I Tweeted the following from Wrigley Field on August 9:

Fantastic game at Wrigley. Cubs up 2-0 in ninth, Giants load bases, then three consecutive K's, last on 3-2 pitch. Crowd explodes. Baseball.

— David Laurila (@DavidLaurilaQA) August 9, 2015

Yesterday, Joe Maddon called the four-game set that culminated with that out a “seminal moment.” According to the Cubs skipper, his team “played that series in a playoff manner.”

Tonight, they played like a young, hungry team that’s hell-bent on reaching the World Series. Behind bombs and pitching brilliance, they dismantled the Pirates 4-0 at PNC Park.

The expected pitchers’ duel between Jake Arrieta and Gerrit Cole never materialized. Refusing to follow the narrative, the Cubs scored before Cole could record an out. Dexter Fowler singled and stole second, and Kyle Schwarber drove him in with a hit to the opposite field.

Two innings later, Schwarber hit a ball well beyond any fielders. The rookie followed a Fowler single with a blast that cleared the right field stands and landed in the Allegheny River. The ball traveled 449 feet, and essentially alerted everyone to the inevitable. It was now 3-0, and Arrieta had allowed two earned runs over his last 67 innings.

Fowler added a home run of his own in the fifth, and whatever hopes the Pirates clung to were dashed an inning later. With the PNC faithful at full decibel, Starling Marte grounded into a bases-loaded double play. Suddenly it was quiet again. Tony Watson drilling Arrieta with a pitch in the seventh inning emptied both benches, but in the end that was nothing more than a testosterone-fueled side story.

The Pirates, a team that won 98 regular-season games, are one-and-done. The Cubs, who won 97 and had a seminal moment two months ago, had another one tonight. Joe Maddon’s team is advancing to play in the NLDS.