaw for the final two outs. "I think that for the most part, it's been kind of that way in the past where you want to use your bullpen slightly differently in the playoffs," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "I think it's getting more play right now in regards to coverage and you get all the different TV shows where people are generating this kind of concept of the world. "This is stuff that's been out there. I think it's just becoming more prominent and being spoken about more. And then, thus, you're seeing more of it in the game. But I always believe you're going to utilize your bullpen differently this time of the year. "...It would be difficult to do [this] during the regular season on a consistent basis. I think it would be much more difficult to be consistently successful by moving people around that often and having them throw that much. However, this time of the year's a different animal, and I think that I get it. It's the way it should be."

Maddon has always been heralded as one of the top bullpen handlers in the game and received an elite option when the Cubs gave up four players for Aroldis Chapman in July. Theo Epstein understood how important the bullpen becomes in the postseason and knew the top relievers face a much larger percentage of hitters in the playoffs than in the regular season. But not all players are on board with the unconventional bullpen usage and subsequent short leashes starting pitchers are on. "I think that can be a plus and a minus," veteran catcher David Ross said. "I watched the game last night and Max Scherzer gave up an 0-0 ambush homer and then he was out of the game. I don't know if that would've been what I would've done or maybe what other managers would've done. "And then [Dodgers manager] Dave Roberts took Rich Hill out early. Each manager knows their team better than we do as opposing players or media. I think you just gotta put trust in those guys and sometimes it works out and sometimes it don't. "As long as it's a calculated decision, you kinda gotta live with it. But yeah, it's a new style in baseball of taking guys out early and going to that bullpen. I've seen it work and I've seen it not work. It's working right now." The Cubs bullpen has already been forced into similar situations, with Chapman working the eighth inning of Game 3 of the NLDS (which didn't work out) or Kyle Hendricks being forced to leave the game after taking a line drive to the arm in the fourth inning of Game 2. In the case of Game 2, Cubs relievers were pushed into duty at the drop of a hat and responded with 5.1 shutout innings to give the team a commanding lead in the series. "I think that's normal in the playoffs," Cubs reliever Mike Montgomery said. "You see guys coming in in the third, fourth inning. It's definitely just how the game goes. They're trying to get the best possible matchups every inning, every batter. There are only a few games in the series, so you have to. "For me, it means I gotta be ready to go in the first inning or the 13th. It's just one of those things where I don't know when I'm gonna pitch, but I'm gonna be ready for any inning and any situation." Montgomery was one of the reliever summoned for that Game 2 performance, allowing only a hit while getting four outs. In Game 3, he entered in the ninth inning and wound up getting 12 outs as the game stretched into extra innings before he gave up the walk-off run in the bottom of the 13th. The Cubs bullpen will be a key factor in the NLCS and Montgomery believes they're up to the challenge. "The bullpen guys have talked about it where we feel like just in baseball in general, it's gonna come down to the bullpen and how the bullpen handles it, how the bullpen goes out there and gets the job done," he said. "We've said - playoff time, you've gotta be ready to go. You gotta get your work in - whatever your routine is, you gotta be ready to go earlier in the games. We're ready for it. "I think we saw that happen and play out in games the last series and throughout the playoffs. We'll be ready for it." -- CSNChicago.com Dodgers Expect Closer Kenley Jansen To Be Available For Game 1 Of NLCS Vs. Cubs By JJ Stankevitz

After throwing a career high 51 pitches in Game 5 of the National League Division Series Thursday, Los Angeles Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen is expected to be available out of the bullpen for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Saturday, manager Dave Roberts said. “It wasn’t the arm, it was more the legs that were really fatigued,” Roberts said of All-Star right-hander. “He uses his lower half very well. I think for me, just right now, I expect him available. But we’ll see more after he goes out there and throws today.” Roberts said it’s unlikely he’d use Jansen for more than an inning, but would know more about the 29-year-old’s status before Saturday’s game. Jansen entered Game 5 of the NLDS against the Washington Nationals in a high-leverage situation in the bottom of the seventh with a runner on first and the Dodgers clinging to a one-run lead. His strikeout of Anthony Rendon to end the seventh, with runners on second and third, was the game’s third highest-leverage moment only behind the two outs Clayton Kershaw recorded to clinch the series in the ninth. Jansen averaged 14.1 pitches per appearance in 2016 and last threw more than 29 pitches July 10 against the San Diego Padres, the final game before the All-Star break. Jansen finished the 2016 season with 3.2 WAR (FanGraphs), tied for the highest total for a relief pitchers since Aroldis Chapman and Craig Kimbrel each racked up 3.3 WAR in 2012. Over 71 games spanning 68 2/3 innings, Jansen converted 47 of his 53 save opportunities and racked up 104 strikeouts against only 11 walks and four home runs. He allowed one run in three innings with two saves against the Cubs in 2016. -- CSNChicago.com Dodgers To Start Kenta Maeda In Game 1, Likely Clayton Kershaw In Game 2 Of NLCS Vs. Cubs By JJ Stankevitz Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said right-hander Kenta Maeda will start Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the Cubs on Saturday, and hinted at — but didn’t outright say — left-handed ace Clayton Kershaw will start Game 2 at Wrigley Field on Sunday. “All I know right now is that we’re going to start Kenta Maeda Game 1,” Roberts said. When asked about Kershaw’s availability after he recorded the final two outs in Game 5 of the National League Division Series Thursday against the Washington Nationals, Roberts said the three-time National League Cy Young winner felt fine following his first relief appearance since 2009. “Clayton came through well,” Roberts said. “His teammates were really excited that he got the last two outs of that game. Physically, he feels great. He’s going to go out there and get a lift in and throw and run and do what he does. So obviously we’re not prepared to make that decision yet, but he’s tracking to start when we all think.” Maeda will face Cubs' left-hander Jon Lester in Game 1 and Kershaw, if he indeed starts Game 2, will face right-hander Kyle Hendricks. The 28-year-old Maeda started 32 games for the Dodgers in his first major league season this year, totaling a 3.48 ERA with 50 walks, 179 strikeouts and 20 home runs allowed over 175 2/3 innings. In Game 3 of the NLDS, Maeda allowed four runs on five hits with two walks, four strikeouts and a home run in only three innings. Maeda faded a bit down the stretch, posting a 4.25 ERA in 14 second-half starts after a strong 2.95 mark in his first 18 games. He last threw seven or more innings July 10, his final start before the All-Star break.

