It was the storyline from heaven.
Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish, a disappointment to many fans in Chicago, against the extremely popular man he replaced, Phillies pitcher Jake Arrieta.
Darvish, who had never gotten to the seventh inning in a Cubs uniform, against Arrieta, a legend on the North Side for helping the Cubs do in 2016 what generations of fans had considered impossible – win a World Series.
Darvish, wearing a black hat in his own ballpark for being injured and inconsistent too often, vs. Arrieta, the white-hatted visitor with the gold star. Lonesome Yu against the man with 37,909 friends at Wrigley Field on a cool Monday night.