LOS ANGELES—It was the hinge game that Dodgers and Cubs fans alike felt would determine the fate of the National League Championship Series. If underdog Los Angeles, tied at two games apiece with Chicago, could somehow patch together a Game 5 win with a few innings from struggling starter Kenta Maeda, timely hitting off Cubs ace Jon Lester and a lights-out performance from its fatigued bullpen, then the team would have Clayton Kershaw throwing in Game 6 with a chance to end this series and advance to the World Series for the first time since 1988.
But the Cubs didn’t want an elimination game against Kershaw—not even in Chicago—and they played like it Thursday night, sprinting and bunting and headfirst-sliding their way to an 8–4 win that felt much closer.