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Cubs win! Cubs win! Epic Game 7 victory ends Series curse - SweetSpot- ESPN
CLEVELAND -- Are the skies black with locusts? Has Lake Michigan turned red? Two days after Halloween, the curse has been cursed. The Comeback on the Cuyahoga is complete. After a century and eight years, the Chicago Cubs are world champions, and they did it by surviving a game for the ages, a contest when they finally slew demons that refused to be exorcised.
The baseball facts matter, especially these, though they hardly do justice to the scale of the outcome, or the level of drama that unfolded. In what seemed like the most heartbreaking yet of nightmarish Cubs postseason game gone wrong, Ben Zobrist’s 10th-inning double off Bryan Shaw broke a 6-6 tie, and the Cubs outlasted the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in a title-winning, drought-breaking, impossible-to-believe Game 7 of the World Series on Wednesday.
The winning rally came, finally, after rain delayed the game before the start of extra innings. Rather than build suspense, the disruption gave the gathering at Progressive Field a chance to recover from its collective nervous breakdown. Because what set up the exhilarating finish was worst kind of flashback for any Cubs fan who believes in curses, goats or Bartmans.
The Cubs led 6-3 in the eighth, just four outs from their first title since 1908. Jose Ramirez reached on what looked like an innocent infield single. Jon Lester, the Chicago ace lefty, was on the mound, making his first relief appearance in nine years and had been dealing.
But he was working on two days of rest, so Joe Maddon summoned Aroldis Chapman to the mound.
When the Cubs acquired Chapman from the Yankees in July, this was the situation they imagined: A 102 mph fastball to clinch the World Series. But Chapman gave up a run-scoring double to Brandon Guyer, who spoiled several pitches by fouling them off.
That set the stage for a moment that will loom large in the histories of both franchises. Rajai Davis turned on a Chapman offering and turned Progressive Field into a madhouse, homering just inside the left-field foul pole, tying the game at 6. The stands vibrated, with red-clad fans swirling crazily and blue-clad fans standing with hands on head and mouths agape.
Chapman escaped the inning with the tie intact, but suddenly both teams were staring down the twin barrels of 176 years of bad history. It seemed to get even worse in the ninth when Javier Baez bunted foul with two strikes, one out, and Jason Heyward on third.
This one was an all-timer, a victory on the short list of best World Series games ever, as significant for what it means as for the incredible way it happened. That’s why fans are singing in the streets of Chicago, hugging from Rogers Park to Printer’s Row, dancing from the Loop to Logan Square. Heck, maybe even a few south-siders are cracking reluctant smiles, because even in the domain of the White Sox they know how this feels. Well, maybe not this.
The game itself was worthy of a drought killer and one of the most anticipated baseball games in recent memory. The streets of Cleveland were clogged with fans of both teams, as Cubs fans invaded by the carloads with a reported 60 percent of the secondary market ticket sales going to Chicago fans. Inside Progressive Field, the atmosphere was akin to a college football rivalry game where fan allegiance is split down the middle. No matter what happened, half of the stadium would erupt.
Knowing that Terry Francona’s excellent bullpen was ready and rested, Cubs manager Joe Maddon reiterated the need for his team to grab an early lead. They wasted no time in doing so: Dexter Fowler led off the game with a homer to center off Indians ace Corey Kluber, sending half the grandstand into a frenzy. He became the first player to lead off a winner-take-all Game 7 with a home run.
The Indians knotted the score in the third. Coco Crisp led off with a double and scored on Carlos Santana’s single. But Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks escaped further damage, getting Francisco Lindor and Mike Napoli with two on base.
That left the game tied during a key sequence for both teams, who knew that if the Indians could get a lead, Francona would turn the game over to some combination of Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen at the first sign of trouble. He never got the chance.
The Cubs grabbed the lead right back in the fourth against Kluber, who entered the game with 0.89 ERA this postseason. Kris Bryant singled to left and went to second when Kluber plunked Anthony Rizzo with an 0-2 pitch. Ben Zobrist rolled into a force, sending Bryant to third.
