The1989National League Championship Series was a best-of-seven playoff series inMajor League Baseball’s1989 postseason played between theNational League West championSan Francisco Giants and theNational League East championChicago Cubs. The Giants won the series four games to one, en route to losing to theOakland Athletics in four games in the1989 World Series.

San Francisco won the series, 4–1.

Wednesday, October 4, 1989, atWrigley Field inChicago, Illinois

The Giants entered the series as slight favorites due to theMVP season ofKevin Mitchell, the solid play ofWill Clark, and the best ERA in baseball by pitcherScott Garrelts. The Cubs had won their second NL East title in six seasons behind the excellent rookie performances ofJerome Walton andDwight Smith, who finished one-two in the 1989 NL Rookie of the Year balloting. The Cubs also had three pitchers with 16 or more victories,Rick Sutcliffe,Mike Bielecki, andGreg Maddux, coming off his third full season in the majors. The opener pitted Maddux against Garrelts.

By the time the Cubs came to bat, the Giants had a 3–0 lead.Brett Butler led off with a single and moved to third on Rick Wrona's passed ball. Clark drove in his first run of the series with a double. Clark moved to third on Mitchell's single and scored along with Mitchell onMatt Williams' double. Maddux had given up three runs and recorded only one out, but he retiredTerry Kennedy and Pat Sheridan to end the first. The Cubs came right back in the bottom of the first.Ryne Sandberg doubled andMark Grace drilled a two-out, two-run homer to cut the Giants lead to 3–2. Clark got a run back when he homered in the third, but Sandberg's solo homer cut the Giants lead back to one. With the score 4–3, the Giants came to bat against Maddux in the fourth.

Pat Sheridan andJosé Uribe singled, and Uribe's steal put runners at second and third. Garrelts struck out, and the Cubs walked Butler intentionally hoping for a double play.Robby Thompson popped to shortstop, and theinfield fly rule resulted in an automatic out. This set the stage for Clark with the bases loaded and two out. Having already driven in two runs, Clark tied the NLCS record for RBIs for anentire series in less than four innings when he drilled a grand slam to right that finished Maddux and the Cubs. The 8–3 lead ended in an 11–3 Giants victory when Mitchell nailed a three-run homer to close the scoring in the eighth. The Giants had drawn first blood and taken back home-field advantage.

Legend has it that Clark read Greg Maddux's lips during the mound visit before the grand slam, and that helped Clark pound a high fastball over the wall for a grand slam that helped the Giants steal Game 1 in Wrigley. Although, Clark's teammate,Bob Brenly, expressed doubts about the truth of that story.^[6] Postgame, Cubs' managerDon Zimmer summed up Clark's brilliant outing by saying "He [Clark] had a helluva week tonight."^[7]

Thursday, October 5, 1989, atWrigley Field inChicago, Illinois

Giving the Giants a dose of their own Game 1 medicine, the Cubs ended Game 2 early with a six-run first inning, five of the runs coming against Giants starter and loserRick Reuschel. AfterMike Bielecki picked Butler off first and retired the side, the Cubs went to work.Jerome Walton singled and scored onRyne Sandberg's triple. After Dwight Smith lined out to first,Mark Grace doubled Sandberg home. Reuschel struck outAndre Dawson, butLuis Salazar singled to score Grace and moved to second on a single byShawon Dunston. The Giants walkedJoe Girardi to get to the pitcher's spot, and Bielecki responded with a single that scored Salazar and Dunston to make it 5–0. Walton again singled, scoring Girardi, and whenKelly Downs retired Sandberg on a pop-up, the Cubs went back into the field with a 6–0 lead.

The game was essentially over after the first inning. The Giants cut the lead to 6–2 in the fourth whenWill Clark singled andKevin Mitchell homered for the second time in the series. But the Cubs got those runs plus another back in the sixth when Grace doubled with the bases loaded, scoring all three runners and giving the Cubs a 9–2 lead. The Giants got three cosmetic runs when Williams homered in the eighth and Robby Thompson homered in the ninth. But the Cubs' early scoring made it one game apiece as the series headed toSan Francisco for Game 3.Les Lancaster got the win for the Cubs.

Saturday, October 7, 1989, atCandlestick Park inSan Francisco, California

Tied at one apiece, the series converged on Candlestick Park for Game 3. The pitching match-up featured 16-game winnerRick Sutcliffe againstMike LaCoss. Neither pitcher would be involved in the decision.