Game 1 will be Maeda’s first start against the Cubs in his career, though the eight-year veteran of the Hiroshima Carp in the Japan Centra League said he no longer sees positives or negatives from facing a team for the first time. "They have pretty good momentum, so what I’m going to try to do is stop the momentum," Maeda said through a translator. "… Whether it’s going to be an advantage for me facing these guys for the first time, to be honest, I don’t think at this point anymore it’s going to be an advantage or disadvantage." -- Chicago Tribune Way NLCS with Dodgers setting up looks perfect for the Cubs, but … By Paul Sullivan The moon and stars seem to be aligned for the Cubs in their quest to get to their first World Series since 1945. They sneaked past the Giants in the National League Division Series without much offense to speak of, and will face a Dodgers team in the National League Championship Series that's still recovering from an emotional five-game NLDS triumph over the Nationals. The Cubs are a year older and a bit wiser than they were last year, when the Mets swept them in the NLCS. And they still have that chip on their shoulder after an embarrassing performance. "It left a bitter taste in guys' mouths as far as how far we had come last season and to get to that point, and then really not put up a fight," said Jon Lester, who is to face Kenta Meada in Game 1 of the NLCS. The last time the Cubs faced the Dodgers in the postseason also ended up without much of a fight. The Cubs business operations department invited a Greek Orthodox priest to spread holy water in the home dugout before Game 1 to remove the "curse" that general manager Jim Hendry and manager Lou Piniella took pains to say did not exist. The Cubs promptly were swept in three games. Rev. Jim Greanias, the designated holy water spreader, said Friday he will be in attendance at Wrigley for Game 1, but only as a fan. "I don't think security would let me in with the holy water," he cracked. "I may be on a watch list." A Cubs source with access to the pre-game ceremonies guaranteed there would be no repeat of the holy water incident. So the Cubs will have to win it without any extraneous karma, just as they have done all year. "They're a solid team from what I understand," Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw said, tongue firmly embedded in cheek. From what we have heard in Chicago, Kershaw is also solid as well. Though he missed part of the summer with back issues, Kershaw went 12-4 with a 1.69 ERA, 172 strikeouts and 11 walks, one of which was intentional. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hinted Kershaw may be able to start in Game 2 on Sunday after starting on Tuesday in Game 4 of the division series, and then retiring the final two hitters to close out Game 5 Thursday. "Obviously we're not prepared to make that decision yet," Roberts said. "But he's tracking to start when we all think."

Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who deftly outmaneuvered Giants counterpart Bruce Bochy in the ninth inning of Game 4, has a new challenge in Roberts. Like Maddon, Roberts is an unconventional thinker who isn't afraid to kick over the chess board. Roberts said closer Kenly Jansen would be available for Game 1 despite being brought in during the seventh inning and throwing 51 pitches in Game 5. "I'd be interested to see — they won the war — but the effect on Jansen and Kershaw when they get to Chicago," Nationals manager Dusty Baker said after the loss to the Dodgers. That may sounds like sour grapes, but Baker's point was the Dodgers may have overtaxed their two most valuable pitchers unnecessarily to get past the Nats. We soon will find out if either or both can rebound without coming up for air. This postseason has seen more outside-the-box bullpen moves than any in recent memory. Maddon said it always has been that way, but is just being played up more. "It would be much more difficult to be consistently successful by moving people around that often and having them throw that much," Maddon said. "However, this time of the year is a different animal, and I think that I get it. It's the way it should be." Lester, one of the best left-handers in the game, is coming off eight shutout innings in the Cubs 1-0 victory over the Giants in Game 1 of the NLDS. The Cubs also have three lefties in their bullpen in Mike Montgomery, Travis Wood and closer Aroldis Chapman, and could add a fourth for the NLCS in Rob Zastryzny, who threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings Aug. 27 at Los Angeles. Against lefties, the Dodgers ranked dead last in the majors in hitting (.213), on-base percentage (.290) and slugging percentage (.332). "The so-called (criticism) they don't hit lefties good, I've heard that," Cubs catcher David Ross said. "It doesn't matter. They still won. That's their take on it, too. Jon threw well (in Game 1) and I expect him to throw well Saturday." The Cubs should be geeked up after their come-from-behind victory in Game 4, and are used to playing in this atmosphere. "Getting through that first series, there was a lot of emotion, a lot of high energy, especially on the road at (AT&T Park)," said Kyle Hendricks, the Game 2 starter. "And the crowd here at Wrigley, honestly, we caught some games during the regular season that were just as loud as we're getting in the playoffs." The Cubs are treating it like just another day at the ballpark, as they have done all year long. -- Chicago Tribune Albert Almora Jr. thrilled father finally gets to meet grandson By Paul Skrbina Albert Almora Jr. is a proud son. The "Jr." on the back of his uniform is a hint at that. The Cubs rookie outfielder also is a proud father of a boy, A.J., who was born Aug. 18. On Friday night, the eve of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, plans called for Almora's worlds to collide.

