Sarah Langs of ESPN Stats & Information sent along this great primer about what Cubs president Theo Epstein has accomplished in his career:

In 13 seasons, Epstein and his teams have overcome one of baseball's most historic curses (Curse of the Bambino) and have the potential to overcome another (Curse of the Billy Goat). While his eventual Hall of Fame induction seems all but inevitable, this is worth noting: Of the 33 executives in the Baseball Hall of Fame, only four were enshrined primarily as a team architect.

And how does Epstein's résumé compare to the baseball executives' Mount Rushmore?

Pat Gillick (inducted in 2011)

• Won World Series in 1992 and '93 as Blue Jays GM

• Won World Series in 2008 as Phillies GM

• Reached ALCS four times as Orioles and Mariners GM

• Tied regular-season wins record (116) as GM of 2001 Mariners

George Weiss (inducted in 1971)

• Won 10 pennants and seven World Series as Yankees GM from 1947 to 1960

• His farm system produced Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford

• Hired Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel before 1949 season

• Four-time Sporting News Executive of the Year

Branch Rickey (inducted in 1967)

• Broke baseball's color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson

• Founder of the modern farm system

• Won four World Series and six pennants with Cardinals (1919 to '42)

• Won two pennants with Brooklyn Dodgers (1947, 1949)

Ed Barrow (inducted in 1953

• Won 10 World Series & 14 pennants in Yankees' front office (1920-45)

• Converted Babe Ruth from pitcher to outfielder

• Farm systems produced Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Tony Lazzeri and Joe Gordon

• First implemented uniform numbers on regular basis (1929)

Although Epstein obviously played a significant role in the Red Sox's 2004 title, there's no doubt the 2016 Cubs are his team. Only 15 of the 25 players on Boston's 2004 World Series roster were acquired by Epstein, while 23 of the 25 players on this year's Cubs NLCS roster were acquired by him. The only two who weren't: Willson Contreras, who was signed as an amateur free agent in 2009, and Javier Baez, who was a first-round pick in 2011, the draft before Epstein arrived.

Of the 15 players Epstein acquired on the '04 Red Sox, only one was a rookie that year, and the average age was 31.7 years. But of the 23 players he acquired for this 2016 Cubs team, four are rookies, and the average age is 28.3 years.

Whereas the 2004 Red Sox were built mostly through free agency, especially the core of their lineup -- Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, David Ortiz) -- the 2016 Cubs were built mostly through player development and trades, as the corresponding table shows.

The talent gap between what Epstein inherited with the Red Sox compared to the Cubs is enormous. When Epstein took over the Red Sox after the 2002 season, Boston was coming off a 93-win season and hadn't had a losing campaign since 1997. When he and Jed Hoyer took over the Cubs in October 2011, the team was coming off a 91-loss season. The '02 Red Sox had seven All-Stars and four 6-WAR players, while the '11 Cubs had one All-Star and zero 6-WAR players.

The Cubs lost 101 games in Epstein's first season in Chicago in 2012 and are now in the World Series. It's the ninth time in major league history that a team has gone from 100 losses to the World Series within five seasons. Only two of the previous eight, however, won the Fall Classic (1914 Braves, 1969 Mets). The six teams that didn't: 2008 Rays, 2006 Tigers, 1995 Indians, 1991 Braves, 1989 Giants and 1967 Red Sox.

More on the Cubs and Dodgers

• There was no stopping these Cubs, writes Jesse Rogers. Kyle Hendricks produced a textbook performance.

• From the Elias Sports Bureau: The Cubs faced the minimum number of batters in Game 6, the second time that has happened in a nine-inning game in postseason history, according to Elias. The other instance was Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Hendricks also became the seventh pitcher to toss at least seven scoreless innings to clinch the NLCS, joining Michael Wacha (2013 Cardinals), Mike Hampton (2000 Mets), Tom Glavine (1996 Braves), John Smoltz (1991 Braves), Orel Hershiser (1988 Dodgers) and Danny Cox (1987 Cardinals).

• The Dodgers' World Series drought has now reached 28 years. L.A. relived its own perennial script, writes Bill Plaschke. Clayton Kershaw could not save them. Kershaw's curveball was completely ineffective.

• This Dodgers failure isn't a surprise, writes Dylan Hernandez. From his story:

As highly regarded as Andrew Friedman remains in the industry, the reality is that he hasn't come any closer to reaching the World Series than his predecessor, Ned Colletti.

This wasn't a surprise. As far back as spring training, some of the players were asking why Friedman and his new-age front office hadn't done more to fortify the roster, particularly the rotation.

The Dodgers had the best pitcher in the world in Clayton Kershaw.

Then what?

Behind Kershaw were Brett Anderson, Brandon McCarthy, Scott Kazmir and Hyun-Jin Ryu, all pitchers with thick medical files that forecasted the trouble that was about to come.

One by one, they went down. The Dodgers continued to thrive in their absence, which might have created a false sense of security for the team's decision makers. Their only major pitching acquistion at the non-waiver trade deadline was Rich Hill.

Teams like the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks can be taken down with a patchwork rotation. The problem is that teams like the Padres and Diamondbacks don't qualify for the postseason.

Kenta Maeda is a perfectly adequate back-of-the-rotation pitcher, but he shouldn't be the No. 3 starter on any team with World Series aspirations. Julio Urias has a promising future, but anyone counting on a 20-year-old kid in Game 4 of an NLCS is asking for trouble.

I'll have more on this in Monday's column.

• The Dodgers' hitting did little against the Cubs' pitching, writes J.P. Hoornstra.

• The Cubs reached an oasis, writes Tyler Kepner. It was a magical night for the Cubs, writes Joel Sherman.

• After years of waiting and suffering, the Cubs are in the World Series, Paul Sullivan writes.

• The Yankees' pitch to teams interested in Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller was that either could help win a World Series -- and one way or the other, that will turn out to be true.

The guy sitting in the Bartman seat Saturday was not aware of its history.

Moves, deals and decisions

1. A Tigers source flatly disputes what folks with other teams have said about the availability of Justin Upton during the 2016 season. Detroit never marketed Upton this past summer, according to the source, and in fact, when the Tigers were approached by a small handful of teams about Upton's availability -- perhaps to take advantage of what could've been perceived as a buy-low situation -- the Tigers weren't interested. Because they figured that if Detroit was going to make a push for the postseason, the streaky Upton would probably play an important role, which is what happened.

Now, in the aftermath of the Tigers' internal assessments, they have indicated to the rest of the industry that they will listen to offers on all players, including Upton, who has five years remaining on his current deal for about $110 million.

2. The Pirates are changing their base coaches.

Dings and dents

1. The Orioles arranged an MRI for Chris Davis.

2. A Padres pitcher has cleanup surgery.

Lastly

• Former Red Sox are coming up big in the postseason, writes Dan Shaughnessy.

• Jim Bunning is recovering from a stroke.

And today will be better than yesterday.