With One Chance, Cubs Draw Wild Card

Outfielder Sammy Sosa celebrates in the clubhouse after his Chicago Cubs won a one- game playoff Monday night. (AP)

By Richard Justice
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 29, 1998; Page B1

CHICAGO, Sept. 28 – In the end, no one wanted to let the moment go. Not the roaring fans, who refused to leave Wrigley Field. Not the Chicago Cubs, who returned for one curtain call after another, waving and acknowledging a wild, emotional scene.

Writing the latest chapter in a storybook season, the Cubs won the National League's wild-card playoff berth tonight by defeating the San Francisco Giants, 5-3, in front of 39,556 fans.

By winning just the sixth one-game playoff in major league history, the Cubs earned the right to advance to an NL first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Braves.

Until tonight, their season had been focused on Sammy Sosa and Kerry Wood and Harry Caray. Lost amid the celebrations for their superstar hitter and rookie pitching sensation and beloved late broadcaster was the sum of the parts, a team that has proved its grit and character and ability to survive.

Tonight, the Cubs used guys named Steve Trachsel and Gary Gaetti and Matt Mieske to advance to the postseason for the first time in nine years.

As for Sosa, he was held without a home run for the third straight game to finish the season with 66 – the second-highest total in major league history, but four fewer than Mark McGwire hit for the St. Louis Cardinals.

He singled twice in four at-bats and scored two runs. Before he singled in the bottom of the eighth, fans chanted "MVP, MVP, MVP," the award he's almost certain to win.

"We worked hard all year," Sosa said, "and it came down to the final day. Now, we're going to open the champagne. Can you believe it?"

For the first time in weeks, Sosa wasn't the prime story line as the Cubs attempted to make the playoffs for the first time since 1989. They had limped into this playoff by losing six of their final eight games, including a crushing extra-inning defeat at Houston on Sunday.

The Giants had been on a totally different track, winning nine of their final 11 to make up a four-game deficit in the final eight days. In the end, both were 89-73.

Tonight, they finally settled a wild-card race that featured 19 lead changes or ties since Aug. 11. With the victory, came redemption for a lot of people. Trachsel (15-8) hadn't won in a month and was last seen serving up McGwire's 62nd home run. He erased a lot of those memories by allowing just one hit and no runs in 6 1/3 innings. He walked six and hit a batter, but kept the NL's second-highest scoring team from scoring.

Likewise, the 40-year-old Gaetti made a nice recovery from a season that could have been over when the Cardinals released him in late August. He showed the Cubs he's far from down, and tonight broke up a scoreless game with a two-run home run off Giants starter Mark Gardner (13-6) in the fifth.

An inning later, the Cubs broke it open with a two-run single by Mieske.

"So many guys did a great job," Cubs Manager Jim Riggleman said. "It has been like that all year long. This last month has been like a playoff atmosphere to us, and tonight was the same way. We've had a lot of veterans come through for us, and I couldn't be more proud."

It didn't end there. The Cubs took a 5-0 lead into the ninth, then had to hold on as the Giants scored three runs and had the tying run at the plate when reliever Rod Beck got Joe Carter to pop up to end it.

Riggleman used five pitchers after Trachsel departed in the seventh. He used Beck for the final two outs, but also used his number one starter, Kevin Tapani, and Terry Mulholland, who had thrown 120 pitches in a start against the Astros on Sunday.

"We had to pull out all the strings," Riggleman said. "They all answered the call. For Mulholland to do what he did after pitching Sunday. . . . He didn't want to give me the ball when I came to take him out in the ninth. That's a guy who answered the bell."

Some fans spent Sunday night outside Wrigley Field for a chance to buy one of the few remaining tickets. Many of those who didn't get a ticket still showed up this afternoon, filling the streets around the old ballpark and creating an atmosphere that had the feel of a giant block party.

Michael Jordan got the evening's first large ovation by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch to Sosa. He walked to the mound in a Cubs' warmup jacket, then removed it to show the audience he was wearing a Sosa jersey.

Jordan's throw sailed over Sosa's head, but the two men embraced as the crowd roared, saluting both Chicago's greatest sports hero and its latest sports hero.

The game was scoreless until the fifth when Henry Rodriguez led off with a single to right center against Gardner. Gardner threw two quick strikes to Gaetti, then threw a fastball down the middle.

Gaetti ripped it into the left field seats for a 2-0 lead. It was his 19th home run of the season and his eighth since joining the Cubs on August 19.

An inning later, Gardner – who lost for the first time since July 30 – was gone after singles by Lance Johnson and Sosa. Mieske got them both home with a pinch single that made it 4-0.

The Giants knocked out Trachsel in the seventh. With one out, Brent Mayne singled to right to break up the no-hitter. When Trachsel walked pinch hitter Armando Rios, Riggleman brought in the first of the five relievers.

"It's awesome," Trachsel said. "The fans really got my adrenalin going. I threw 120 pitches and it felt like 40."

The Cubs will be heavy underdogs against the Braves, and they'll be reminded again and again how they haven't won a World Series since 1908, reached the World Series since 1945 or made the playoffs since 1989.

"We've got a lot of character on this team," Beck said. "We've got quality people. They made it so fun."