His father, who has prostate cancer, was to meet his grandson for the first time. And Almora Jr. planned to be there to watch. The younger Almora said his father has seen A.J. on Facetime. "But it's not the same," he said Friday before the Cubs' workout at Wrigley Field. Almora Jr. said his parents were to arrive Friday night on a trip more about family than baseball, even though Almora and the Cubs begin the NLCS against the Dodgers on Saturday night at Wrigley Field. "The first thing I had in mind was my dad getting to meet my son," Almora Jr. said. "It wasn't about him coming to the game. "If he's up for it, he'll have a ticket. If he wants to stay at the apartment and be with the baby and watch it on TV, I'll be more than happy with that." Travel can be difficult and uncomfortable for Almora Sr., who earlier this year traveled to Chicago but felt too weak he couldn't leave his hotel room to watch his son play at Wrigley after he arrived. Almora Jr., who wasn't a lock to make the Cubs' NL Division Series roster, proved management made the right decision in keeping him active when he made a diving catch in right field that turned into a double play and preserved a tie in the ninth inning of Game 3 against the Giants. The Cubs lost that game 6-5. But Almora, who entered the game as a part of a double switch, proved his mettle in a place three-time Gold Glove winner Jason Heyward usually roams. "Albert is a really good outfielder," manager Joe Maddon said. "So you probably don't feel as good about making that move if you have to with somebody else going in the game, but with Albert going in the game I felt good about it." Almora greeted his postseason uncertainty with professionalism. He said he would be the team's biggest cheerleader if he didn't make the roster. His part, he said, was whatever the Cubs asked him to do. "It was simple, even in the regular season," he said. "I knew what my role was — that's coming in to try to prevent a run from scoring, coming in to pinch hit, moving a runner over or getting him in. "I don't try to overthink it. Now I'm just here to help." And see his father meet his son. -- Chicago Tribune Look for Cubs to add left-hander as they and Dodgers weigh roster decisions By Mark Gonzales It came as no surprise Friday when Cubs manager Joe Maddon announced Kyle Hendricks would follow Game 1 starter Jon Lester in the National League Championship Series, followed by Jake Arrieta and John Lackey. Now the Cubs and Dodgers must finalize their 25-man rosters by 10 a.m. Saturday, with the Cubs probably adding a left-handed pitcher at the expense of a position player to neutralize the Dodgers' plethora of left-handed hitters. The Dodgers batted .213 against lefties, .264 mark against right-handers. Rookie lefty Rob Zastryzny, who threw 3 2/3 innings of one-hit ball at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 27, said he's ready if called upon.

"I looked at their lineup. I watched (Game 5 of the NL Division Series)," he said. "I have thrown against them before." Hendricks, meanwhile, said his right forearm felt fine after he threw a bullpen session and he will start Game 2 Sunday night. He took a line drive on it in Game 2 of the NLDS. "No discomfort," Hendricks said. "It's sore to the touch, just a bruise. But that's really it. It doesn't affect anything when I'm throwing." Manager Dave Roberts said his Dodgers are likely to add a pitcher and carry 13 on their roster. Bring it on: Cubs catcher David Ross isn't reading too much into fatigue entering the NLCS, "I don't put a whole lot of stock on who has pitched on short rest," he said. "Everyone on the field this time of year is talented." Roberts said closer Kenley Jansen might be available for one inning Saturday after throwing 51 pitches Thursday in the NLDS clincher over the Nationals. Follow the leader: Javier Baez said he approached Ben Zobrist a few times during the regular season for guidance and watched videotape of his play at various positions to help him similar versatility. Baez came up through the Cubs' system as a shortstop before moving around the infield and recently has settled in at second base. Baez said second base currently is his best position but it took some time for him to be sold on the position. "Once you fall in love with shortstop, it's hard to come out of it," Baez said. "(But) it's baseball, and you have to understand what's going on." -- Chicago Tribune Joe Maddon-Andrew Friedman relationship adds compelling subplot to NLCS By David Haugh If they introduced the front-office executives of the Cubs and Dodgers before Saturday night's Game 1 of the National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field, nobody would deserve a bigger round of applause from the home crowd than Dodgers President Andrew Friedman. Without Friedman going to Los Angeles, after all, Joe Maddon never would have come to Chicago. And would the Cubs or the Dodgers be playing for the pennant now without either man in their organizations? Perhaps the Dodgers could have spent their way into the NLCS again but, chances are, the Cubs still would be asking for directions if Maddon hadn't taken advantage of a contract loophole Friedman inadvertently opened. Two years ago Friday, the Dodgers lured Friedman away from the Rays after nine good years as Maddon's boss with a five-year, $35 million contract that made him baseball's highest-paid executive. "The age he is (39) and getting a chance to go to a market like that, and knowing how much he wanted to do something like that, it was a perfect fit,'' Maddon recalled Friday before the Cubs' NLCS workout. Unbeknownst to Maddon at the time Friedman left, agent Alan Nero had inserted language in his contract with the Rays that provided him options if Friedman departed. Maddon had one year remaining on his contract when Nero called to inform him of the fine print. "That opt-out kicked in with him leaving,'' Maddon said.

