Chicago Cubs’ Video Boards Take a Beating During World Series Run

Rookie slugger plants homer on top of new video board during World Series run, team will leave it there during National League Championship Series—and beyond?

The Chicago Cubs are moving on to the National League Championship Series, thanks in large part to a collection of young talent that has the North Siders seeking their first World Series championship since 1908.
And, while much of the talk this postseason has been on the players getting their first tastes of clubhouse champagne, another Cubs rookie played a prominent role in the team’s National League Division Series clincher vs. the St. Louis Cardinals on Oct. 13.

But, even if you buy a program, you won’t find it on your team roster: it’s the right field video board, which was installed at historic Wrigley Field earlier this season, 101 years after the ballpark opened and 27 years after the team installed lights at the park.

Rookie Kyle Schwarber made sure his team would vanquish the hated Cardinals with a blast to right field that’s still on top of that new video board—and will remain there for as long as the Cubs remain alive in the 2015 postseason.

See for yourself just how far Schwarber hit the ball in the Cubs’ series clincher vs. their bitter rivals:

Then compare Schwarber’s blasts to these moonshots off the new left field video board by fellow Cubs’ rookie Kris Bryant in May:

and September:

An interesting side note: if the New York Mets knock out the Los Angeles Dodgers and move on to face the Cubs in the NLCS for the right to advance to the 2015 World Series, it’ll be a matchup of two teams that installed giant new video boards this year.

Then again, some of the other clubs that added technology in their ballparks weren’t so lucky, since the Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners are looking for new managers and the Philadelphia Phillies replaced theirs midway through the season.

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