 10/06/2003 3:13 AM ET
Cubs and Marlins set for NLCS
Chicago went 4-2 against Florida in regular season
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By John Schlegel / MLB.com
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ATLANTA -- With a trip to the World Series at stake, a team that has been around long enough to have gone 95 years without winning one will take on a team that already has won one in its 10-year existence.
There's your 2003 National League Championship Series matchup: The Chicago Cubs vs. the Florida Marlins.
All that really matters to both clubs is that they're on a roll right now. But one team has to stop rolling at some point in the seven-game series that begins with Game 1 on Tuesday at venerable Wrigley Field, which last hosted NLCS action in 1989.
Kerry Wood
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The Marlins, winners of the Wild Card berth, dispatched the defending National League champion Giants in a four-game Division Series thriller. The NL Central champion Cubs sent perennial powerhouse Atlanta packing with a dominant performance in Game 5 Sunday night.
While their histories are about as diverse as their homes -- the Windy City and sunny South Florida -- the two teams do have a few glaring similarities heading into what promises to be an entertaining series.
Both teams have tremendous young starting pitching. The Cubs are led by the stellar right-handed tandem of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. The Marlins counter with a four-man rotation that in the Division Series was led by 23-year-old right-hander Josh Beckett and anchored by 21-year-old lefty rookie sensation Dontrelle Willis.
Ivan Rodriguez / C
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Both teams also have managers who have taken them to new heights this year. The Marlins took off after 72-year-old skipper Jack McKeon assumed the helm in May, and a repeat of their 1997 World Series title remains a possibility. The Cubs, meanwhile, have claimed their first postseason series since winning the 1908 World Series with Dusty Baker in charge after 10 years with the Giants.
The Cubs held a 4-2 edge over the Marlins in their regular-season matchups, winning two of three in each city.
Wood, who pitched the Game 5 clincher in Atlanta and is expected to go in Game 3 at Florida on Friday, posted two complete games against the Marlins this season. That includes a two-hitter in a 1-0 shutout July 19. Brad Penny, expected to be the NLCS Game 2 starter for Florida, allowed only four hits and one unearned run in that duel.
The Cubs definitely got the last salvo in on the regular-season series, taking a 16-2 victory at Pro Player Stadium. The Cubs chased Willis after just two innings and six earned runs, and Sammy Sosa hit one of his three homers off Marlins pitchers this season. Marlins catcher Pudge Rodriguez, the Division Series hero at the plate and behind it, countered with three homers against Cubs pitching this season.
John Schlegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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