In a September 23 Cubs-Giants game, Merkle failed to touch second base when Al Bridwell delivered an apparent game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth inning. By the time the Cubs retrieved the ball and eventually forced Merkle at second, fans had swarmed the field. With order impossible to restore, the game was declared a 1-1 tie. As things turned out, Chicago and New York wound up with 98-55 records, meaning the “Merkle game” would have to be made up.

In an October 8 replay, the Cubs scored a 4-2 victory and left the Giants agonizing over what might have been. Or even what should have been. The Chicagoans, on the other hand, were reveling in what was.

Having repeated as NL titleists by the barest of margins (the Pirates, like the Giants, finished one game behind Chicago), the Cubs prepared for a second consecutive World Series against the Detroit Tigers, who had won the American League championship on the final day of the regular season.

As was the case the previous year, the Tigers held the lead entering the ninth inning of the Series opener. And, as in 1907, Detroit frittered away the advantage. This time, the Tigers suffered a worse fate than being tied.

With his club ahead 6-5 in the ninth, Detroit pitcher Ed Summers retired Johnny Evers to start the inning. Summers, a 24-game winner in 1908, then yielded six consecutive hits and five runs, the go-ahead runs scoring on a bases-loaded single by Solly Hofman. The Cubs pulled out all the stops en route to a 10-6 triumph, using Orval Overall and Mordecai Brown in relief roles behind Ed Reulbach.

The Tigers’ Bill Donovan was paired against Overall in Game 2, and the righthanders put on quite a show. Through four innings, neither pitcher had allowed a hit in a 0-0 standoff. After seven innings, the Tigers had three hits and the Cubs only one (by Overall) as the game remained scoreless.

Overall proceeded to retire the Tigers in order in the top of the eighth, but Donovan ran into trouble in the bottom of the inning. Big trouble. After Harry Steinfeldt singled, Joe Tinker poked a home run to right field. And before the inning was over, the Cubs had four more hits and four more runs.

Ty Cobb delivered a run-scoring single in the ninth for Detroit, but Overall and Chicago prevailed, 6-1. The Cubs had won their sixth consecutive Series game from the Tigers.

Detroit finally broke through in Game 3, with George Mullin checking the Chicagoans on seven hits in an 8-3 victory. Cobb had four hits and two RBIs. Brown quieted any rising Tiger fervor, however, by recording a four-hit, 3-0 triumph in Game 4. And Overall, so magnificent three days earlier, was at the top of his game again in Game 5. The 27-year-old Californian allowed only three hits and struck out 10 batters and, backed by three hits and RBIs from Evers and Manager Frank Chance, was a 2-0 winner. Only 6,210 fans witnessed the finale in Detroit, the smallest crowd in Series history.

The Cubs ruled major-league baseball, becoming the first team to win back-to-back World Series titles. And those championships had come on the heels of their record 116-victory season of 1906.

In sports, the word “dynasty” just might have applied for the first time in October 1908.

This article was originally published on TSN

Game Recaps from Retrosheet

1908 World Series Stories 

The 1908 Post-Season Games

World Series: Chicago Cubs (4) defeated Detroit Tigers (1)

World Series Game 1 Played on Saturday, October 10, 1908 (D) at Bennett Park

CHI N    0  0  4    0  0  0    1  0  5  -  10 14  2
DET A    1  0  0    0  0  0    3  2  0  -   6 10  3

BOX+PBP
WP: Brown (1-0)
LP: Summers (0-1)

World Series Game 2 Played on Sunday, October 11, 1908 (D) at West Side Grounds

DET A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  1  -   1  4  1
CHI N    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  6  x  -   6  7  0

BOX+PBP
WP: Overall (1-0)
LP: Donovan (0-1)
HR: Tinker (1)

World Series Game 3 Played on Monday, October 12, 1908 (D) at West Side Grounds

DET A    1  0  0    0  0  5    0  2  0  -   8 12  4
CHI N    0  0  0    3  0  0    0  0  0  -   3  7  1

BOX+PBP
WP: Mullin (1-0)
LP: Pfiester (0-1)

World Series Game 4 Played on Tuesday, October 13, 1908 (D) at Bennett Park

CHI N    0  0  2    0  0  0    0  0  1  -   3 10  0
DET A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   0  4  1

BOX+PBP
WP: Brown (2-0)
LP: Summers (0-2)

World Series Game 5 Played on Wednesday, October 14, 1908 (D) at Bennett Park

CHI N    1  0  0    0  1  0    0  0  0  -   2 10  0
DET A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   0  3  0

BOX+PBP
WP: Overall (2-0)
LP: Donovan (0-2)