Mets, Team of Big Shoulders, Sweep Cubs to Reach World Series

The Mets will hope that their sudden star, Daniel Murphy, brings his gilded bat to the World Series. Murphy homered for the sixth game in a row, a slugging streak that set a new major league postseason record. He had four hits in Game 4 on Wednesday and torched the Cubs for four home runs and a .529 average in the series.

On Wednesday, Murphy told the Mets’ hitting coach, Kevin Long, that he would look for a changeup from the Cubs’ Fernando Rodney. He got a fastball — and crushed it over the center field fence, anyway. Curtis Granderson, the Mets’ right fielder, called him Babe Ruth.

“I can’t explain it,” Murphy said. “It’s just such a blessing to be able to contribute to what we’ve been able to do.”

CHICAGO — The baseball globe spins differently now. It obeys the whims of a blue-and-orange team with a hapless history marked by spikes of the amazing. This is the latest, and it is overwhelming in its totality.

The Mets reached their fifth World Series on Wednesday night at Wrigley Field, completing a four-game sweep of the National League Championship Series with an 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs. The Mets, who never trailed in the series, will visit the Kansas City Royals or the Toronto Blue Jays for Game 1 on Tuesday.

Long after Jeurys Familia struck out Dexter Fowler to clinch the pennant, the Mets returned from their clubhouse to celebrate on the field with family. The Cubs fans had cleared out by then, and a throng of Mets fans, several rows deep, crowded around the dugout to chant the players’ names and cheer.“This is a long time coming,” said David Wright, the team captain, who signed with the Mets at age 17, in 2001. “I’m glad that I got a chance to kind of experience some of the misery with them along this road, because that champagne tastes a lot sweeter having gone through that, let me tell you.”The Mets, who also got a homer and five runs batted in from the struggling Lucas Duda, won their first N.L. pennant since 2000, when they lost a five-game World Series to the Yankees. This will be their first World Series at Citi Field, which opened in 2009 — the first of six losing seasons in a row for the Mets, who slashed payroll, groomed prospects and preached patience to their fans.

“Watching the fans like this — this is what I’m getting the most kick out of and the most fun, watching the fans enjoy this,” said Jeff Wilpon, the chief operating officer, on the field after the game. “We got four more wins now. Four more.”

Fred Wilpon, Jeff’s father and the Mets’ owner, thanked the fans and his family in a postgame interview on TBS. He added that he had special affection for this group of players.

“I must tell you I want to thank the players,” said Wilpon, who has been with the Mets since 1980. “They have been awesome right from spring training; they knew what they wanted to do, and they went out and did it. This group of young men are of the greatest character that I’ve ever seen on a team. They play for each other, they root for each other, and I’m tremendously proud of them.”