According to the clause, Maddon had two weeks to decide whether to become a free-agent manager or stay with the Rays. The chance to gauge his worth intrigued Maddon, one of the league's most underpaid managers with the Rays at $2 million. Everything was happening so fast. Dave Wills, the Rays radio play-by-play voice since 2004, recalled seeing Friedman at Amalie Arena in Tampa for the Lightning's NHL home opener, five days before he officially exited, texting furiously in the next section. "I joked with Andrew, 'Who did we trade for now?''' Wills said over the phone. "Two minutes later, I sit down and see on my phone the story broke in the (Tampa Bay) Times that the Dodgers were pursuing him. I was like, uh-oh.'' Interest in Friedman was nothing new. One of the game's brightest minds since becoming Rays general manager in 2005 at age 29, Friedman previously had fielded offers. He represented the modern-day baseball executive, committed to analytics yet capable of charming people with intellectual curiosity. That combination appealed to Rays owner Stuart Sternberg when he hired Friedman, a Wall Street analyst, at the recommendation of Friedman's high school classmate Matt Silverman, an investment banker who became Rays president. An unorthodox choice as GM, Friedman followed the same out-of-the-box thinking searching for a manager. He and Maddon met at a hotel in Houston during the 2005 World Series between the Astros and the White Sox, who had just eliminated the Angels, the organization Maddon was part of for 31 years. "We hit it off immediately, a lot of commonality,'' Maddon said Friday. "That was the one job I said I would have been disappointed in not getting because I thought the fit was that good.'' Like so many of Maddon's hunches, this one was right too. Despite the difference in age — Maddon is 62, Friedman 39 — the men connected as well as they complemented one another. Whereas Maddon possesses a more uninhibited personality, friends say Friedman exhibits a seriousness beyond his years. In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Maddon once called Friedman the "oldest 34-year-old there is.'' "Andrew deserves credit because he let Joe be Joe,'' Wills said. "How many first-time GMs would let a guy averaging almost 100 losses a year his first two seasons do Miami theme trips or wear football jerseys on the road? But they didn't waver from their process." Their relationship worked because they shared more similarities than differences. They appreciated the value of metrics, data and defensive shifts the cutting-edge Rays practiced. They believed in similar player development philosophies. They both enjoyed sushi, wine and the art of having a good time. "I don't want to say it was a college fraternity feel but we had fun,'' said Wills, a frequent dinner companion on road trips. "If you weren't crying because of laughter by the time you left, it wasn't a good night.'' Emotions around Tampa sunk when news spread that Friedman was going Hollywood with the Dodgers. Word that Maddon might follow Friedman out of town numbed a community suddenly facing the loss of the two men most responsible for four playoff appearances and a 2008 World Series berth despite a small-market payroll. "On a scale of 1 to 10, Joe leaving after Andrew left was an 8,'' Wills said. "But when Andrew left, it was a 25 out of 10 because of his long, close partnership with ownership.'' As the Rays dealt with organizational shock, the Cubs eyed opportunity. Privately, team officials identified Maddon as a key to accelerating their plan if he decided to void his contract. Searching for clarity, Maddon and his wife, Jaye, took off in his 43-foot RV. But before deciding anything, Maddon wanted to give the Rays a fair chance to renegotiate his deal. Reports say the team upped its offer to $3 million per season. Maddon countered with a higher number. When the Rays came back with their final proposal and Maddon found unacceptable, one of baseball's most eclectic marriages was over.

In a statement, the Rays announced Maddon wouldn't return in 2015 and Silverman said he was "surprised by it and disappointed.'' Silverman declined an interview request from the Tribune this week through a Rays spokesman. One source said the subject of Friedman and Maddon leaving the organization within 10 days of each other two years ago remains a sore spot. With Maddon on the market, Cubs President Theo Epstein pounced; firing Rick Renteria and signing Maddon to a five-year, $25 million deal. After a six-month investigation, Major League Baseball found no evidence the deal violated its tampering rule. You can find proof of progress everywhere on the Cubs. Maddon brought legitimacy to an organization lacking it and now manages the best team in baseball. Meanwhile, Friedman has made similar impact with the Dodgers in a short time, competing now but still planning for later, taking a similar approach to holding onto young talent such as shortstop Corey Seager and stockpiling veteran depth. Friedman also hired Dave Roberts, demonstrating he still has good taste in managers. As a result, the Cubs' opponent in the NLCS looks very familiar to an old friend. "I watch their games and I can see the methods involved and understand where the information is coming from and how it's generated,'' Maddon said. "I'm really happy for his success.'' Everybody on the North Side should be, considering what it helped create for the Cubs. -- Chicago Tribune Cubs hope their methods more successful than ballyhooed 'Dodger Way' By Mark Gonzales The "Dodger Way" started 62 years ago with an emphasis on fundamentals and concentrating on pitching, speed and defense. But the Dodgers haven't won a World Series since 1988. As for the "Cubs Way," President Theo Epstein's blueprint for success started shortly after his hiring and subsequent overhaul of the ballclub in 2012 with the franchise needing eight more victories to snap a World Series drought dating back to 1908. "I think everyone has a 'way' these days, the Cardinals way, the Dodgers way," said Cubs catcher David Ross, who started his career in the Dodgers organization in 1998. "I just like the winning way, whatever that is." The "winning way" will come to the fore in this best-of-seven National League Championship Series starting Saturday night at Wrigley Field. The matchup pits the Dodgers and their collection of mercurial stars against the trendy Cubs who started to ascend last season thanks to the blossoming of homegrown talent. "Each team has different priorities in how they go about winning," said Ross, 39, who was sold from the Dodgers to the Pirates before the 2005 season. "But there has been a lot of turnover since I was there." There's a sense of urgency on both sides. For the injury-riddled Dodgers, they traded three top prospects to the Athletics to acquire left-hander Rich Hill and left-handed hitting outfielder Josh Reddick at the Aug. 1 trade deadline and they later added seasoned catcher Carlos Ruiz. They also haven't ruled out starting mega-ace Clayton Kershaw, who threw 110 pitches on Tuesday and seven more in two-thirds of an inning Thursday night, in Game 2 on Sunday night.

