The last century has been a pretty rough ride for fans of the Chicago Cubs. Not having won a championship since 1908, the Cubs hold the longest championship drought in major league baseball and haven’t appeared in the World Series since 1945. But 2015 has ushered in new hope for the Cubs faithful.

Some off-season trades and development of top prospects resulted in one of the most highly anticipated season for the cubs since they made their World Series bid in 1935. With the 2015 regular season now a part of the past, the Cubs have lived up to the hype.

With 97 wins which is tied for the most wins in the Cubs regular season since 1935 (a year in which they made it to the World Series), expectations for the Cubs are high. Fans have been lucky enough to have an exciting 2015 regular season, but the regular season is over.

October brings with it a new level of excitement because as Palatine Head Baseball Coach Paul Belo says, “post season baseball is played with a sense of urgency unparalleled by any regular season environment.”

But unfortunately for Cubs fans, although the Cubs had the third best record in the National league, the other two top records were also in the Cubs’ National League Central Division. On Wednesday Oct. 7, the Cubs will play a win or go home wild card game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the second best team in the National League Central Division and the second best record in the National league.

It will be all hands on deck as Joe Maddon and the Cubs fight to extend their season.

As Palatine Pirates Baseball Coach Brent Carroll describes it, the wild card game is “essentially a play in game and a chance for the Cubs to prove that they deserve a playoff berth and a chance at an October run.”

Nine innings of baseball will decide whether or not the Cubs will be gearing up for a series with division rival St. Louis Cardinals in the Divisional Championship series or packing their bags to spend the off season with their families before reporting for spring training again in March of 2016. The stakes couldn’t be any higher, but the Cubs also couldn’t ask for any better of an opportunity to prove their accomplishments as a team this season.

However despite the possibility of a devastating and abrupt halt to the season, Cubs fans are optimistic. Why? Well it seems that the Cubs may have the advantage of momentum. The Cubs ended the regular season with an 8 game winning streak and won 46 of their last 65 games (70.7% winning percentage). Although the Pirates also had a successful second half, even more successful than the Cubs final 81 games of the season, the Cubs won three of their last four games against the Pirates when they battled in Pittsburgh two weeks ago.

Additionally, the Cubs will pitch their Ace pitcher, Jake Arrieta, who has been the most dominant pitcher in baseball in the second half of the season. Arrieta had the most wins in the MLB this year with 22 wins beating his next closest competitor by three wins. Also, his ERA of .75 is less than half of the next closest competitor not to mention that his name is being discussed in every Cy Young conversation.

The 2015 National league wild card game promises to be extremely competitive and one of the most even match ups we have seen for a wild card in years.

And according to Palatine High School Junior Cole Wasowicz, it will be a “battle of the pitchers” and victory could be decided by something as small as “a single timely hit or an unfortunate error.”

On this stage, nine innings will be the difference between an October Run for the Cubs or waiting for the calendar to turn ahead to march with another year added to the championship drought tally.