Cubs salute Dodgers after falling in NLCS

Chicago's offense, pitching struggle against formidable LA

October 20th, 2017

The Cubs' season came to an end Thursday as their quest to repeat as champions fell short with an 11-1 loss to the Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series presented by Camping World at Wrigley Field.
Chicago managed to hand the Dodgers their first loss of the playoffs, taking Game 4 at home on Wednesday, but ultimately couldn't keep pace with the hot bats and dominant pitching of Los Angeles.
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After the game, a number of Cubs players and manager Joe Maddon tipped their caps to the Dodgers, who advance to take on either the Astros or Yankees in the World Series presented by YouTube TV on Tuesday.
Here's what they had to say:
Maddon:
"Before I take a question, may I just congratulate the Dodgers? I've got a lot of buddies over there, of course, with [former Rays general manager] Andrew [Friedman], . I hope I don't start missing people. But there are a lot of friends over there, so I want to congratulate them on their victory. The better team won over the course of these five games. They played really well. They kind of out-pitched us and everything else. So give them credit.
"Dave Roberts and their entire staff, I just want to say congratulations. You know what it feels like coming off of last year, we were celebrating versus them in this exact same spot. So they've had themselves a spectacular year, and I want to wish them all well in the World Series."
Third baseman :
"When you look at this series, they did exactly what they needed to do in all phases -- pitched great, bullpen was lights-out. That makes it tough for us."

Outfielder :
"I think the Dodgers were just better, all series long in every facet of the game. They played a phenomenal series, and we didn't. That's why we're going home. We have to keep our heads up and recognize that we kept battling together, kept focused all the way to the end."
"We did the best we could. We just didn't play a great series and they played a great series. They deserved to go to the World Series. They were the best team in 2017. We have a lot of work to do yet and we all feel like we're capable of World Series championships. We know we're champions in this clubhouse and we just have to keep working like that and come back and have a better start to next year.
First baseman
"We didn't do enough to beat the Dodgers. They pitched better than our hitting. End of story. They're good. There's no excuses. End of the day, it is what it is."