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By Liz Alper
Photo: David "Grandpa Rossy" Ross gets a hug from teammates as he retires a champion. Cover photo: Cubs fans celebrate the win outside Wrigley Field in Chicago. Both photos courtesy @Cubs on Twitter
November 3, 2016 (Cleveland) - Well, actually, that's not entirely true. The goat was apparently at Progressive Field in Cleveland throughout the entire game.
But tonight, he had no effect. The Cubs fought their way through the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers.
But none of that mattered anymore. It all came down to fighting through the team who led the AL Central for most of the season, the Cleveland Indians. The Indians fought through the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays. Both teams had been through probably a bloodier battle than every battle in the Civil War combined in their leagues.
But tonight there was no time for that. No time to dwell on what they'd been through. The series was tied at three. It was game seven. It had been ages since either the Cubs (1908) or the Indians (1948) won a World Series. One of them had no choice but to cede to the other tonight.
Dexter Fowler launched a solo home run to give the Cubs the lead early. But the Indians tied it up in the third. The Cubs then went up 5-1 and took the game in hand. But after a wild pitch, the Indians scored two runs. The Cubs got the lead back to three with a home run by Javier Baez and the score was 6-3.
It was the eighth inning and everyone knew this game was done and the Cubs won the Series. Or did they? The Indians miraculously tied the game with the help of Rajai Davis. It was 6-6. We were going to extras.
But then of course, nature had to step in. The tarp was pulled out in the 10th. Twitter was ablaze with jokes about how nature didn't want the Cubs to win.
The tarp came off at 9:15 p.m. our time and Ben Zobrist either didn't read those tweets or thinks rain is his superpower, because in the 10th, he hit the single that started the winning rally. Zobrist has probably been in the league as long as David Ross, just not as old. At least it feels like it to me because I remember watching him be a pain in the Red Sox' behind every time we played the Tampa Bay Rays (in fact, he's probably been around the league long enough that he played for the Rays when they were still the Devil Rays).
Anyway, after the Indians made a bad decision to intentionally walk Anthony Rizzo, the Cubs took advantage and drove in two runs. Two runs was all they needed. Davis would try to rally again in the bottom of the 10th and successfully drove in a run, but the Cubs held strong (WITHOUT Aroldis Chapman pitching!) and the curse was broken. The Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in the World Series 8-7.
Baseball is done for the winter and after that game, I certainly will miss it.
Comments
The Cubs
I grew up in Lemon Grove but was born in Blue Island, Illinois a suburb of Chicago.
Yeah, Dennis---Go Cubs!
Ecstatic about my Chicago Cubs!
I actually cried last night after the Chicago Cubs won their first World Series in more than 108 years. The City really needed this for so many reasons. I used to live within walking distance of Wrigley Field, and have been to many games there, once going to one with my late brother Jimmy. Jimmy and I would sit in the stands with our shirts off drinking beer, more than 40 years ago. Go Cubs!!