On This Day in History: Cubs Experiences a Mixed Bag in the NLCS

Welcome to another edition of "On This Day in Cubs History" as we take a look on what happened on October 18.

Considering the date, almost all of the noteworthy events happened during the National League Championship Series. 

Over the last decade, the Cubs have had a mixed bag when it comes to success in the NLCS, with the obvious crown jewel coming in 2016 when they won the World Series.

In 2015, Chicago experienced a loss in Game 2 of the NLCS against the New York Mets. Cubs starter Jake Arrieta pitched five innings of four-run ball while striking out eight. He ran into trouble almost immediately as he gave up three of the four runs in the first inning alone.

The Mets would go on to win the game 4-1 with Noah Syndergaard earning the win for New York. 

In 2016, Chicago lost again in the NLCS, this time against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 6-0 fashion. The shutout was a tough loss to swallow, but the Cubs showed resiliency in that series as they would (spoiler alert) end up winning the series and moving on to the World Series. 

Arrieta was also the starter for that game and once again pitched five innings and gave up four earned runs.

Finally, in 2017, Chicago finally pulled off an NLCS victory on Oct. 18, as they defeated the Dodgers 3-2. The win delayed their elimination for another game, and Arrieta finally picked up the NLCS win he had been searching for for three years.

Like we said: Mixed bag.