Best Bars To Watch MLB Playoffs In Chicago

It just might be the year for the Cubbies, and with that hope, thousands will be pouring into the Friendly Confines this October as the Cubs enter the playoff season. Snagging a playoff ticket so you could cheer your team in person, roar with the crowd and probably have a few choice words about a questionable call, is priceless. But with the Chicago faithful pouring to Wrigley, ticket prices will undoubtedly be through the roof. Fortunately, Chicago has several good bars where TVs pick up all the sports stations. Here are five places where you can take in the game as if you yourself are seated in the right field bleachers. They all have a good beer selection and plenty of TVs, and just like the rest of the city, will be filled to the brim with fans clad in Cubbie blue cheering "go Cubs go!"

The Cubby Bear
1059 W. Addison St. at Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 327-1662
www.wrigleyville.cubbybear.com

With a name like Cubby Bear, and given its location across from Wrigley Field, you know the bar is a good place to root for the Chicago Cubs, or possibly, another National League Team (except for the arch-rival St. Louis Cardinals) if the Cubs don't advance. With 75 plasma TVs and five projection screen TVs, you should be able to secure a stool or standing spot within sight of the playoff games. A baseball bar stop since 1953, the place is still going strong. Participants in a USA Today poll voted Cubby Bear among the top 10 sports bars in the United States in 2014.

Murphy's Bleachers
3655 N. Sheffield Ave.
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 281-5356
www.murphysbleachers.com

If going to Murphy's Bleachers, on the other side of the park from the Cubby Bear, your best plan is to go early on game day. The place fills so fast that customers spill out across the sidewalk, even though it also has a beer garden and rooftop bar. A bar has been here , first named "Bleachers," since the 1930s. Once called Ernie's Bleachers, then Ray's Bleachers - Home of the Bleacher Bums in the 1960s-70s, it was bought by Jim Murphy in 1980. It's been Murphy's Bleachers ever since, but has expanded several times, including adding a baseball memorabilia museum. The place is also a community hub and politician hang-out.

In the fall, Joe's Bar, a popular sports and music venue on the Near North Side, normally attracts fans of professional and college football. But since Cubs fever started running high in August, the bar has had several of its more than 100 TVs turned to baseball. The front of the house is more intimate than the back, which has large projection screen TVs for the big October crowds. There is also a rooftop bar. Although the place tends to attract fans of local teams, other rooters are welcome.

Related: Best Bars In Chicago To Watch NFL's Opening Games

Sedgewick's Bar And Grill
1935 N.Sedgwick St.
Chicago, IL 60614
(312) 337-7900
www.sedgwickschicago.com

OK Cardinal fans, Sedgwick's, a Chicago sports bar and restaurant in the Old Town neighborhood, knows that you are out there. With all the cheers for Mizzou and the Cardinals, you will think you are in Missouri. This is the place for you to watch the playoffs without being booed by die-hard Cubs you'll be seeing in every other bar and on every corner. The bar makes no apologies for welcoming fans of other teams, particularly those who cheer for the Cardinals. By the way, Sedgwick's also has good food and a fine beer list.

Instead of finding Joseph "Shoeless Joe" Jefferson Jackson at this sports bar, you might meet sports aficionado Joe Macchitelli or his family. No matter that the legendary Shoeless Joe was alleged to be associated with a White Sox game-throwing scandal, Joe still holds a White Sox record for triples in a season and career batting average, and was named to "Sporting News'" list of top 100 greatest baseball players in 1999. Macchitelli, who tracks the White Sox and Cubs teams, has more than 50 big screen TVs and receives all the sports channels, so his bar is a fine place to go to watch the playoffs if living or visiting near O'Hare International Airport. The bar also has a good beer list on tap and by the bottle.

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