Following the trend of the first two games—five runs by the two teams combined in the first inning of Game 1 and six in the first inning of Game 2—the Cubs roared out of the gate with two first-inning runs courtesy of back-to-back singles by Walton and Smith, a wild pitch by LaCoss that put them on second and third, and a single byAndre Dawson that scored both and put the Cubs in the lead, 2–0. The Giants answered with three in their half of the first. Butler and Thompson singled, andWill Clark's fielder's choice ground out moved the runners to second and third.Kevin Mitchell was given an intentional pass, andMatt Williams grounded out to the pitcher to score Butler. Two more walks gave the Giants a second run when Thompson scored, and Jose Uribe's infield single scored Mitchell. The Giants now led, 3–2, but Sutcliffe avoided further damage by getting LaCoss to pop up.

The Cubs tied it in the fourth, but they settled for one run with a chance to open up the game. They loaded the bases against LaCoss with nobody out, andRoger Craig summoned relieverJeff Brantley. Brantley got Sutcliffe to hit into a double play, including a force on Salazar at the plate. With runners at second and third and two out, the Giants nearly escaped, but a wild pitch from Brantley scored Dunston and tied the game. Walton flied out to end the inning.

The Cubs regained the lead in the seventh when Sutcliffe doubled and went to third on Walton's bunt.Greg Maddux was sent in to pinch-run for Sutcliffe, and he scored onRyne Sandberg's fly to center. Dwight Smith popped out, but the Cubs led, 4–3.

The Giants, however, came back to put the game away in the bottom of the seventh.Les Lancaster took the mound to face the Giants. He was the winning pitcher in Game 2, but he gave up a home run toRobby Thompson. Lancaster inheritedBrett Butler at first and his first hitter was Thompson. Moments later, Thompson had his second home run in his last two at-bats against Lancaster, and the Giants had a 5–4 lead.Don Robinson got the win in relief,Steve Bedrosian got the save, and the Giants had a 2–1 series lead.

Sunday, October 8, 1989, atCandlestick Park inSan Francisco, California

In keeping with the first three games, the scoring began early in Game 4 as the Cubs sought to tie the series and the Giants hoped to take a 3–1 lead in the series. The pitching match-up featured a rematch of first-game pitchers Scott Garrelts andGreg Maddux. Garrelts had triumphed in round one, but neither pitcher would be involved in the decision in the rematch.

The Cubs opened the first playing small ball. A double by Sandberg followed by a short single by Smith and a line out to right byMark Grace scored Sandberg to give the Cubs a 1–0 lead. The Giants mimicked the Cubs in the bottom of the first when Thompson walked, went to third on a Clark single, and scored on aKevin Mitchell ground out.Luis Salazar then stunned the Giants faithful with a homer to give the Cubs a 2–1 lead in the second. But abases-loaded single byMatt Williams in the bottom of the third scored two runs and put the Giants back in front.José Uribe doubled in the fourth. Maddux seemingly had him picked off, but a throwing error put Uribe at third, and he scored on Maddux's wild pitch to make it 4–2 Giants. In the top of the fifth, Walton singled and scored on Grace's triple. Grace then scored on Dawson's double and the score was tied at four. But in the bottom of the fifth, Clark doubled and Matt Williams (after fouling off seven pitches in a 12-pitch at-bat) hit his second homer of the series to give the Giants a 6–4 lead that was the final score.

The Giants' win gave them a three games to one edge and a chance to finish the series the next day at home.Kelly Downs won the game in relief, andSteve Bedrosian got his second save in as many days.

Monday, October 9, 1989, atCandlestick Park inSan Francisco, California

Before the game, theTower of Power horn section played theNational Anthem.

The Giants made it to their firstWorld Series since1962 with a 3–2 win over the Cubs to win the 1989 National League pennant, four games to one. The final game pittedMike Bielecki against a well-rested (due to his quick exit from Game 2)Rick Reuschel. Reuschel made amends for his poor start in Game 2 by giving up only one run over eight innings. The one run Reuschel gave up was an unearned run the Cubs scored when Walton reached on an error by Mitchell and then scored on Ryne Sandberg's double. The Cubs held the 1–0 lead until the seventh inning whenWill Clark tripled and scored on Mitchell's sacrifice fly.

With two outs in the eighth, the Cubs appeared ready to perhaps send the series back to Chicago, butCandy Maldonado pinch-hit for Reuschel and walked. Bielecki then proceeded to load the bases by walking both Butler and Thompson.Don Zimmer sent forMitch Williams to end the jam, but Clark drove home the pennant-winning runs with a single to center that gave the Giants a 3–1 lead.Les Lancaster got Matt Williams out to end the inning but the Cubs were finished.

They did rally, however, in the ninth with three straight singles that made it 3–2. But the rally would be for naught, asSteve Bedrosian ultimately notched his third consecutive save by inducing a ground ball from Sandberg to end the game and series, and send the Giants to their first World Series since 1962.

