As the Division Series winner with the best regular season record in the National League, the Cubs earned home-field advantage regardless of opponent.

Chicago lost its first four NLCS appearances, in 1984, 1989, 2003, and most recently were swept in the 2015 National League Championship Series.

Los Angeles was in the NLCS for the first time since losing the 2013 National League Championship Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.

In the top of the eighth, the Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs on two singles and walk off Mike Montgomery and Pedro Strop.

Aroldis Chapman in relief struck out Corey Seager and Yasiel Puig, but Adrián González tied the game with a two-run single to center[10] In the bottom of the inning, Miguel Montero's pinch-hit grand slam off Joe Blanton was followed by a Dexter Fowler homer on the next pitch to put the Cubs back in front 8–3.

[11] The Dodgers got a run off Héctor Rondón in the ninth when Joc Pederson singled with one out and scored on Andrew Toles's double, but Chase Utley lined into an inning-ending double play as Game 1 marked the Cubs' first victory in a National League Championship Series since Game 4 of 2003.

Clayton Kershaw and Kyle Hendricks were the top two in ERA in baseball, although the former didn't have enough innings to qualify.

For Hendricks, this was his first appearance since being struck on the forearm by a line drive by Ángel Pagán in Game 2 of the National League Division Series.

[15] The Dodgers tacked on another in the sixth as Justin Turner drilled a homer to center field, chasing Arrieta from the game.

Joe Blanton threw an inning in the seventh and Grant Dayton and Kenley Jansen combined to do so in the eighth.

In the bottom of the eighth, against reliever Mike Montgomery, Yasiel Puig singled with one out and came around to score on a double down the left-field line by Joc Pederson, improving the Dodgers' lead to 5–0.

Looking to break their two-game scoring drought, the Cubs sent playoff veteran John Lackey to the mound while the Dodgers went with Julio Urías, the youngest pitcher to start a game in postseason history.

In the bottom of the second, the Dodgers had a scoring chance denied as Adrián González was thrown out at the plate by Jason Heyward after an Andrew Toles single.

Reliever Mike Montgomery gave up a single to load the bases before striking out Corey Seager.

Following a single by Zobrist to load the bases, Báez hit a sacrifice fly to center fielder Joc Pederson, whose throw to home got by the catcher.

An infield single by Kris Bryant scored Contreras, and a walk by Ben Zobrist loaded the bases for Baez, whose bases-clearing double put the Cubs up 8–1.

He allowed a run-scoring single by Josh Reddick and a sacrifice fly by Andrew Toles to make the score 8–4, but induced Justin Turner to ground out to end the game.

[24] Cubs pitchers Kyle Hendricks and Aroldis Chapman combined to allow only two hits and one walk, facing the minimum 27 batters, the first time this had occurred in postseason play since Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

As a result, the Cubs faced the minimum number of batters, 27, to complete a nine-inning Major League Baseball game, a rarity in a postseason contest.

[29] Javier Báez and Jon Lester won NLCS co-Most Valuable Player honors.

Roughly 300,000 Chicago Cubs fans took to the streets outside Wrigley Field from Saturday night into Sunday to celebrate the team's first pennant since 1945, city officials estimated.

[32] 11 days later, fans would have an even bigger celebration as the Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years, defeating the Cleveland Indians in seven games.

The Dodgers, bolstered by the addition of rookie of the year and MVP candidate Cody Bellinger, a breakout season from Chris Taylor, and a trade deadline acquisition of ace starting pitcher Yu Darvish (Bellinger and Darvish would later play for the Cubs), won 104 games, the most by a National League club since the 2004 Cardinals.

The Cubs, with virtually the same team as 2016 besides swamping out Aroldis Chapman for Wade Davis at closer, struggled with injury and what was dubbed by pundits as "a World Series hangover", attributable to a deep postseason run and therefore a shorter offseason; they still however managed to pull away and win the National League Central.