LOS ANGELES — By the end of it, a dominant season suddenly fragile, harrowing memories from last October gnawing at their fringes, this is what the toothless Chicago Cubs were reduced to.
In the ninth inning, Anthony Rizzo hacked at a Kenley Jansen cutter, and his bat exploded into three pieces. The biggest piece, the barrel, somehow helicoptered behind him, U-turning like a boomerang in mid-air, and crashed high into the netting behind the plate. The ball? It dribbled toward first base for a single.
Now, Rizzo was 1-for-11 in this National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.