Addison Russell lofted a shallow fly to center, which Rajai Davis handled. Bryant tagged at third and dashed home, sliding under the tag of Indians catcher Roberto Perez, who had to stand upright to field Davis’ high throw. The Cubs went up 3-1 when Willson Contreras doubled over the head of Davis to score Zobrist. Davis, who started in place of struggling Tyler Naquin in part because of his defense, appeared to take a step in before the ball soared over his head.
Kluber was done after Javier Baez homered to dead center to lead off the fifth, putting the Cubs up by three runs. Miller was in the game, but not in the role anybody with the Indians wanted to see him in.
Kluber, pitching on three days’ rest for the second straight outing, allowed six hits and four runs over four innings and didn’t strike out a batter.
Lester came on for Hendricks in the fifth, along with his battery-mate Ross who was playing in his last big-league game. The Indians proceeded to score a pair of runs on a Ross error followed by a two-run wild pitch from Lester. It turned out to be a temporary outburst, as Lester reverted to his top-of-the-rotation form in his first relief outing in nine years.
From there, the party seemed on for the Cubs and their half of the stadium, while the other half watched in disbelief at a heartbreaking story they’ve seen way too often. No one suspected what was to come.
This being the fairytale that it seemed, Ross made up for his miscues by homering off the indomitable Miller to center field. Talk about going out in style. And with Ross, goes the drought and all the curses and hobgoblins that went with it. Not that they didn’t put up a hell of a fight.
On October 14, 1908, in front of 6,210 fans at Bennett Park in Detroit, in a game that took 85 minutes to play, a Tigers catcher named Boss Schmidt lofted a foul pop fly on the third-base side of the field. Cubs catcher Johnny Kling waited, waited, waited, and squeezed the ball for the final out. Chicago won the game 2-0 and the "world's series" in five games. The Cubs were champions for the second straight season. Chicago was, as the Tribune called it, "the great metropolis of baseball."
If you add up all the season and postseason logs at baseball-reference.com, you come up with this: Since the moment Kling caught that foul out, the Cubs played 152,627 ⅓ innings of baseball before Wednesday, and their pitchers retired 457,882 batters. Not one of those outs added a third World Series banner to the Cubs' collection. Now, after 10 more innings and one magical final out, all of those numbers will reset to zero. The third banner will fly above Wrigley Field.
The baseball facts matter, especially these, though they hardly do justice to the scale of the outcome, or the level of drama that unfolded. In what seemed like the most heartbreaking yet of nightmarish Cubs postseason game gone wrong, Ben Zobrist’s 10th-inning double off Bryan Shaw broke a 6-6 tie, and the Cubs outlasted the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in a title-winning, drought-breaking, impossible-to-believe Game 7 of the World Series on Wednesday.
The winning rally came, finally, after rain delayed the game before the start of extra innings. Rather than build suspense, the disruption gave the gathering at Progressive Field a chance to recover from its collective nervous breakdown. Because what set up the exhilarating finish was worst kind of flashback for any Cubs fan who believes in curses, goats or Bartmans.
The Cubs led 6-3 in the eighth, just four outs from their first title since 1908. Jose Ramirez reached on what looked like an innocent infield single. Jon Lester, the Chicago ace lefty, was on the mound, making his first relief appearance in nine years and had been dealing.
But he was working on two days of rest, so Joe Maddon summoned Aroldis Chapman to the mound.
When the Cubs acquired Chapman from the Yankees in July, this was the situation they imagined: A 102 mph fastball to clinch the World Series. But Chapman gave up a run-scoring double to Brandon Guyer, who spoiled several pitches by fouling them off.
That set the stage for a moment that will loom large in the histories of both franchises. Rajai Davis turned on a Chapman offering and turned Progressive Field into a madhouse, homering just inside the left-field foul pole, tying the game at 6. The stands vibrated, with red-clad fans swirling crazily and blue-clad fans standing with hands on head and mouths agape.
Chapman escaped the inning with the tie intact, but suddenly both teams were staring down the twin barrels of 176 years of bad history. It seemed to get even worse in the ninth when Javier Baez bunted foul with two strikes, one out, and Jason Heyward on third.