Clark's stellar performance earned himMost Valuable Player honors for the Giants. Clark hit .650 with eight RBIs.

1989 NLCS(4–1):San Francisco Giants overChicago Cubs

NBC play-by-play manVin Scully was unable to call Game 2 because he had come down withlaryngitis. Thus, number two play-by-play man,Bob Costas filled-in for him. Around the same time, Costas was assigned to call theAmerican League Championship Series betweenOakland andToronto. Game 2 of the NLCS occurred on Thursday, October 5, which was an off day for the ALCS. NBC then decided to fly Costas from Toronto to Chicago to substitute for Scully on Thursday night. Afterwards, Costas flew back to Toronto, where he resumed work on the ALCS the next night.

Game 5 of the 1989 NLCS (October 9, 1989) was the last Major League Baseball game thatNBC, which had broadcast MLB in some shape or form since 1947, would televise for five years (CBS would become the exclusive broadcast television network home for Major League Baseball in the meantime); the ensuingWorld Series was broadcast onABC, with those four games being that network's last in the same timeframe. NBC would next televise a Major League Baseball game on July 12, 1994 (theAll-Star Game fromPittsburgh); that same year, ABC began to broadcast Saturday night games viaThe Baseball Network. During the1995 season, NBC began broadcasting Friday night games, with ABC still continuing Saturday night games, and the two networks would rotate postseason series, as well as games in theWorld Series, in which theAtlanta Braves defeated theCleveland Indians, 4 games to 2.

Game 5 also turned out to be Vin Scully's last televised postseason appearance for a network. He would return to CBS from 1990 to 1997 to become the lead announcer forCBS Radio Sports' World Series coverage. Between television and radio, he has called all or part of 28 World Series — more than any other announcer. He retired in 2016.

After The Baseball Network was dissolved,Fox took over the exclusive broadcast rights for MLB regular season games, although NBC would still broadcast select postseason games and alternate with Fox for World Series coverage. By 2001, Fox became the exclusive broadcast home for the MLB postseason as well, a position it held through 2006. Beginning in 2007, TBS and Fox would alternate televising the LCS, with Fox taking the ALCS in odd years, and the NLCS in even years. TBS would do the reverse, televising the NLCS in odd years and the ALCS in even years.

Giants pitcherDave Dravecky, who would ultimately have his pitching arm amputated due to cancer, broke his arm during the Giants' on-field celebration following Game 5.

The Giants were swept by theAthletics in the1989 World Series. The 1989 World Series was most known for theLoma Prieta earthquake, which hit minutes before Game 3 causing significant damage to bothOakland andSan Francisco. The game was postponed out of concerns for the safety of everyone in the ballpark as well as the loss of power, withcommissionerFay Vincent later saying that he did not know when play would resume. The series resumed ten days later on October 27 and finished the next day. Until that point, it was the latest a World Series had ever been played.

Longtime Giants catcherBob Brenly would later serve as a color analyst fortelevised Chicago Cubs games from2005-2012. In between the end of his playing career and his announcing career, Brenly won a World Series managing the2001 Arizona Diamondbacks. On that 2001 Diamondbacks team were a 35-year oldMatt Williams and a 37-year oldMark Grace, who also both played in the 1989 NLCS for Giants and Cubs, respectively. Williams and Grace would also serve as coaches for the Diamondbacks under managerChip Hale from 2014-2015.^[8]

Known for their title droughts — the Giants had never won a World Series in San Francisco, while the Cubs had not won in 81 years at the time of this series in 1989 — both teams would have to wait until the 2010s to win a World Series. In 2010, theGiants defeated theTexas Rangers in five games to win theWorld Series for the first time since moving to San Francisco in1958, thus ending the 52-year "Curse of Coogan's Bluff". TheCubs beat theCleveland Indians in the2016 World Series in seven games after trailing in the series 3 games to 1. They won Game 7 by a score of 8–7 in 10 innings at Cleveland'sProgressive Field, ending their 108-year drought and theCurse of the Billy Goat.

The Cubs and Giants met in aWild Card tiebreaker in 1998 where theCubs advanced, beating theGiants 5–3. On their way to the 2016 World Series, the Cubs also beat theGiants in the2016 NLDS, 3 games to 1. The Cubs series clinching win in Game 4 was their first postseason win in a game played on theWest coast. They had previously lost their first 10 games as the visiting team on the West Coast in the postseason, which included three losses in San Francisco in the 1989 NLCS.

• 1989 NLCS at Baseball Reference
• Giants Clubhouse: Postseason '89^{[permanent dead link]}

• 1989 Major League Baseball season
• National League Championship Series
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• 1989 in sports in Illinois
• 1980s in Chicago
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