Cubs Win the World Series
November 4, 2016
Two nights ago, on November 2, the Chicago Cubs ended the most storied championship drought in the history of professional sports, winning their first World Series title in 108 years. The Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in a tense and exhausting Game 7 that carried into the 10th inning.
Chicago Cubs players celebrate their Game 7 victory over the Cleveland Indians to win the World Series on Nov. 2, 2016. It was the first World Series title for the Cubs since 1908. Credit: © Matt Slocum, AP Photo
Leading off the game in Cleveland, Ohio, Cubs outfielder Dexter Fowler started the scoring by hitting a home run against Indians ace Corey Kluber. The Cubs built their lead to 6-3, but Cleveland tied it up with a 3-run 8th inning capped by a dramatic 2-run homer by Indians outfielder Rajai Davis off Cubs flamethrowing reliever Aroldis Chapman. Following a short rain delay after the 9th inning, the Cubs scored twice on hits by World Series Most Valuable Player Ben Zobrist and catcher Miguel Montero. In a tense bottom of the 10th, the Indians pushed a run across and were threatening to score again, but Cubs star third baseman Kris Bryant made a tough play on an infield chopper to record the last out. The Cubs players then erupted into a joyous baseball pile around the pitcher’s mound, celebrating the long-awaited and hard-fought championship.
Kluber had dominated the Cubs in Game 1 of the series, a 6-0 shutout in Cleveland on October 25. The Cubs struck back in Game 2 on October 26, winning 5-1 behind 5 ⅓ shutout innings by Cubs starter Jake Arrieta. The series moved to Chicago for the first World Series games played at Wrigley Field since 1945. Cleveland won 1-0 on October 28, and 7-2 on October 29, pushing the Cubs to the brink of elimination. The Cubs won 3-2 in Chicago on October 30, and routed the Indians 9-3 in Cleveland on November 1. With their Game 7 victory, the Cubs became the first team to battle back from a 3-games-to-1 World Series deficit since the Kansas City Royals did so in 1985.
The Cubs’ last World Series title had come over the Detroit Tigers in 1908. At that time, Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States. The first popular production automobile, the Ford Model T, had just been introduced. Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, and New Mexico were not yet states. Tickets to the series cost $1.50. The Cubs last trip to the series came in 1945, just after the end of World War II. During that series (which the Cubs lost to the Tigers), colorful tavern owner William Sianis was thrown out of Wrigley Field for bringing his pet goat to the game. Sianis supposedly cursed the Cubs, and the “Curse of the Billy Goat” became a popular piece of folklore during the team’s long title drought.
For Cleveland, the gut-wrenching near miss in the World Series carried a bitter reminder. The Indians last chance at the title came in 1997, when they also lost Game 7 of the World Series in extra innings, that time to the Florida (now Miami) Marlins.