"Physically, he feels great," manager Dave Roberts said before Kershaw headed to the visitors weight room for a workout. "We're not prepared to make that decision yet, but he's tracking to start when we all think." The Dodgers' last World Series title occurred nearly a year before Cubs left-hander Mike Montgomery was born. Montgomery grew up 30 minutes north of Dodger Stadium and recalled celebrating his fifth birthday there. He said he still follows the franchise. "I wasn't a die-hard Dodgers fan," said Montgomery, who followed the Angels as well. "I know they have a new front office. They've put together some good teams the past two years." But it wasn't good enough for manager Don Mattingly, who "mutually departed" to join the Marlins after an NL West title in 2015. Moreover, about 30 scouts and player development staffers were fired last season and more scouts were let go recently. Cubs President Theo Epstein is reluctant to talk about how he brought his plan to fruition but he spoke fondly of the people involved when he took over and those who joined the organization later. They came together to carry out top management's vision for the organization on and off the field. "You have to remember where you came from," Epstein said of his experiences with the Padres and Red Sox. "Some things have gone well. Some things haven't gone according to plan. But the people who have been here from the beginning have made a huge impact, and the people who joined along the way and care so much, united by a common vision, it's cool to see. "You look at the field in the postseason. Every single player has multiple scouts who recommended him, development people who impacted careers in a positive way, and analytics guys behind the scenes recommended someone or a tweak in an approach. "It's gratifying to see how many people contributed." -- Chicago Tribune Rookie manager Dave Roberts perfect fit with Dodgers By Chris Kuc Cubs manager Joe Maddon knows he can't outsmart Dodgers counterpart Dave Roberts during the National League Championship Series — when it comes to fermented grapes. "He knows wine much better than I do," Maddon said during the Cubs' workout under Friday's sunny sky at Wrigley Field. "Don't even consider me a wine expert compared to this guy." Roberts, after all, is a partner in a California winery. But of more importance is how the two match up in their respective dugouts during the best-of-seven series that begins with Game 1 on Saturday night. That could go a long way toward determining which team advances. While Maddon has been a major-league manager for 13 seasons, Roberts is in his first season at the helm and has guided the Dodgers to within a step of the Series. The 44-year-old's handling of a team that has had its share of adversity this season belies his relative inexperience at the helm. "I have a lot of great people around me and for me it's about coaching and teaching," Roberts said. "I pride myself on being a lifelong learner. I think Joe is a guy we obviously all know and respect as an out-of-the-box thinker, forward-thinker and he loves players and people. We're aligned a lot in certain things." The mutual admiration society goes both ways.

"(Roberts) is very bright, engaging, gregarious —he has all those different qualities," Maddon said. "He's obviously a quick study, too, the way he has picked up this managerial thing. I'm a big fan. He and I had a great conversation when we had the opportunity and I'm very happy for his success." Roberts also drew praise from Cubs catcher David Ross. The two were teammates with the Dodgers in the early 2000s. "I texted him when they clinched a playoff spot (saying), 'You're just showing the world what I already knew: you're a winning person and a winning guy,'" said Ross, who also texted congratulations to Roberts after the Dodgers' 4-3 victory over the Nationals in Game 5 of the NLDS on Thursday night. "Winning follows him. Good things happen to good people … and he's that guy. He's a smart baseball man and knows what he's doing." Roberts said he doesn't specifically pattern his style after anyone's, instead crediting the Dodgers organization for his smooth transition into the managerial ranks. "It's more internal," Roberts said. "(It is from) the discussions that we have had since the day I was hired and talking about our personnel and thoughts about how we feel it's best to manage the pen and the roster." -- Chicago Tribune For Javier Baez, making acrobatic tags is 'just natural' By Chris Kuc Ben Zobrist says it is the quickest he has ever seen. And often it is the most acrobatic. Javier Baez is a human highlight reel when it comes to applying tags, an underrated but important defensive skill that can defuse rallies and alter the outcomes of games. And there's a surprising reason Baez is so good at it. "Because I'm a lefty," the Cubs infielder said. "I write lefty, I eat lefty, I even can hit lefty. With that on my glove side, I have really quick hands. I let the ball travel, and as soon as I catch it, my hand goes down to the tag." As a young boy in Puerto Rico, Baez was a left-handed-hitting and -throwing outfielder while his brothers, Gadiel and Rolando, were playing in the dirt of the infield. "Everybody was an infielder and I was an outfielder, and they made me play short," Baez said. So Baez swapped his left-handed glove for a right-handed one, and the change led to a rise up the baseball ranks. Baez was a switch hitter in high school, but while batting from the left side during his junior year, "I swung and missed once and I hurt my back, and I couldn't swing for like two weeks." That resulted in a permanent move to the right side of the batter's box. While his hitting helped the Cubs to the best regular-season record in the majors, it is his fielding that has at times been a difference-maker. Since the implementation of the instant-replay system in 2014, the uncertainty of close tag plays — which account for 40 percent of all replay challenges — has all but been erased. At the same time, it has changed the way infielders play the game.

"Tagging has gotten different because you have to keep it there a little bit longer," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "Normally you've been taught to get it in and get it out — that was always the method … just to indicate that (a tag) was there. But now with the cameras and the replays, you can't just get it in and get it out. You have to make sure you swipe the guy and actually hit him." In the past, if a throw beat the runner, the call would often automatically go to the infielder regardless of whether a tag had been made. With replay, contact has to be made, and infielders are changing their positioning when taking throws and getting their gloves on runners. "You used to be taught to let the ball go as far as possible and then drop it on the runner, whereas now it might be even more advantageous to direct the ball in front of the bag and get the guy on the leg," Cubs infielder Ben Zobrist said. "Because you're still getting him before he gets to the bag, but it's pretty conclusive on the video that you got him. It used to be like, 'Oh, no, he got his hand in there.' You couldn't tell before, but now that they've got replay, you figure out every time who is out and who is safe." Replay has had a large role in tag plays, with the number of challenges having risen every season since 2014. According to BaseballSavant, a website maintained by Major League Baseball, 430 tag plays in 2014 were reviewed, and 209 were overturned (48.6 percent). In '15 there were 558 challenges, with 253 overturned (45.3 percent). This season 598 tag plays were challenged, and 295 were overturned (49.3 percent). While some runners may benefit from replay in that they won't automatically be called out if the throw beats them to the bag, infielders can now get calls if a runner loses contact with the bag at any point. In Saturday's Game 2 of the National League Division Series, for instance, Baez led off the sixth inning with a fly off the left-field wall. But he was slow out of the box, and as he slid across second, Giants second baseman Joe Panik applied and maintained his tag. The call on the field was safe, but the Giants challenged the call, and replay showed that Baez did lose contact with the base. The call was overturned, and Baez was out. "You don't want to be quick in and quick out now with the replay because if they slide over the bag and come off it and you keep that glove on there, they might call him out," Cubs shortstop Addison Russell said. "They may be coming in hard at second, and you just have to remember to keep that tag on them." Added Cubs catcher Miguel Montero: "With a play at the plate he's coming and it's a little bit too quick, so you try to keep the tag on, but normally it is a boom-boom play at the plate. And if it's not boom-boom, he's out by a mile. "But we talk about it, keep the tag a little bit longer in case they come off the bag because, believe it or not, they normally come off the bag some way or somehow. I don't know how, but they do, and instant replay will see it." The Cubs practice getting tags down during spring training by using a ball machine that launches them to the base. "Some guys want to straddle the bag and some guys want to be in front of the bag, which helps prevent a bad throw by being more in control of the play," Maddon said. "Believe it or not, some guys are really not good at that." In a sport in which each base and out can be the difference between, say, winning a World Series every 108 years or not, that skill could come in handy. Said Maddon: "We have good taggers on this team, and that matters, man." -- Chicago Sun-Times Can Cubs stop Roberts from stealing another October upset? By Gordon Wittenmyer

