CHICAGO -- All along, he promised to host a party. So, the way Mike Napoli sees it, the only consequence of the Cleveland Indians' 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs in Game 5 of the World Series at Wrigley Field was that he finally will get a chance to have everybody over for a championship-clinching celebration.

"That's the plan now," said Napoli, the Indians' veteran first baseman. "I was talking to a couple of guys that it would be pretty nice to do it in front of our fans. It's going to be crazy. It's going to be nuts."

It was crazy when the Indians partied on the field at Fenway Park after closing out the Boston Red Sox in the American League Division Series. It was nuts when they popped champagne at Rogers Centre after finishing off the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Championship Series.

But if the Indians are able to win one more game and secure their first World Series title since 1948 ... well, it's going to be epic. And as much as they wanted to do it here Sunday night, as much as they tried to scratch across a couple of runs against heat-seeking Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman over the final 2⅔ cuticle-chomping innings, such a momentous achievement wouldn't be complete if it wasn't immediately followed by a party at Napoli's, just like the T-shirts Indians players, staff members and fans have worn all season long so clearly suggest.

Maybe it wasn't such a terrible thing, then, that Indians starter Trevor Bauer gave up three runs in the fourth inning of Game 5 or that star shortstop Francisco Lindor was thrown out trying to steal second base in the sixth inning before staring at three strikes from Chapman with the tying run on third base in the eighth.

After all, the Indians still did what they came to Chicago to do, namely win two of three games, take control of the 112th World Series and give themselves a chance to win it back in Cleveland, where they went 53-28 during the regular season, tied with the Texas Rangers for the best home record in the American League.

Wait 'til next year? As far as the Indians are concerned, that's still the Cubs' mantra. They'll settle for merely waiting until Tuesday night, when right-hander Josh Tomlin takes the ball in Game 6.

"I mean, we wanted to finish it here, but it's just part of the game," said Lindor, standing on the grass at Wrigley with delirious fans partying (and heckling) all around him after the Cubs' first World Series victory at home since Oct. 8, 1945. "We know they've got a good team. We knew we weren't going to sweep the series. No one said it was going to be easy. I'm looking forward to going home and hopefully getting the wins over there."

In surviving to play at least one more game, the Cubs stole the Indians' formula: Scratch across a run to take the lead, then turn the game over to their best reliever.

Bauer, erratic throughout the season and far from a sure thing to close out the series against Cubs ace Jon Lester, looked sharp for three innings. He left two fastballs over the plate in back-to-back at-bats to open the fourth inning, though. Kris Bryant hit the first for a game-tying homer, and Anthony Rizzo slugged the second for a double.

Ben Zobrist and Addison Russell followed with back-to-back singles before Javier Baez reached on a one-out bunt single and David Ross lifted a sacrifice fly to stretch the margin to 3-1.

The Indians cut it to 3-2 by the time Cubs manager Joe Maddon called on his version of Indians relief ace Andrew Miller. Chapman threw 42 pitches to nail down an eight-out save, including the eighth-inning strikeout of Lindor, who said he "didn't think I was capable of hitting any of those pitches he threw me."

"Nobody's ever just run to the bat rack when Chapman comes in the game," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "That was a big ask and he answered. That was impressive. I mean, kind of like what Andrew's done, he kind of did the same thing."

And when it was over, the Indians barely flinched.

"We're in good position still. We're up 3-2 going home," Napoli said. "We did what we had to do here. We put ourselves in a position to try to win it in a crazy atmosphere. We're happy with what we did here, and we're going to get home and play in front of our fans."

Said pitching coach Mickey Callaway: "They realize that to come into this atmosphere and take two out of three takes a special effort. I'm sure all of them are proud of that. You get down to the sixth and seventh game, you're playing in the backyard as a 10-year-old, these are the scenarios you call out."

The Cubs have reason to believe, too. For one thing, slugger Kyle Schwarber will be back in the lineup as the designated hitter after getting only one at-bat in the past three games. For another, reigning Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta will be on the mound in Game 6.

And the Indians' Game 6 and 7 starters -- Tomlin and ace Corey Kluber, if necessary -- will be pitching on short rest, never an ideal situation.

But Callaway noted that Tomlin threw only 58 pitches in Game 3 on Friday night and Kluber didn't top 90 pitches in either Game 1 or Game 4.

"That's going to really help them," Callaway said.

Said Napoli: "We have all the faith in the world in JT. He's shown that he's pitched well. Bullpen guys will get to rest [Monday]. We're still a confident group. Nobody's hanging their head in that clubhouse."

As the Indians projected confidence on the field after only their third loss in this postseason, a sea of Cubs fans gathered outside Wrigley, jamming the corner of Clark and Addison streets to revel in something that hadn't happened here in 71 years.

Napoli, who won a World Series in Boston in 2013 and played in another with Texas in 2012, tried to picture what the scene will be like back in Cleveland on Tuesday night, when the Indians try to do something that hasn't been done in 68 years.

"I don't know if you know, but we were sold out there tonight for a watch party," Napoli said. "A watch party. Can you imagine when we're playing there? It's going to be fun. They're going to be fired up and they're going to get us going."

And if the Indians are able to win just one of the next two games?

It'll be a full-fledged party at Napoli's, which is the only way for them to truly celebrate.