This one was an all-timer, a victory on the short list of best World Series games ever, as significant for what it means as for the incredible way it happened. That’s why fans are singing in the streets of Chicago, hugging from Rogers Park to Printer’s Row, dancing from the Loop to Logan Square. Heck, maybe even a few south-siders are cracking reluctant smiles, because even in the domain of the White Sox they know how this feels. Well, maybe not this.
The game itself was worthy of a drought killer and one of the most anticipated baseball games in recent memory. The streets of Cleveland were clogged with fans of both teams, as Cubs fans invaded by the carloads with a reported 60 percent of the secondary market ticket sales going to Chicago fans. Inside Progressive Field, the atmosphere was akin to a college football rivalry game where fan allegiance is split down the middle. No matter what happened, half of the stadium would erupt.
Knowing that Terry Francona’s excellent bullpen was ready and rested, Cubs manager Joe Maddon reiterated the need for his team to grab an early lead. They wasted no time in doing so: Dexter Fowler led off the game with a homer to center off Indians ace Corey Kluber, sending half the grandstand into a frenzy. He became the first player to lead off a winner-take-all Game 7 with a home run.
The Indians knotted the score in the third. Coco Crisp led off with a double and scored on Carlos Santana’s single. But Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks escaped further damage, getting Francisco Lindor and Mike Napoli with two on base.
That left the game tied during a key sequence for both teams, who knew that if the Indians could get a lead, Francona would turn the game over to some combination of Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen at the first sign of trouble. He never got the chance.
The Cubs grabbed the lead right back in the fourth against Kluber, who entered the game with 0.89 ERA this postseason. Kris Bryant singled to left and went to second when Kluber plunked Anthony Rizzo with an 0-2 pitch. Ben Zobrist rolled into a force, sending Bryant to third.
Addison Russell lofted a shallow fly to center, which Rajai Davis handled. Bryant tagged at third and dashed home, sliding under the tag of Indians catcher Roberto Perez, who had to stand upright to field Davis’ high throw. The Cubs went up 3-1 when Willson Contreras doubled over the head of Davis to score Zobrist. Davis, who started in place of struggling Tyler Naquin in part because of his defense, appeared to take a step in before the ball soared over his head.
Kluber was done after Javier Baez homered to dead center to lead off the fifth, putting the Cubs up by three runs. Miller was in the game, but not in the role anybody with the Indians wanted to see him in.
Kluber, pitching on three days’ rest for the second straight outing, allowed six hits and four runs over four innings and didn’t strike out a batter.
Lester came on for Hendricks in the fifth, along with his battery-mate Ross who was playing in his last big-league game. The Indians proceeded to score a pair of runs on a Ross error followed by a two-run wild pitch from Lester. It turned out to be a temporary outburst, as Lester reverted to his top-of-the-rotation form in his first relief outing in nine years.
From there, the party seemed on for the Cubs and their half of the stadium, while the other half watched in disbelief at a heartbreaking story they’ve seen way too often. No one suspected what was to come.
This being the fairytale that it seemed, Ross made up for his miscues by homering off the indomitable Miller to center field. Talk about going out in style. And with Ross, goes the drought and all the curses and hobgoblins that went with it. Not that they didn’t put up a hell of a fight.
On October 14, 1908, in front of 6,210 fans at Bennett Park in Detroit, in a game that took 85 minutes to play, a Tigers catcher named Boss Schmidt lofted a foul pop fly on the third-base side of the field. Cubs catcher Johnny Kling waited, waited, waited, and squeezed the ball for the final out. Chicago won the game 2-0 and the "world's series" in five games. The Cubs were champions for the second straight season. Chicago was, as the Tribune called it, "the great metropolis of baseball."
If you add up all the season and postseason logs at baseball-reference.com, you come up with this: Since the moment Kling caught that foul out, the Cubs played 152,627 ⅓ innings of baseball before Wednesday, and their pitchers retired 457,882 batters. Not one of those outs added a third World Series banner to the Cubs' collection. Now, after 10 more innings and one magical final out, all of those numbers will reset to zero. The third banner will fly above Wrigley Field.