If you are a “bottom line” type of person here it is: The Cubs won Game-1 of the 2016 National League Championship Series. That’s it. No ifs, ands or buts and no fluff; just a box score that reads Cubs-8  Dodgers-4.

With one mistake pitch, an 86-MPH hanging slider that Dodgers right-handed reliever Joe Blanton left right over the heart of the plate to Cubs pinch-hitter Miguel Montero on an 0-2 count, the Dodgers yanked defeat from the jaws of victory. It was a hanging slider that Montero absolutely crushed, traveling a distance of 409 feet into the right field bleachers of Wrigley Field.

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(Video capture courtesy of FS1 – Click on image to view video)

But if you are a full-details “just the facts, ma’am” type of person, you see and understand that there is more to this story than just the bottom line … a lot more. There are many take-aways from this game which, as Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise would say, “We have them right where they want us.” Here are several of them:

• The Dodgers would not have even been in the 2016 NLCS were it not for Joe Blanton, who posted a team-best 7-2 record and third-best 2.48 ERA among all Dodger relievers. In fact, it was Blanton who was credited with the win in the NL West Division-clinching game in which Charlie Culberson hit his dramatic 10th-inning walk-off home run on September 25, 2016.
• Dodgers right-hander Pedro Baez pitched two stellar innings of relief in which he allowed no runs and only one hit while striking out three and walking one.
• Dodgers right-hander Ross Stripling pitched one perfect inning of relief needing only 10 pitches to do so.
• The Dodgers hit the ball extremely hard all game long but “right at ’em.” Had even a couple of those hard-hit balls dropped, the outcome would have been significantly different.
• With two outs in the top of the fifth inning and trailing 3-0, Dodgers pinch-hitter Andre Ethier hit an opposite field solo home run to put the Dodgers on the board when many Dodger fans had already given up hope on their team.
• Dodgers rookie outfielder Andrew Toles went 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI even though he didn’t enter the game until the top of the eighth inning. This kid has ice water in his veins.
• With two outs in the top of the eighth inning and the bases loaded, Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez lined a 102-MPH Aroldis Chapman fastball into center field to tie the score at 3-3. In spite of the fact that the Cubs would eventually win the game on Montero’s grand slam, the Dodgers proved that they could get to the guy who many consider the best closer in the game. Although Chapman was eventually credited with the vulture win, he gave up two runs, two hits and a walk in his one inning of relief.
• Even though Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ decision to intentionally walk the bases loaded backfired, by doing so he forced Cubs manager Joe Maddon to pinch-hit for Chapman, thus forcing Chapman out of the game. But for Joe Blanton’s two-out, 0-2 hanging slider, Roberts’ decision was arguably one of the gutsiest and most brilliant managerial decisions ever made in postseason play. In fact, Maddon himself later told reporters that it was absolutely the right move and that he would have done exactly the same thing if he were in that situation.

But alas, the chips landed where they did and for the bottom liners it is what it is. But Cubs fans and, more importantly, the Cubs themselves, saw firsthand the drive, desire and never-say-die resiliency of the Dodgers and their willingness to never quit … ever, regardless of the score and would be best advised to not overlook this proven fact. Bottom liners also need to consider this: It’s called the National League Championship Series, not the National League Championship Game. Also consider that the Dodgers will be sending the best pitcher on the planet to the mound this evening for Game-2 of this best-of-seven series.

Play Ball!