The Chicago Cubs are at last World Series champions, winning their first Fall Classic in 108 years, beating the Cleveland Indians in extra innings -10 innings 8-7 in Game 7 in Cleveland Ohio.
The Cubs, supposedly cursed by everything from Billy goats to black cats to guys wearing headphones reaching for foul balls in the stands, wiped away 108 years of pain on this night.
Certainly, it wasn’t easy. It never is for the Cubbies. They were four outs away from winning the World Series in conventional style. They instead blew a three-run lead when Rajai Davis hit a two-out, two-strike homer off closer Aroldis Chapman, leaving him in tears.
They also managed to make three errors, let two runs score on a wild pitch, and pulled starter Kyle Hendricks an inning too early when they went to Jon Lester, who came on in relief for the first time in 2007.
“I think beyond all that, I want to believe and I do believe this is good for our game moving forward, that we’re attempting to seize young fans and not just to play the game, but to be fans of the game. You cannot be more entertained than you were over these last seven games. It’s incredible. Of course, I’m not saying that just because we won, but because it’s true.”
The Chicago Cubs quite simply outplayed everyone and refused to quit. They didn’t trail once in the final 24 innings of this World Series, lead faithfully by Kris Bryant, who will win the NL MVP award in two weeks, and will be presented with a World Series ring next April.