That sound you hear is sobbing in Chicago, where Cubs fans are processing their team's staggering, thirteen-inning loss in last night's wild-card playoff game by venting their spleen on Twitter in ways guaranteed to please every believer in the Colorado Rockies, whose unlikely 2-1 victory was one for the ages.
To put it mildly, the odds were heavily stacked against the Colorado crew, which was forced by Major League Baseball's insanely compressed post-season schedule to travel to two time zones in two days to try and take down legacy squads on their iconic home fields. To make matters worse, the dispiriting way that the Rockies fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, October 1, made a win at Wrigley Field on October 2 that much more difficult to pull off.
The Rockies managed it in large part thanks to pitcher Kyle Freeland, who hurled six and two-thirds innings of scoreless ball on just three days' rest. But even though the Rockies struck first, notching a run in the opening frame by way of a Charlie Blackmon walk, a DJ LeMahieu double and a Nolan Arenado sacrifice fly, maintaining such a narrow advantage proved impossible. In the eighth, the Cubs' Javier Baez doubled in pinch-runner Terrance Gore to knot things up.
At that point, Cubs Nation undoubtedly expected the Rockies to quietly collapse. But, no: The Colorado bullpen kept Chicago off the board in the ninth and on into bonus ball. Finally, during the thirteenth, the Rox got the run they needed courtesy of an unlikely hero, third-string catcher Tony Wolters, and then kept the Cubs quiet during their final at-bat.
Once the last out was recorded and the Rockies' tickets to Milwaukee stamped (they'll take on the quietly powerful Brewers beginning Thursday, October 4), the Cubs faithful went straight to their phones and began tapping out messages of pain and remorse. Count down our picks for the twenty most memorable tweets below.
Number 20:
Man the cubs piss me off so fucking bad
— FroggyHighroller (@ONLY_SMOKIN) October 3, 2018
Number 19:
Piss poor game all around again for the cubs because of more strikeouts than fucking runs!! Its time to clean house and get players in there that hit the ball!!
— Clay Mehl (@ClayMehl) October 3, 2018
Number 18:
Had a day off with the kid in daycare today, so I went to the gym early so I could watch the MLB NL Wildcard game. 5 fucking hours. I’m a big fan of baseball, but 5 hours for a 2-1 score line was brutal. Plus, I had money on the Cubs, who played like shit and lost.
— Todd Warren (@tripp299) October 3, 2018
Number 17:
Yeah, just realized it will be seven fucking months until the Cubs play again. I’ll know how Game of Thrones ends before I see the Cubs play another meaningful game. pic.twitter.com/hi70BTERGP
— Nick Vaughn Thompson (@nvthompson) October 3, 2018
Number 16:
It just sucks that the cubs even had to play tiebreaker and wildcard. Both sadly ended in heartbreak.
— Sarah (@sarah052794) October 3, 2018
Number 15:
The world can rest now #cubssuck https://t.co/dIiO74K7Fx
— Max D. A. Aubel (@maxaubel) October 3, 2018
Number 14:
The @Cubs felt off the whole season, even though they were tops in the Central for much of the year. They didn’t seem to be able to come up with the 2016 magic when they needed it. Looking forward to Yu getting healthy. It just sucks it all ended like it did... #Cubs
— ||Turing Tested|| (@verbalpilfery) October 3, 2018
Number 13:
#Cubs won't even get a chance to avenge themselves vs the #Brewers because they suck! SMH. Even I am disappointed
— Lee Martin (@LeeMartin100) October 3, 2018
Number 12:
The Cubs went from the best record in the NL, to completely out of the playoffs in like a 3 day span. Wow that sucks.
— Daniel Holmes (@Teal_Lantern) October 3, 2018
Number 11:
Cause the Cubs are out of the playoffs & the world sucks?
— Chicago Mike 2.0 (@ChicagoMGD_SD) October 3, 2018
Number 10:
Cubs fans on suicide watch tonight
— David Novak (@Tweet_BigD) October 3, 2018
Number 9:
I don't mind that the Cubs' game went until midnight, and that they lost is just one of those things. THAT THEY WENT UNTIL MIDNIGHT AND LOST IS BULLSHIT.
— Dave (@daveccher) October 3, 2018
Number 8:
I just can’t get over how pissed I am at the @cubs pathetic effort and Joe’s bullshit attempt at “managing.” For that much talent, the whole org should be ashamed at their worthless effort and stupid decision making. Hopefully Theo shakes shit up in the off-season.
— Scott Stransky (@SJStran) October 3, 2018
Number 7:
Why should an entire season be determined by one game , the cubs literally controlled the division half the year and then their entire postseason is determined by one game what is this bullshit @MLB @MLBONFOX
— Anthony Bacarella (@Too_Strong4Boss) October 3, 2018
Number 6:
This Cubs game is bullshit. I SAID IT, HONEY, COME AT ME. #NLWildCardGame #GoCubs
— Jenn (@jenngulbrandsen) October 3, 2018
Number 5:
No excuses for this choke job and anyone that fails to see the serious problem of what happened tonight is an idiot. Over folks patting this team on the back. Fuck that, it ain't no "Nice Try" #Cubs
— Alex (@Alex_Chatman) October 3, 2018
Number 4:
Nice to see the Cubs finish up the season strong. My word, did they choke.
— Diesel Cooper (@Simplekindoffan) October 3, 2018
Number 3:
A fairy tale in 4 acts:
— Pat Porter (@starkers_tweets) October 3, 2018
9/29, 9AM CDT: Oh well, at least #Brewers will host Wild Card game.
9/30, 6PM: Oh my, #Brewers and #Cubs need an extra game.
10/1, 4PM: OMG, Cubs need to win WC just to go to Milwaukee for NLDS.
10/2, 11:59PM: OMFG THE CUBS ARE OUT.
Number 2:
- Local
- Community
- Journalism
Support the independent voice of Denver and help keep the future of Westword free.
Damn it just sucks cause if the Cubs played how they were capable of they had a magnificent chance to go to the World Series.
— GZ (@GaretZinke03) October 3, 2018
Number 1:
I almost started feeling bad for the Cubs, but then I looked at Twitter after the game and saw all the tweets from the last 5 hours of Cubs fans shouting down and insulting the greatly outnumbered Rockies fans and now I don’t feel bad at all.#Rocktober baby!
— Jacob Martin (@Wesflea) October 3, 2018
Keep Westword Free... Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Denver with no paywalls.
