CHICAGO - The shouts of joy bounced all around the ballpark, for everyone to hear at Wrigley Field. And while the Florida Marlins whooped it up, the Chicago Cubs and their fans could only watch in stunned silence.

Somehow, these Marlins had survived in Game 7 of the NL championship series. Playing like true wild cards, they rallied against Kerry Wood and added to the Cubs' lore of losing with a 9-6 win Wednesday night.

''The Cubs were America's favorite. I think we're the darlings of the baseball world now,'' Marlins manager Jack McKeon said.

Florida won the final three games, earning a World Series trip to face either Boston or the New York Yankees on Saturday night.

As the Marlins celebrated, another season came to a sad ending for the Cubs, signified by the blue flag with a white ''L'' hoisted above the center-field scoreboard. This loss might've been the most painful of all.

Destiny? Fate? The fan in Game 6? Whatever. The Cubs' long, strange drought continued because of MVP Ivan Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera and these remarkably resilient Marlins.

''Nobody expected us to be in the World Series,'' Rodriguez said.

Even more stinging for Cubs' fans is that this marks Florida's second Series trip in only 11 years of existence. Chicago has been absent since 1945, prompting the team's motto of ''Wait 'Til Next Year.''

''I felt I let the team down, the organization down and the city of Chicago down,'' Wood said. ''I choked.''

Cubs manager Dusty Baker was not nearly as harsh.

''We didn't lose the pennant, the Marlins won it,'' he said. ''We were close and the Marlins took it from us, it's as simple as that.''

So the 58-year wait goes on.

''If it's a burden this year, it will be 59 next year,'' he said.

Baker's 4-year-old son, Darren, added a final word when his dad was done talking.

''The Cubs will win next year,'' he said.

Home teams had won 12 of the last 13 times a postseason series went to Game 7. But the Marlins became just the ninth team to ever overcome a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven series.

''We shocked the world! We shocked the world!'' Marlins leadoff man Juan Pierre said.

Even after being shut out in Game 5 by Josh Beckett, Sammy Sosa and the Cubs were in excellent position as they returned home. But aces Mark Prior and Wood lost on back-to-back days for the first time this season and suddenly a sure thing had turned sour.

''Those are two tough guys to beat, I'll tell you what,'' Beckett said. ''We got a break. Things work out for a reason, I guess.''

A sellout crowd of 39,574 minus the infamous Steve Bartman - the fan who deflected a foul ball during the Marlins' eighth-inning rally in Game 6, he was at home with a police guard - had the old ballpark shaking as Wood and Moises Alou homered for a 5-3 lead.

But Wood could only flip his glove into the stands when the Marlins rallied. They scored three runs in the fifth, Luis Castillo hit an RBI single in the sixth and Alex Gonzalez added insurance with a two-run double in the seventh.

Brad Penny won with an inning of scoreless relief for Mark Redman.

Beckett came out of the bullpen and pitched four innings of one-hit ball on two days' rest, allowing only a homer by pinch-hitter Troy O'Leary. Ugueth Urbina worked the ninth for a save.

Florida has never lost a postseason series in its young history, going 5-0. That includes a thrilling Game 7 victory in 11 innings over Cleveland for the 1997 title.

At 72, McKeon is the oldest manager to reach the World Series. That seemed farfetched when the Marlins were 19-29 back in late May, shortly after McKeon replaced the fired Jeff Torborg.

''I told them the first meeting that if they worked hard, they'd be playing in October,'' he said.

Cabrera and Rodriguez once again played starring roles for Florida. Cabrera, a 20-year-old rookie, hit his third homer of the series and drove in four runs while Rodriguez singled home a run that gave him an NLCS-record 10 RBIs.

Down 5-3 in the fifth, Rodriguez doubled home a run and Cabrera tied it with an RBI grounder. Derrek Lee, whose double keyed the eight-run rally in Game 6, followed with a single that put Florida ahead 6-5.

The Cubs had been hoping this would be the year they got a chance to win their first Series championship since 1908.

Instead, add this failure to all of their previous disappointments. That includes wasting a 2-0 lead over San Diego in the best-of-five 1984 NLCS, blowing a late lead in the 1969 NL race and losing Game 7 of the 1945 World Series at Wrigley to Detroit.

''This is our first step,'' Sosa said. ''We haven't given up yet.''

Baker was trying to become the first manager in history to lead two different teams to the World Series in consecutive years. Rather, he fell short, just as he did last year when his San Francisco Giants lost the last two games of the World Series at Anaheim.

''Was it disappointing? Yes, it's disappointing,'' Baker said. ''We weren't underestimating them at all.''