The man once acquired by Theo Epstein to swipe what became the most famous stolen base in history is now the manager trying to steal away Epstein’s latest shot at the World Series. And maybe literally – if Dave Roberts’ Dodgers can get the right guys on base against the Cubs’ Jon Lester and take advantage of Lester’s troubles throwing to bases in Saturday’s opener of the National League Championship Series. “I thought about that at their place,” said Cubs catcher David Ross of the Cubs’ 1-0 loss to the Dodgers the last time Lester faced them, in the teams’ last meeting Aug. 28. “He’ll try to run the guys that can run. They don’t have a whole lot of team speed. But the guys that do run you’re going to have to be aware.” Ross, who broke into the big leagues with Roberts as a veteran mentor with the Dodgers, calls the first-year Dodger manager one of the smartest teammates he’s had. And he was aware enough of Roberts’ guile that after the first batter against Lester reached on a walk in that August game, Ross tried to pick Howie Kendrick off first – only to have the throw get past Anthony Rizzo for a two-base error. “They’re going to be ready,” Ross said. “They’re going to take advantage of every small detail.” Anybody who doesn’t believe Roberts has the brass to get aggressive against Lester – or anything else the Cubs put in his way in the best-of-seven series – didn’t watch him bring his closer into Thursday’s Game 5 in Washington, squeeze 51 pitches out of Kenley Jansen, then bring Clayton Kershaw in to get the final two outs of the NLDS clincher. “It’s so unpredictable, and you never know how it’s going to play out,” Roberts said even before Thursday during a discussion about small moments and sequences making big waves in postseason series. Epstein, the Cubs president, made more prominent acquisitions than Roberts as the Red Sox general manager that paid off during Boston’s curse-busting fall of 2004 alone. But when Epstein talks about the smaller, detailed moves he has made over the years to put playoff rosters together, the Roberts trade that summer easily is his all-time favorite. “For sure, it was,” he said. Roberts’ stolen base as a pinch runner in the ninth inning of that elimination Game 4 against the Yankees in the ALCS that year turned into the tying run of a game the Sox won in extra innings – the turning point as the Red Sox overcame a 3-0 series deficit to win in seven games and go on to their first title since Babe Ruth wore red. “Every roster is constructed with a purpose, and you never know,” said Roberts, who might win the Manager of the Year award this year because of what he has done with an injury-ravaged roster already during the regular season. “With what Theo did in 2004, to change the defensive dynamic, to get a speed player, and to get a left-handed reliever, and all these things that he did, he was mindful of every situation. “And a lot of times in those series, that can ultimately change a series and win baseball games.” Sometimes even championships. “In this game where runs are such a premium,” Roberts said, “whether it’s a defensive play not made or a stolen base that you can get, I think that it just shows that some small plays or acquisitions can ultimately turn out big.” In that game against Lester in August, by the way, the Dodgers won 1-0 on a one-out error in the ninth, followed by a two-out mental mistake on a throwing decision. Little things. Epstein found no Roberts-like speed guy on the summer trade market this year for the Cubs. But he already has an athletic mix of young and veteran players.

So he added to a thin lefty relief corps with Mike Montgomery and even closer Aroldis Chapman – in part with an eye toward potential playoff opponents such as the heavily left-hitting Dodgers. And don’t be surprised if rookie Rob Zastryzny – who shut down the Dodgers in a long relief appearance in August – is on the NLCS roster announced Friday morning. “You want to start with a vision of a championship team in your mind and then work backwards from that,” Epstein said. “And think of all the things that could derail it and then try to mitigate as many of those potential obstacles as you can.” Who knew in 2004 that 12 years later one of those October obstacles for Epstein would be Roberts. “They’ll be prepared,” Ross said of Roberts and his underdog core of veteran hitters and electric young pitching. “They’ve got guys that are proven winners and are going to take advantage of every avenue they can.” -- Chicago Sun-Times Cubs’ Maddon on pressure: ‘Run toward it — it’s a good thing’ By Steve Greenberg OK, Cubs fans: It’s time to panic. Wait, that came out all wrong. But the NLCS is here, and it has only meant calamity and devastation in the past. Will this be the end of the road like it was in 1984, 1989, 2003 and 2015? If so, won’t it be the most painful Cubs defeat of them all? The collapses of ’84 and ’03 were agonizing. The butt-kickings in ’89 and ’15 were demoralizing. This time, though? We all know it’s different. These Cubs have belonged in the World Series since April. Losing this NLCS to the Dodgers would be the mother of all Chicago sports sob stories. Oh, the humanity. Good lord, the pressure. Maybe the Cubs don’t have to win their first World Series since 1908, but approximately the entire free world expects them to at least get there for the first time since 1945. A whole lot of history is riding on this thing, as you may have gathered by now. “We don’t care about the last time the Cubs won,” shortstop Addison Russell said. “We just want to get it done. Hopefully, we’ll get it done and have some fun. We want to make new history.” Say this for the 2016 Cubs: If they have a panic button, no one seems to know where it is. How else can you explain their crazy comeback to close out the Giants in San Francisco? It was clutch. It was courageous. It was off-the-charts impressive. More than one player has said last year’s team wouldn’t have been able to pull it off. So there has been growth to go with all that talent and all the good-time vibes, and what it adds up to should inspire confidence in anyone who is hoping to see the Cubs knock off a good — but not great — opponent in the Dodgers. Cubs fans are confident. Many of them, having learned to expect the worst, are scared to death anyway. Fortunately, that’s just not how manager Joe Maddon and his team roll.

