The Cubs were coming off of a poor year in 2002, finishing 67–95 in fifth place in the NL Central and costing manager Don Baylor his job.

The Cubs hired Dusty Baker, fresh off his World Series appearance with the San Francisco Giants, to replace Baylor.

The team's success can be attributed first and foremost to its starting rotation, which featured Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano, and Matt Clement, each of whom won at least 13 games.

While not nearly as dominant in hitting, the Cubs' lineup was bolstered by acquisitions at what was a very active trade deadline, including Aramis Ramírez, Randall Simon, and Kenny Lofton.

On one hand, their surprising regular season run to first place in the NL Central, and the excellent performances of their top three pitchers, all of whom were age 26 or younger, seemed to suggest that the Cubs would be contenders for the foreseeable future.

Even with the loss, the Cubs looked good going back home with their two aces, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood ready to start Games 6 and 7.

On the eighth pitch of his at bat, Luis Castillo hit a high foul ball toward the left field wall.

Though the Cubs pleaded for a call of fan interference, the umpire ruled that the ball had left the field of play and was therefore up for grabs.

Miguel Cabrera then hit a ground ball toward Cubs shortstop Alex Gonzalez that could have ended the inning on a double play.

On the next pitch, Derrek Lee (a future Cubs' All-Star) drilled a double into left field, scoring Castillo and Rodríguez to tie the game at 3-3.

Jeff Conine then hit a sacrifice fly to right field for the second out of the inning, allowing Cabrera to score from third and the other runners to each advance one base.

This time, Mordecai prevailed, hitting a bases-clearing double to left-center field, allowing Lee, Lowell and Hollandsworth to score and making it a 7-3 Marlins lead.