Former NC State pitcher Jake Buchanan is looking for some World Series tickets for this weekend’s games between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians.

The difference between Buchanan and every other person who wants to be at the first World Series game at Wrigley Stadium since 1945? For all of September and the first few days of October, Buchanan was on the Cubs’ active roster.

“If you know anyone who has some, I wouldn’t mind going,” Buchanan said earlier this week.

Released by the Houston Astros in March after five seasons as a reliever with the franchise, Buchanan was signed by the Cubs to be a starter for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. He put together a solid season there, going 12-8 with a 4.34 earned run average. He received a promotion to the Major Leagues on Sept. 1.

After using Buchanan in a one-inning relief appearance early in the month, manager Joe Maddon called on the 26-year-old righthander in Cincinnati when regular starter Jason Hammel was scratched from his final start because of tightness in his elbow. Buchanan responded with five shutout innings in the 7-3 victory, win No. 102 of the 103 for the Cubs in the regular season. He gave up just two hits and a walk to the Reds.

“It was definitely a positive experience for me,” Buchanan said from his home in Fort Myers, Fla. “After I was released by the Astros, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but then I got the call from the Cubs, who wanted me to be a starter in Iowa.

“It was a great fresh start. I think I made the most of it.”

The native of Dallas, N.C., was reassigned to the minor leagues on Oct. 7, but he still stuck around Chicago for the first two games of the postseason.

“That was pretty cool, just to be a part of it and see how excited the city was for the playoffs,” Buchanan said.

He made some friends in the clubhouse too, palling around with Cubs reliever Trevor Cahill and learning from the other Jake on the pitching staff, former Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta.

“He took me under his wing a little bit and helped me out,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan pitched for three seasons with the Wolfpack from 2008-10, posting an 8-6 record with a 3.86 ERA as a junior in 2010. He fanned 96 batters in 105 innings of work as the Wolfpack’s top starter. He stays in regular touch with Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent and with former teammate John Lambert, who is the baseball team’s director of player and program development.

Buchanan was taken by the Astros in the eighth round of the 2010 Major League Draft of Amateur Players, and by the end of the 2011 season he was named the Astros Minor League Pitcher of the Year. He made his Major League debut in 2014, appearing in 14 games as a reliever and spot starter and posting a 1-3 record. He pitched in two games for the Astros as a reliever in 2015 but did not earn a decision.

Buchanan isn’t sure what his future is for next season, except that he’s planning to head to spring training with the Cubs. And what if the Cubs win the World Series for the first time since 1908? Will Buchanan get a championship ring?

He wouldn’t be the first former Wolfpack player to do so. Shortstop Jonathan Diaz received a ring from the Boston Red Sox in 2013, even though he played just three early games with the team that season. Dave Robertson (1912 and 1922 New York Giants), George Murray (1922 New York Giants), Kemp Wicker (1936 and 1938 New York Yankees) and Tim Stoddard (1983 Baltimore Orioles) were all on teams that eventually won World Series, but they did not participate.

Among the former Wolfpack players who were active for World Series winning teams are Wicker, who pitched one inning for the Yankees in the 1937 win over the Giants, first baseman Tracy Woodson, who had four at-bats for the 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers against the Oakland A’s, and shortstop Jimmy Brown, who was the St. Louis Cardinals' leading hitter in the 1942 series win over the Yankees.

Other former Wolfpack players who played in the World Series but lost include Robertson (1917 New York Giants), Stoddard (1979 Baltimore Orioles), pitcher Mike Caldwell (1982 Milwakee Brewers) and shortstop Adam Everett (2005 Houston Astros).

One other former NC State athlete, one-time freshman basketball player under Everett Case and Durham-native Roger Craig, pitched in four World Series, winning in 1955 and ’56 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, losing in 1959 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and winning again in 1964 with the St. Louis Cardinals. He did not, however, play baseball in his one year at NC State.

Buchanan is not too worried about whether he might get a ring.

“I’m just happy for the guys in the clubhouse at where they are right now,” he said. “They deserve it.”

Batman is in Florida with his wife, former NC State swimmer Chelsa Messinger, who is a sports anchor for television station WINK in Fort Myers, and he’s polishing his golf game.

Regardless of what happens between the Cubs and the Indians, things couldn’t get much better for Buchanan.

Update:

Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.