"Lovable Loser" Chicago Cubs clinch their division, despite loss

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs have won the National League Central, becoming the first team this season to clinch a division title when the St. Louis Cardinals lost at San Francisco, 6-2. 

The Cubs were defeated 5-4 by the Milwaukee Brewers earlier Thursday night, but captured their first NL Central crown since 2008 when the Giants finished off their victory over the Cards.

Wrigley Field was empty when Matt Adams made the final out on the West Coast, but a loud cheer went up in the neighborhood around the iconic ballpark and several people honked their car horns.

The Cubs have gone 108 years without a World Series championship.

By winning the division, the Cubs ensured they’ll open the postseason by hosting Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Oct. 7.  

The NL Central title is the Cubs’ first since winning back-to-back division titles in 2007 and 2008, points out CBS Sports Writer Mike Axisa. They lost in the NLDS both of those years. The Cubs did win 97 games last season and make the postseason as a wild card, then advance all the way to the National League Championship Series.

“Believe it or not, this is only the Cubs’ sixth first-place finish since 1946,” writes Axis. “Hey, they don’t call them the Lovable Losers for nothing.”

The defining at-bat in Thursday’s Cubs game came when Brewers pinch-hitter Scooter Gennett hit a two-run double off Cubs right-hander Justin Grimm to break a 3-3 tie in the top of the seventh inning. Jason Heyward’s RBI double pulled the Cubs within a run in the bottom of the eighth, but Willson Contreras struck out with the tying run in scoring position.

As CBS News correspondent Dean Reynold reported Thursday, the last Cubs championship came when Roosevelt was president -- Teddy Roosevelt. And while they did manage another World Series appearance, it was 71 years ago and they lost -- supposedly because of a curse -- involving a goat.