Cubs end 71-year World Series drought

By Francisco Romero. – A Yasiel Puig game ending double-play in the top of the 9^th inning at Wrigley Field sent the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series since 1945; the Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0 in game 6 of the best-of-sevn.

Tears of joy, by the fans, were visible after a seven-decade and a few generations World Series drought by the Chicago Cubs.

It was a feeling that Cubs’ manager Joe Maddon described, “It’s one of those things that it’s everything you think it is, but then again you have to — you need time to really process the entire situation. You stand out on that platform afterwards and you’re looking at the ballpark and the fans and the W flags everywhere, and truthfully I do think about everybody, I think about the fans and their parents and their grandparents and great-grandparents and everything that’s been going on here for a while.”

The Cubs made it look easy all season long by winning 103 games, but they had to beat the beast to get over the hump, and indeed the best they beat.

Chicago faced Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, in game 6, whose performance in the postseason had carried the Dodgers up to that point, but the Cubs hitters got him early and often. The Cubs scored early in the game and Willson Contreras and Anthony Rizzo hit the ball out of the park. Cuban sensation Aroldis Chapman sealed the game with overpowering fastballs.

Cubs Pitcher Kyle Hendricks outpitched Kershaw; in 7.1 innings he only allowed 2 hits, while striking out 6.

Hendricks was able to keep his composure at the biggest stage of his career at this point, “I think the outside forces felt different. You felt the buzz around the stadium, definitely the energy. It was loud in there. But at the end of the day, myself, I didn’t feel much different. At the end of the day, all I was trying to do was simplify and make good pitches. If you make good pitches you’re going to get hitters out. So I was able to stay in that zone, kind of stay in my bubble, if you would say, but again, I think those early runs really allowed me to do that, took a lot of pressure off.

Loveable Losers no more, Billy the Goat was nowhere to be seen and I am sure Steve Bartman was listening to the game on his iPod rather than a Walkman; now the Cubs will face the Cleveland Indians in the World Series.