Chicago Tribune - Won for the Ages: How the Chicago Cubs Became the 2016 World Series Champions

Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune

Contents

Introduction

Finally! A season so special you didnt want to see it end

By Paul Sullivan

T his is not a dream. The Cubs did it.

It was real, and it was spectacular.

The most epic drought in sports history is over, and the Cubs are world champions. The Cubs won the 2016 World Series with an 8-7, 10-inning Game 7 victory over the Indians at Progressive Field. The triumph completed their climb back from a 3-1 Series deficit to claim their first championship since 1908.

Tears flowed across Cubs Nation after the final out, and fans responded with the worlds biggest group hug, remembering all the loved ones who could only imagine what it would be like to experience this moment of pure bliss. The 1969 Cubs, the team that defined the word collapse, were off the hook. So were their predecessors in 84 and 2003, who also came close only to suffer painful endings that scarred two generations of Cubs fans and kept the drought alive. The billy goat is gone, and the black cat too. And what was the name of the foul-ball dude? No matter. It was never really his fault, and now hes just a footnote in Cubs history.

The catchphrase Cubs fans uttered over the last century and change has been just one before I die, a plea that fell on deaf ears decade after decade. Well, you can die in peace now, thanks to Joe Maddons resilient club.

The road trips to cemeteries can now commence, where caps, balls, pennants and news clippings will be placed on markers of loved ones, letting them know they did it. The Cubs did it. It may look like the final scene of Field of Dreams, a caravan of cars on a mission of closure.

Ben Zobrist celebrates his RBI double in the top of the 10th inning in Game 7. Zobrist was named the World Series MVP. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

The funny thing about waiting since 1908 for a championship was that when it finally happened, you didnt want the season to end. It was that much fun, from Kyle Schwarbers smashing of a windshield outside the outfield wall with a spring training home run to Wednesday night. This was a team in the truest sense of the word. These Cubs worked together and partied together, and some of them prayed together. The moments were so delicious you could watch them on an endless loop. Dexter Fowlers surprise return in Arizona. Anthony Rizzo hopping on top of the brick wall. Javier Baezs backhand swipe to pick off Conor Gillaspie at first in the National League Division Series. Kris Bryants home run off the top of a cartoon car at AT&T Park. David Ross final regular-season game at Wrigley. Aroldis Chapmans marathon outing to save the season in Game 5 of the Series.

It was one thing after another, and you loved every second.

When it came down to the final do-or-done game as it surely had to it was one for the ages, with more twists and turns than a San Francisco street.

They had it, they blew it, and then came a 17-minute rain delay.

After waiting 108 years, what was another 17 minutes?

It took a while, and it wasnt the way theyd drawn it up.

But they did it.

The Cubs did it.

World Series

At Last!

Comeback of the century a fitting ending for Cubs and their fans

By Paul Sullivan

I t had to end like this, after a 108-year drought that consumed Cubs fans and vexed the experts for decade after decade.

It had to end with the Cubs beating the Indians 8-7 in ten innings in Game 7 of the World Series, in a ballpark occupied by thousands of road-tripping Cubs fans, on a summer-like night in November, in a season where everything fell into place from start to glorious finish.

And it had to end with a Cubbie Occurrence, a Grandpa goodbye, an eighth-inning collapse and a night more nerve-wracking than a presidential election.

The Cubs blew a four-run lead before coming back in extra innings before 38,104 shell-shocked fans at Progressive Field, culminating a comeback from a 3-1 Series deficit and kick-starting a party in Chicago that may not end until the last snowbank melts next spring.

After Aroldis Chapman gave up a game-tying, two-run homer to Rajai Davis in the eighth, Ben Zobrists RBI double put the Cubs on top on the tenth, and Miguel Montero added a pinch-RBI single for insurance.

After the Indians closed to within one on Davis RBI single off Carl Edwards Jr., Mike Montgomery induced a grounder to Kris Bryant, ending one of the craziest Game 7s in World Series annals.

Manager Joe Maddons team lived up to its we never quit mantra, finishing off the Series with three straight wins to keep the Indians 68-year drought alive while ending their own.

Zobrist was named Series MVP, finishing with a .357 average and the game-winning double.

Raise a glass, Cubs fans, for the ones who werent here, and take a bow for keeping the faith when logic told you to give up.

You wouldnt want it any other way, would you?

This was going to be a classic all along. David Ross, playing in the final game of his career, figured that out during the Game 6 victory.

I started thinking about it a lot more, just saying, Wow, my career is going to end in a Game 7 World Series, how lucky and fortunate am I to be with these guys? Ross said. I kept watching them play and thinking, Man, Im part of something special here. And Im very, very lucky to be on this team.

Ross was involved in the Cubbie Occurrence a wild pitch by Jon Lester in the fifth that ricocheted off Ross mask to the backstop, allowing two runs to score and allowing the Indians to creep to within two runs. The worst fears of Cubs fans crept into the back of your mind, if only for a moment.

Grandpa Ross alleviated those fears a few minutes later, cranking a 402-foot home run off uber-reliever Andrew Miller, making him the oldest player to homer in a Series.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon celebrates after the Cubs World Series win. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune)

The sea of blue-and-white jerseys in the stands two hours before the first pitch made it apparent this was not going to be just another road game. The Cubs received a raucous ovation as they walked off the field at the end of batting practice.

But no one couldve imagined just how huge the contingent was until Dexter Fowler led off the game with a 406-foot solo home run to center off Corey Kluber.

The ballpark erupted. Occupation Cleveland was underway.

Kluber was mocked by fans in his own park in the first inning, and when the Indians put a graphic on the video board exhorting their fans to cheer, Cubs fans out-shouted them with a Lets go, Cubs chant.

Kyle Hendricks started and pitched well into the fifth, and the Cubs grabbed a 3-1 lead with a two-run fourth that starred Davis.