The deciding game in the best-of-three National League Wild Card Series between the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres starts at 4:08 p.m. It’s the second time the teams have faced each other in the postseason.
Forty one years ago, the Cubs entered October as the National League East champions with a 96-65 record. It had been 39 years since the team’s last trip to the World Series and 76 years since the Cubs’ last championship.
But Ryne Sandberg — who would be named the National League’s Most Valuable Player and earn his second of nine consecutive Golden Glove awards at second base — was just trying to find his pants. More than 33,000 fans stuck around Wrigley Field after the Cubs’ 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the regular-season finale. The team, which had already hit the locker room, was summoned back out for a curtain call.
“I had already started to get undressed. Then somebody said the fans wanted us back on the field,” Sandberg explained mid-blush. “I had to rush around and grab a pair of pants real quick before I could go out there for the celebration. It was unbelievable.”
Cardinals’ manager Whitey Herzog liked the Cubs’ chances in the playoffs, but also warned a foreboding series might be ahead.
“Maybe I’m prejudiced because the Cubs are in our division, but I think they’ll be awful tough to beat,” he said. “The thing about a short series, though, is that you can practically throw out whatever happened during the regular season. Strange things can happen.”
Here’s a look back at the Cubs’ highs — and lows — during the best-of-five 1984 National League Championship Series against the San Diego Padres.
Game 1 (Oct. 2, 1984)
Cubs 13, Padres 0
That morning, Tribune columnist Mike Royko criticized San Diegans for having “no sense of tradition because they have no tradition.” (The Padres were owned at the time by the family of recently deceased McDonald’s founder and Oak Park native Ray Kroc.) Royko said Cubs fans were harder working and more deserving of a postseason run, telling readers, ” … we are going to slaughter those lousy wimps.”
Royko’s prediction came true — it was the most lopsided victory in the 16-year history of the playoffs. The Cubs hit five home runs, including two by Gary Matthews and one by National League Cy Young Award winner Rick Sutcliffe, who pitched seven innings and allowed two hits. At that point, winners of the first game had taken 21 of the 30 championship series in both the National and American leagues.
One bright spot for the Padres — right fielder Tony Gwynn successfully kicked a smoke bomb that had been tossed onto the field before it could do any harm.
“Coming into the series, everyone said we were even,” Gwynn told reporters after the game. “To have this happen is kind of embarrassing to me. It’s one of the few times all year we have been blown out.”
Interesting footnote, a four-man crew of Big 10 Conference umpires was utilized in place of striking MLB umpires.
Game 2 (Oct. 3, 1984)
Cubs 4, Padres 2
The Cubs’ magic number became one after they swept the Padres at home and headed for San Diego.
Steve Trout gave up five hits in his 8 1/3 innings of work before relief pitcher Lee Smith got the final two outs (by striking out former Cub Carmelo Martinez and popping up Terry Kennedy with a long fly to left field).
“Barring a minor miracle and pending notification of next of kin, the San Diego Padres can be pronounced dead,” Tribune reporter Fred Mitchell wrote.
Game 3 (Oct. 4, 1984)
Padres 7, Cubs 1
The Cubs took an early lead at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego on Ron Cey’s second-inning single, which scored Keith Moreland. The Padres, however, stormed back in the fifth inning, ripping Cub starter Dennis Eckersley for three runs.
The laid-back crowd — wearing “Cub Busters” T-shirts — came alive after outfielder Kevin McReynolds’ three-run homer off Cub reliever George Frazier in the sixth inning. The Padres scored one more run that inning.
“We lost some momentum,” said Cubs center fielder Bobby Dernier. “It still take three to win this thing. We can come right back Saturday and take it back. We didn’t lose it tonight. They took it.”
Game 4 (Oct. 6, 1984)
Padres 7, Cubs 5
Game 5 of the series became necessary after Padres first baseman Steve Garvey — who was named the MVP for the series — drilled a line-drive, two-run home run to right field off Cub reliever Lee Smith with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning. Garvey had four hits on the night with five runners batted in during the game.
Game 5 (Oct. 7, 1984)
Padres 6, Cubs 3
The Padres became the first National League team to recover from being down two games to none to win the pennant.
The Cubs were rolling along with a 3-0 lead — thanks to a lead-off home run by Jody Davis to left field — and Sutcliffe pitching a two-hitter until the Padres erupted for two runs in the sixth inning, loading the bases with none out and making it 3-2 on a pair of sacrifice flies. In an ugly seventh inning, San Diego scored four runs after an error by Leon Durham at first base.
“They’re going to the World Series and we’re going home,” starting pitcher Sutcliffe said after the game. “This will hurt me for a long, long time. It will stay with all of us for a long time. It’s hard to deal with. Very hard.”
It was Sutcliffe’s first loss of the season since June 29, 1984, which ended his streak of 15 consecutive victories.
The Cubs had the typing run at the place in the eighth inning against Padres reliever Goose Gossage, but couldn’t score.
The Padres lost to the Detroit Tigers 4-1 in the 1984 World Series. The Cubs made it to the playoffs again in 1989, but lost 4-1 to the San Francisco Giants.
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