The Marlins are in the World Series for the second time in seven seasons.

The Marlins are in the World Series for the second timein seven seasons.
CHICAGO (AP) -- The shouts of joy bounced all around the ballpark, for everyone to hear at Wrigley Field. And while the Florida Marlins whooped it up, the Chicago Cubs and their fans could only watch in stunned silence.
Somehow, these Marlins had survived in Game 7 of the NL championship series. Playing like true wild cards, they rallied against Kerry Wood and added to the Cubs' lore of losing with a 9-6 win Wednesday night.
"The Cubs were America's favorite. I think we're the darlings of the baseball world now," Marlins manager Jack McKeon said.
Florida won the final three games, earning a World Series trip to face either Boston or the New York Yankees Saturday night.
As the Marlins celebrated, another season came to a sad ending for the Cubs, signified by the blue flag with a white "L" hoisted above the center-field scoreboard. This loss might've been the most painful of all.
Destiny? Fate? The fan in Game 6? Whatever. The Cubs' long, strange drought continued because of MVP Ivan Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera and the resilient Marlins.
"Nobody expected us to be in the World Series," Rodriguez said.
Wait 'Til Next Year
Even more stinging for Cubs' fans is that this marks Florida's second Series trip in only 11 years of existence. Chicago has been absent since 1945, prompting the team's motto of "Wait 'Til Next Year."
"I felt I let the team down, the organization down and the city of Chicago down," Wood said. "I choked."
Cubs manager Dusty Baker was not nearly as harsh.
"We didn't lose the pennant, the Marlins won it," he said. "We were close and the Marlins took it from us, it's as simple as that."
So the 58-year wait goes on.
"If it's a burden this year, it will be 59 next year," he said.
Home teams had won 12 of the last 13 times a postseason series went to Game 7. But the Marlins became just the ninth team to ever overcome a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-7 series.
"We shocked the world! We shocked the world!" Marlins leadoff man Juan Pierre said.
Aces beaten
Even after being shut out in Game 5 by Josh Beckett, Sammy Sosa and the Cubs were in excellent position as they returned home. But aces Mark Prior and Wood lost on back-to-back days for the first time this season.
"Those are two tough guys to beat, I'll tell you what," Beckett said. "We got a break. Things work out for a reason, I guess."
A sellout crowd of 39,574 had the old ballpark shaking as Wood and Moises Alou homered for a 5-3 lead.
But Wood could only flip his glove into the stands when the Marlins rallied. They scored three runs in the fifth, Luis Castillo hit an RBI single in the sixth and Alex Gonzalez added insurance with a two-run double in the seventh.
Brad Penny won with an inning of scoreless relief for Mark Redman.
Beckett came out of the bullpen and pitched four innings of one-hit ball on two days' rest, allowing only a homer by pinch-hitter Troy O'Leary. Ugueth Urbina worked the ninth for a save.
Cabrera, a 20-year-old rookie, hit his third homer of the series and drove in four runs, while Rodriguez singled home a run that gave him an NLCS-record 10 RBIs.
Marlins rally in fifth
Trailing 5-3 in the fifth, Rodriguez doubled home a run and Cabrera tied it with an RBI grounder. Derrek Lee, whose double keyed the eight-run rally in Game 6, followed with a single that put Florida ahead 6-5.
The Cubs had been hoping this would be the year they got a chance to win their first Series championship since 1908.
Instead, add this failure to all of their previous disappointments. That includes wasting a 2-0 lead over San Diego in the best-of-five 1984 NLCS, blowing a late lead in the 1969 NL race and losing Game 7 of the 1945 World Series at Wrigley to Detroit.
"This is our first step," Sosa said. "We haven't given up yet."
FLORIDACHICAGO
abrhbiabrhbi
Pierre cf5120Lofton cf4000
LCstillo 2b4111Grdzln 2b4010
IRdrgz c4211SSosa rf3100
Cbrera rf5114Alou lf4112
Urbina p0000ARmrz 3b3000
DeLee 1b5021Karros 1b3110
Lowell 3b5110Simon ph1000
Conine lf3230ASGzlz ss4110
AGnzlz ss4012DMiller c2001
MRdm p1000Godwin ph1000
Penny p0000Bako c1000
BBanks ph0100Wood p2112
Beckett p2000Frnswr p0000
JEcrcn rf0000Veres p0000
O'Lery ph1111
Rmlngr p0000
Brwski p0000
Totals389129Totals33666
Florida300031200--9
Chicago032000100--6
LOB--Florida 6, Chicago 2. 2B--IRodriguez (2), DeLee (2), AGonzalez (2), ASGonzalez (2). 3B--Pierre (2). HR--Cabrera (3), Alou (2), Wood (1), O'Leary (1). SB--DeLee (1).
IPHRERBBSO
Florida
MRedman355501
Penny W,1-1100000
Beckett411103
Urbina S,1100002
Chicago
Wood L,0-15 2-377746
Farnsworth132202
Veres1-310000
Remlinger2-300001
Borowski1 1-310000
HBP--by Urbina (ARamirez), by MRedman (SSosa). Umpires--Home, Jerry Crawford; First, Chuck Meriwether; Second, Fieldin Culbreth; Third, Mike Everitt; Left, Larry Poncino; Right, Mike Reilly. T--3:11. A--39,574.