Cubs Win, Cubs Win World Series; Loveable Losers No-More
By Francisco Romero
It only took them 108 years and 7 games but the Chicago Cubs can finally say they are the World Series champions again.
This time around there was no Steve Bartman, neither a black cat nor Billy the Goat, there was only a resilient Cubs team.
The Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians 8 – 7 to win game 7 of the 2016 Fall Classic (best-of-seven).
Joe Maddon’s pupils wasted no time as they took a quick 1 – 0 lead when leadoff hitter Dexter Fowler stepped into the batter’s box and hit a bomb that just went over Rajai Davis in center field. Fowler even back paddled on his way to second base.
In the bottom of the third the Indians tied the game at one-a-piece when Carlos Santana singled a lined drive to right field scoring Coco Crisp who was on base.
On the top of the fourth inning the Cubs added two runs to regain the lead; the power continued in the fifth as Javier Baez hit a homerun to centerfield; Kris Bryant scored in the same frame with Anthony Rizzo’s line drive.
It looked like the cherry on the top of the cake would be put on by veteran catcher David Ross, as he became the oldest player in World Series history to homer in a game 7 of the Fall Classic, giving the Cubs a 6 – 3 lead.
But the Indians added drama to the game as Cleveland scored three times in the eighth frame to tie the game at 6 with a home run from Rajai Davis and flame-thrower Aroldis Chapman pitching; Chapman was pitching his third straight game.
Talk about the baseball Gods not wanting this game to end, there was a 17 minute rain delay as the game went into extra innings tied at 6.
After the game resumed, the Cubs added two runs in the 10th inning to take a 8 – 6 lead, Cleveland scored one in the bottom of the 10th inning, but it wasn’t enough.
No more next year for the Cubs as they are the 2016 World Series Champions.
Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber was chased out of the ballgame after Baez’s home run in the top of the fifth inning; Kluber finished with 4.0 innings pitched allowing 6 hits and 4 runs (2 home runs).
Cubs’ starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks pitched 4.2 innings allowing 4 hits and 2 runs (1 earned run).
The Cubs became the 20th team to come back from down 3‐2 in the World Series under the current seven‐game format; the last team to win games six and seven of the World Series on the road after trailing 3‐2 was the 1979 Pirates, who won games six and seven at Baltimore.
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