Chicago Cubs defeat Cleveland Indians
One hundred eight years of baseball futility ended early on Nov. 3, as the Chicago Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in one of the greatest baseball games ever played.
After splitting the first two games of the World Series in Cleveland, the Indians took a commanding 3-1 lead after impressive 1-0 and 7-2 victories in games three and four. The Cubs battled back though with 3-2 and 9-3 wins in games five and six.
According to an espn.com article titled “Who will reverse their curse? Cubs, Indians face an epic Game 7,” the teams combined for 174 seasons without a title, so it was only fitting that these championship-starved teams would fight their ways to extra innings in game seven of the World Series.
The Cubs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, thanks to a lead off home run by Dexter Fowler off Indians ace Corey Kluber, which was quickly extended to 5-1 by the fifth inning.
Cleveland refused to relent, though, cutting the lead to 5-3 in the sixth inning. A solo home run by the Cubs’ David Ross again extended the deficit to 6-3, as all hope seemed to be lost for Indians fans.
In the eighth inning, hard throwing lefty Aroldis Chapman entered the game for the Cubs, but a double by the Indians’ Brandon Guyer and a home run by Rajai Davis tied the game, ensuring a wild finish.
With neither team scoring in the ninth, game seven became only the fourth World Series Game 7 to head to extra innings, according to an MLB.com article titled “A look at World Series game 7s,” the most recent of which came in a 1997 Indians loss to the Florida Marlins.
According to a cbssports.com article titled “World Series Game 7: Shaw, Indians refuse to use rain delay as an excuse for loss,” the umpire crew conferred and decided to call a 17 minute rain delay, the necessity of which will forever be questioned in the hearts and minds of Indians for generations to come. After the delay and an intentional walk, Cubs’ Ben Zobrist and Miguel Montero each drove in runs in the tenth inning, giving the Cubs a 8-6 lead.
Rajai Davis did all he could to keep the Indians going again, driving in Brandon Guyer on a two out single, but Michael Martinez, who entered as a defensive replacement, grounded out to end what will go down as not only the end to the longest championship drought in professional sports history, but one of the most entertaining and exhilarating games in MLB history.
