If watching the team you like lose is kind of like getting your teeth cleaned, watching the team you like lose in a 13-inning, five-hour-long elimination game is kind of like getting your wisdom teeth extracted by a fresh-out-of-medical-school oral surgeon who doesn’t believe in using anesthesia.

Alas, I watched the Chicago Cubs suffer this second kind of loss Tuesday night to the Colorado Rockies. After nearly five hours of baseball—the longest postseason game in Wrigley Field’s history—the Rockies defeated the Cubs 2-1 in 13 innings.

Here’s the thing: The game followed a familiar script. A lethal combination of giving up runs (or in this case, a run) early and being stymied at the plate has hurt the Cubbies all season long, and it was all too fitting that their final game would end the same way.

The Cubs fell behind early, letting up a run in the first inning, and were unable to capitalize on a series of chances (in both the first and the second, their leadoff hitter got aboard and was stranded). They did not score their lone run until the eighth inning—and it was a cheaply scored run at that, with super speedy pinch runner Terrance Gore scurrying home on a Javier Baez chopper.

For the Cubs this season, glimpses of their 2016 glory came periodically. There were occasional flashes of brilliance from their offense, filled with superstars in Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Baez (who ended the regular season as the NL leader in RBIs). But just as often—in more games than any MLB team except for the 115-loss Baltimore Orioles—the Cubs found themselves unable to score more than one run.

The Cubs had lost in similar fashion in the NL Central tiebreaker against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday: Rizzo hit a homer in the fifth, but they were otherwise unable to score.

Despite the less than ideal outcome for Cubs fans, Tuesday’s game was proof of how exciting baseball can be, even in a game devoid of home runs.

Strong pitching on either side—with the Cubs’ Jon Lester and the Rockies’ Kyle Freeland both putting up punch-outs (combining for 15) and keeping guys off the bases (each walked just one batter)—made the game enjoyable, and it became more suspenseful as the innings went on. After the Cubs finagled their way into a tie in the eighth, it became clear that the game would likely go to extras—and indeed it did, becoming the longest game by innings in MLB postseason history.

Sure, the Cubs lost, but at least it was in spectacular fashion. Also, I was not expecting the Cubs to win the World Series this year. I thought they’d win the NL Central and make it a bit further in the playoffs, but in sports, anything short of a championship is ultimately disappointing.

Besides, the Cubs’ loss means I can focus all my Thursday night energy on the Chicago Blackhawks’ first game of the regular season: As one door closes, another one opens. See ya in April, Cubbies!