Tavern owner William Sianis and Murphy
The Curse of the Billy Goat is the part of the lore of losing accumulated by the Chicago Cubs. It is rooted in the curse that was supposedly placed on the Cubs in 1945 by Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis. Because the odor of his pet goat, Murphy, was bothering other fans, Sianis was asked to leave Wrigley Field. Outraged, Sianis allegedly declared, “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more,” which has been interpreted to mean that either the Cubs would never win another National League (NL) or else that they would never again win a World Series. The Cubs lost the 1945 World Series to the Detroit Tigers, and have not won a World Series championship since 1908.
TONIGHT
The winds are expected to be around 15-17 miles per hour in a similar direction throughout the expected game time. Josh Tomlin is starting for the Indians. He gave up 36 home runs this season, second only to Jered Weaver. He gives up fly balls on 35.2 percent of the batted balls against him, which was 32nd of 73 qualified pitchers this season; it might be fair to call him a fly-ball pitcher, but he’s not extreme by any stretch of the word. He did rank 13th of 73 in hard contact rate, though. On the Cubs’ side, Cy Young candidate Kyle Hendricks gets the ball. He allowed only 15 home runs in the regular season, good for the fifth-lowest home run rate (HR/9) in the NL. His 31.3 percent fly ball rate ranks 51st of 73 qualified pitchers in the majors, meaning he’s a decent amount better than average at not allowing fly balls. He also led the majors in soft contact rate. Enjoy the game.
