Cubs Return To Wrigley Field This Week For Must-Win Games

By Kate Shepherd in News on Oct 19, 2015 8:02PM

Javier Baez of the Chicago Cubs (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

The Cubs desperately need a comeback after their terrible, horrible, no good, very bad weekend. The Mets were on fire (another phrase we're surprised to write) when they defeated our beloved team at Citi Field on Saturday and Sunday.

The series is far from over, but the stakes are getting higher. Home-run-machine Daniel Murphy and co. are arriving in Chicago to take on the Cubs at Wrigley Field Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The games are must-wins for the Cubs in the best-of-seven series.

In Queens, the Cubs struck out 20 times and never had a lead over the Mets. They used their two best starting pitchers—Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta—and need to let them rest for the next two games. Despite the odds, they're not giving up.

"It's hard to look at that we're down 2-0," slugger Kyle Schwarber told reporters. "We've got to find a way back and keep battling. It's been a grind to the last inning, last out. We've got confidence in our other guys."

Hopefully going home to Wrigley will give the team a much-needed boost. The Cubs are the best road team in the MLB but they're undefeated at home in the postseason so far.

"So we're down 2-0, we're excited to go home and sleep in our own beds and play at the Friendly Confines," left fielder Chris Coghlan told reporters.

Losing two games has not cooled the excitement in Wrigleyville. Ald. Tom Tunney has put strict new rules in place including banning glass containers in bars. Cars will be banned from parking on Racine from Belmont to Clark, on Sheffield from Belmont to Grace and on Addison from Halsted to Racine.

Watch your surroundings if you head up to Wrigley this week. Police issued a community alert after four incidents since Oct. 10 in which multiple male offenders approached a victim on the street or in an alley and used force to steal wallets and cellphones. Three of the four incidents happened extremely close to the ballpark: 3600 block of N. Sheffield Ave., 3600 block of N. Clark St. and 1110 block of W. Addison St., police said.

Tickets prices are still off the charts. The average ticket for the Wrigley games was $1,071 as of Friday afternoon, according to Jake Sharpless, a digital marketing specialist for ticket aggregatorRukkus. The average 2014 World Series ticket sold for $884 on the secondary market.

Don't want to shell out that much money? First baseman Anthony Rizzo is handing out two free tickets to Wednesday's game to a lucky fan today. All you have to do is make sure you're showing your Cubs pride: