WRIGLEYVILLE — After a season of ups and downs and two division rivals that wouldn't go away, the Cubs finally punched their ticket back into the postseason Wednesday.
Thanks to another road win against their archrival St. Louis Cardinals, the Cubs won the National League Central for the second straight year and made the playoffs for the third straight year.
Not since the Cubs stormed to the World Series in 1906, 1907 and 1908 have the North Siders made it to the postseason three straight years.
The Cubs run began in 2015 on the strength of their blossoming rookies, including third baseman Kris Bryant. They got into the 2015 postseason as a Wild Card and advanced with a one-game series win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
But as in 2016, they sealed a National League Division Series berth Wednesday with an outright division title, and the team hit the field and clubhouse in St. Louis with Champagne to celebrate.
They'll have more than a week to set their postseason pitching rotation and roster. The first NLDS game is set for Friday, Oct. 6 in Washington, D.C., against the Nationals, the National League East champs, who get home field advantage by way of a better season record.
It's two games in Washington, and two scheduled games in Wrigley Field, if necessary. The NLDS is a best-of-five series, with Game 5 back in Washington.
The Cubs are looking to defend their World Series Championship title — the team's first in 108 years. The end of the longest-running championship drought in Major League Baseball last year was met with worldwide celebrations and a parade and Downtown rally that saw an estimated 5 million people flood Chicago streets.
During the historic World Series run, Wrigleyville exploded with Cubs spirit, while bars near Wrigley Field charged $250 covers for at-capacity (and, sometimes, over-capacity) crowds.
The 2017 season was unlike 2016, however, with the Cubs struggling to put much distance between themselves and the upstart Milwaukee Brewers, who surprised the Big Leagues with a strong season.
In fact, the Brewers led the Central at the All-Star break. But that's when the Cubs got hot and stormed into first place. They had to hold on tight, though, as the Brewers and the Cardinals heated up, too.
But the Cubs held strong, and now find themselves back in familiar territory.
Not that three straight years in the postseason is at all familiar for Cubs fans.
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The Cubs and Wrigley Field are 95 percent owned by a trust established for the benefit of the family of Joe Ricketts, owner and CEO of DNAinfo.com. Joe Ricketts has no direct involvement in the management of the iconic team.
