Wrigley Field remains open for business on my Super Nintendo, where, at last report, the Cubs were even with the Braves, 2-2, in the 1994 NL Championship Series.
Game 5: In Atlanta, Sammy Sosa opens the scoring in the first inning with a bases loaded single to put the Cubs up 1-0. David Justice ties it with a homer in the second, followed by a 3-run blast by Steve Buchele
in the bottom of the inning to give the Cubs a commanding 4-1 lead. The score stays put until the eighth, when Justice strikes again with a 3-run shot of his own, and the game goes to extra innings. In the top of the tenth, backup shortstop and rarely used pinch hitter Rey Sanchez stands in with the bases loaded and slaps a single. Randy Myers comes on to close it out, and the Cubs head back to Wrigley with a 3-2 series lead.
Game 6: Jose Guzman opens the first inning with two strikeouts. A Ryne Sandberg RBI triple and Steve Buchele RBI single give the Cubs a 2-0 lead. Catcher Rick Wilkins adds a solo homer to make it 3-0 in the 4th. In the fifth, leading 3-1, with one Brave on base, I give Fred McGriff yet another intentional pass to get to Terry Pendleton, who punishes me with a three-run blast to make it 4-3 Braves, and they hang on to win and send the series to Game 7.
Game 7: Greg Hibbard (a 15-game winner in real life) is stellar, shutting out the Braves on four hits in 7 1/3 innings. Jose Vizcaino finally comes up with a huge hit, knocking in a run on a double in the 3rd, followed immediately by a Dwight Smith RBI single to make it 2-0. Hibbard hangs on, Shawn Boskie provides serviceable setup work, and Myers, after putting McGriff on base in the ninth, closes down the Braves to send the Cubs to the World Series. They face the Yankees, who beat the White Sox in Game 7 of the ALCS. A Cubs-Yankees World Series--what might have been this year; what will be in a virtual realm.

Previous Summary

Back to '04: We'll always have the NLDS, when Kerry was killer. More: The National Review on the logic of curses, Miami's Dan LeBatard on the marvel of the Marlins.