“Listen, if you hear the word ‘pressure,’ you’ve got to run toward it,” Maddon said. “That’s a good thing. That means we’re good and something good is attached to it.” Maddon has been laying that rap on players since his earliest coaching days. “Embrace the target” may have been a slogan for 2016, but conceptually it has been rattling around in Maddon’s brain for 30 years or longer. He asked his ballyhooed team at the start of spring training: Why would you ever want to be in a situation where there’s no pressure and expectations? Going into a season without those things means you’re going to finish in fourth or fifth place. Eight months later, here the Cubs are — having been a cut above the rest of baseball for nearly an entire season. They can’t lose this series, can thay? They’d better not. “It’s fuel, man. Why would you not want that?” Maddon said. “That’s baseball fossil fuel right there — expectations and pressure.” The Dodgers probably feel like bit players in this drama, and that’s because they kind of are. The Cubs are the darlings of baseball and have been since they shot out of the gate with a 17-5 April. There probably are a good number of players around the league who’d like to see an opponent — any opponent — take the Cubs down a peg. For the Cubs, it only adds to the weight of the moment. Not that they have any problem with that. “We’re ready to go,” catcher Willson Contreras said. “Don’t count us out,” Russell said. No need to panic yet. -- Chicago Sun-Times This time around, it seems that luck is with the Cubs By Dan McGrath I’m sure I’ll type “Nationals” a few times as I write this. It’s not that I expected them to oppose the Cubs in the National League Championship Series, but in this line of work, you root for the story, and the prospect of Dusty Baker returning to try to right what had gone so terribly wrong for him in Chicago was surely an enticing plot line. Dusty, though, just can’t get the hang of those elimination games, so it’s Dave Roberts who’s here, in his first year as a big-league skipper with the Los Angeles Dodgers and not one to shrink from a moment. While the Premier Division among major-league managers —Buck Showalter, Bruce Bochy, even sainted Joe Maddon — drew criticism for some questionable bullpen decisions in the last week, Roberts pulled off the most brazen move of the postseason and got away with it. With the Dodgers holding a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning of their series-deciding game with the Nationals, Roberts went to bringer-of-heat Kenley Jansen for 2 ⅓ scoreless innings requiring 51 pitches — an unheard-of workload for a modern-day closer. His choice to get the final two outs was staff ace Clayton Kershaw, who’d thrown 110 pitches over seven innings of the Dodgers’ Game 4 victory one day earlier. “Using a closer early is really not outside the box,” Roberts said Friday. “It makes sense.” And it’s one reason the Dodgers moved on to face a Cubs team that is better than even money to end a 108-year stretch of well-documented futility. The Cubs are the dominant narrative of the postseason thus far, with every one of their games drawing a prime-time TV slot.

“I went through that with the Red Sox in ’04,” Roberts said. “It seemed like the whole country was rooting for us. It doesn’t affect us.” Curse enthusiasts and others inclined to see the hand of the occult at work on Cub fortunes should note one essential difference this year: Things that used to happen to the Cubs are now happening for the Cubs. Two examples from the recent series against the San Francisco Giants: Kris Bryant’s game-tying homer in the ninth inning of Game 3 left the ballpark by roughly a fingernail. Brandon Crawford’s blast in the fifth inning of Game 4 stayed in the yard by approximately the same margin. The hit went for a double, and Crawford eventually scored, as did Hunter Pence after going first to third on the play. The inning ended with the Giants ahead 5-2, as they would have been if Crawford’s ball had reached the seats. But late homers in big games carry a special cachet. The Cubs would have felt more damaged, the Giants more defiant, as Crawford circled the bases. The next day brought a vivid flashback to Oct. 14, 2003. Eighth inning, one out, Game 6, National League Championship Series, Cubs 3, Marlins 0 at Wrigley Field. We all know the story: Between the time that luckless fan made an ill-advised lunge for a foul ball and notorious Luis Castillo popped out to the end the inning, the Marlins parlayed two singles, two doubles, three walks, a wild pitch and a botched double-play grounder into eight runs. Five outs away from the World Series, the Cubs’ season effectively ended. That’s as close as they’ve been to the Series in the 71 years since they played in it. They were perpetrators rather than victims in a similar scenario this year, thanks to a truly bad Giants bullpen. Bruce Bochy decided 120 pitches over eight sparkling innings was enough for Game 4 starter Matt Moore, who had handcuffed the Cubs on two hits. They matched that total three batters into the ninth and surpassed it after four as each of the five relievers Bochy tried failed him — they couldn’t get three outs. Three singles, a double, a walk and a throwing error later, the Cubs were NLCS-bound. Their celebration was as much about relief as jubilation. They did not want to face Johnny Cueto in a Game 5, with Madison Bumgarner and the Giants’ postseason pedigree behind him. The Dodgers, though, were better than their NL West rivals in the regular season. And they’re old hands at this, in the postseason for the fourth straight year. Their lefty-leaning lineup leaves them vulnerable to left-handed pitching, but they usually scratch out enough runs to win, and Roberts’ handling of his bullpen has been flawless. Yet there’s something in the air around Wrigley. Cubs in five. -- Chicago Sun-Times Roberts expects Jansen ready for Game 1, Kershaw for Game 2 By Daryl Van Schouwen The Dodgers could have used an extra day of rest after that marathon nine-inning victory over the Washington Nationals. All-Star closer Kenley Jansen’s legs were sore the day after he threw a career high 51 pitches before letting Clayton Kershaw finish off the Nats. But manager Dave Roberts expects Jansen (1.83 ERA, 47 saves) to be available for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Kershaw, who started Games 1 and 4 (on three days rest) before playing Superman and recording the final two outs in Game 5 of the NLDS, was not officially announced for Game 2 of the NLCS but Roberts implied Kershaw will get the nod against Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks. “Clayton came through well,’’ Roberts said. “He and his teammates were really excited he got the last two outs of that game. Physically, he feels great.

