Marlins

CHICAGO - They became the brunt of baseball jokes when their roster was chopped to pieces after winning the 1997 World Series. They were targeted for contraction -- the baseball term for elimination -- when their fan base became nearly nonexistent. They play in a football stadium, not a true ballpark.

Yet, this most unexpected and unheralded of teams -- the Florida Marlins -- is returning to the baseball mountaintop.

The Marlins punched their World Series ticket Wednesday, defeating the hard-luck Cubs 9-6 before 39,574 shell-shocked fans at Wrigley Field. The Cubs, who haven't won the Series since 1908 and haven't reached the Series in 58 years, were defeated by an 11-year-old franchise that will be chasing its second title in six years.

''I've waited for this for 12 years, and I'm going to the World Series with a team that nobody expected to be in the playoffs,'' said catcher Ivan Rodriguez as his Marlins teammates celebrated inside the cramped clubhouse.

Said the Marlins'...