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Tonight at 5:08 p.m. PST, your Los Angeles Dodgers take on the Chicago Cubs in the first game of the National League Championship Series. Whoever wins this best-of-seven series will go on to the World Series. The last time the Dodgers won a 'ship was 1988. But as for the Cubbies? Yeah, the last time they won a World Series was in 1908, and many blame the stagnation on 1945's"Curse of the Billy Goat," which you can read and mock by perusing the "curse" archives over at our sister Chicagoist.
The Dodgers are the clear underdogs in this series, with Fox Sports writing that "nobody believes in the Dodgers. Nobody." But perhaps they have maybe what amounts to an opposite-curse (that would be a blessing) on their side? For on this day in 1988, Kirk Gibson hit the infamous walk-off home run in Game 1 of the World Series versus the Oakland Athletics. Here's Vin Scully's call of the entire, insane at-bat, because duh:
This was definitely one of the Best Moments in Dodger History. As LAist noted in 2013, on the 25th anniversary of the home run, Vin summed up the utter craziness of it all when he famously waxed, "In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!"
While the Cubs are definitely the team to beat on paper, every baseball fan knows that the sport is not only unpredictable, but it certainly has the ability to foster spooky superstition. And on the part of the Cubs currently, the vibes are not good. Just yesterday was a Very Bad Day for the collective memories of Cubs' fans, as October 14 marked the 13th anniversary (13!!) of the time Cubs fan/ now unwitting villain Steve Bartman snagged a fly ball away from outfielder Moises Alou, kicking off a rally by the Florida Marlins that would rob the Cubs of an NLCS win.
It seems like the Dodgers have more powerful forces of good behind them right now that should propel them to victory: lest we remind you Vin Scully joined forces with Fleetwood Mac at Dodger Stadium earlier this year? There's no way Stevie Nicks failed to sage the Dodger dugout while she was there.
