The Chicago Cubs earned a trip to their third straight National League Championship Series on Thursday, but it wasn’t without controversy.
The Cubs beat the Washington Nationals in Game 5 of their NL Division Series, squeaking by in a hard-fought contest with a 9-8 win. But one call made in the fifth inning and another in the eighth could have changed the outcome of the one-run game.
The first call was blatantly missed, as Nationals ace Max Scherzer, who was pitching in relief, struck out Javier Baez for what would have been out No. 3, but the ball snuck by catcher Matt Wieters and rolled to the backstop, allowing Baez to reach first and scoring shortstop …