“He’s tracking to start when we all think.’’ As for Jansen, he told Roberts his arm was fine but his legs were “really fatigued.’’ “He uses his lower half really well,’’ Roberts said. “So for me, just right now, I expect him available.’’ But likely not for more than one inning, Roberts said, and probably only in a ninth-inning save situation. Former Cub Rich Hill, 36, and 20-year-old rookie Julio Urias, who shined in relief against the Nationals in Game 5, are the best bets to pitch Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles against Jake Arrieta and John Lackey, respectively. In that event, the Dodgers would be sending three straight lefties against the Cubs after Game 1 starting right-hander Kenta Maeda, who will start on regular rest against Jon Lester. Maeda pitched only three innings against the Nats in Game 3 of the NLDS. The Cubs have never faced Maeda and Hill and did not face Kershaw this season, which could bode well for the Dodgers. The Cubs slashed .185/.239/.308 against Giants lefties in the NLDS and have had trouble with Dodgers left-handers this year. The Dodgers’ caught the Cubs’ attention this year, prompting Ben Zobrist to say after a 1-0 loss on Aug. 28 that they would be a tough postseason matchup because of “all the lefties they have.” “We have to do a better job against lefties overall,” Zobrist said at the time. “Figuring out how to just get more runners on base. We tend to rely on the homer a little bit too much. And in those situations where maybe we’re not as good of a home run hitting team against those guys we have to find a way to take our hits and hit line drives around the park.” “Their pitching, bullpen really match up,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “Significant righties and lefties. They’re good. NOTE: Roberts said he would likely go with 13 pitchers on his roster. -- Chicago Sun-Times Concussions played role in retirement decision for Cubs’ Ross By Gordon Wittenmyer David Ross has talked all year about the feel-good reasons he plans to retire after this postseason run for the Cubs, about devoting more of himself to his wife and young kids, including a toddler. But another, more sobering factor in the decision, the Cubs catcher said Friday, is a growing awareness of the seriousness of his years of shots to the facemask and multiple concussions. “Unless you’ve gone through something like that it’s hard to put into words,” said Ross, the backup who has played huge roles in victories – first defensively and then at the plate – in his two first-round playoff starts. “I really was uneducated about it and didn’t really put a whole lot of stock into it until it happened to me,” he said. “And then you realize how bad that is and how important it is to make sure that gets taken care of.” Ross, who lost more than two months to his most severe concussion with the Red Sox in 2013, also has spent a stretch each of his two seasons with the Cubs on the seven-day concussion DL. “You get hit in the head and get that feeling and it doesn’t go away,” he said, “and you’re annoyed, and you’re just not the same person. It’s nothing you can fake. You’re not a good dad; I’m short with my kids and my wife. And you get seasick riding in a care and can’t be in public places.

“It’s miserable. It’s a nightmare.” Ross works with a charity raising money for concussion research, through the Pittsburgh-based specialist who cared for him in 2013. He only recently began to learn about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the potential long-term concussion-related damage to the brain spotlighted in the Will Smith movie “Concussion.” “I can’t worry about that [now]. I’ve got to worry about the Dodgers lineup,” he said. “I’ve been so blessed and fortunate to have this career, and everything that’s happened to me has made me a better person, whether it’s good or bad. I’ll worry about that stuff when I’m done, at home.” -- Chicago Sun-Times Rookie Zastryzny could be big lefty weapon vs. Dodgers in NLCS By Gordon Wittenmyer Another round of the playoffs, another rookie for the Cubs? That could be the case if the Cubs add an extra bullpen arm to their playoff roster, as expected, for the National League Championship Series against the left-leaning Dodgers lineup. Rob Zastryzny, who impressed as much for his poise as his 1.13 performance in eight appearances after a late-season callup, would join lefties Travis Wood and Mike Montgomery in the expanded pen (along with lefty closer Aroldis Chapman). “If I get the chance, I’m more than ready for it,” said Zastryzny, who retired 11 of the 12 batters he faced in a long-relief appearance at Dodger Stadium Aug. 27 – against a lineup that included lefty hitters Chase Utley, Corey Seager, Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Reddick, Joc Pederson and Andrew Toles. “I felt very comfortable on the mound,” he said. “I watched the [Dodgers’ NLDS clincher Thursday], and I’ve thrown against them before. So it’d be them making adjustments, me making adjustments. They’re a great team.” Zastryzny said Friday he hadn’t been told anything by the team. He also said he didn’t root for the Dodgers, despite what it could mean personally for him. “Because it’s not about me. It’s about the team,” he said. “Things happened the way they happened, and if I get the chance I’ll be more than ready.” Adding Zastryzny likely would mean dropping a lefty bench bat such as Tommy La Stella (one at-bat in NLDS) or Chris Coghlan (who played in three games). Zastryzny would be the fourth rookie on the roster, joining right-hander Carl Edwards Jr., catcher Willson Contreras and outfielder Albert Almora Jr. For starters Cubs manager Joe Maddon proclaimed right-hander Kyle Hendricks’ forearm fit for pitching and announced his NLCS rotation will remain the same as in the NLDS: Jon Lester, Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey. Arrieta, who faced Giants ace Madison Bumgarner in Game 3 of the NLDS, might find himself opposite Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw in this one if the Dodgers play it cautious and push Kershaw back. That could also match them up in a decisive Game 7 on Oct. 23 if the series goes that far. --