The Cubs ended the curse and years of heartache the hard way.
The Chicago Cubs won their first World Series since 1908 after years of facing elimination every step of the playoffs. Their resiliency marked their title run far more than even their talent.
They opened the post-season by eliminating the San Francisco Giants in the National League Division Series, rallying for four runs in the ninth inning of Game 4 and avoiding having to go home for the fifth and final game and face Giants’ stud lefty Madison Bumgarner. The decisive run scored on a broken bat single by breakout star Javy Baez, whose big hits and acrobatic defensive plays were stunning.
The Dodgers then shut out Chicago in Games 2 and 3 of the National League Championship Series and certainly looked like the Cubs’ equal in taking a 2-1 lead. Bats suddenly alive, the Cubbies outscored the Bums 23-6 over the last three games of the best-of-seven to advance to their first World Series since 1945.
And, of course, the World Series, one of the most thrilling and confounding ever played. The Cubs were shut out twice in falling behind three games to one after losing two straight at Wrigley Field. They hung on to win Game 5, routed the Indians in Game 6 back in Cleveland and survived maybe the greatest Game 7 since the Pirates’ Bill Mazeroski did in the Yankees with a walk-off home run in 1960.
The epic game had everything, including an Indians rally to tie the score in the eighth on Rajai Davis’ home run and, after a scoreless ninth, perhaps the shortest rain delay in history, when the tarp went on the field and off in 15 minutes. Meanwhile, the Cubs were meeting to shake off giving away 5-1 and 6-3 leads and bringing LeBron James and the Indians’ home fans back to life.
So let’s see. Things looked bad against the Giants, worse against the Dodgers and, frankly, almost hopeless against Cleveland. The Cubs won all three series in dramatic fashion, with Ben Zobrist – the World Series MVP – getting the big hit in the top of the tenth to bail out their pooped pitching staff and break the Curse of the Billy Goat.
The party in Chi-Town started and will go on for some time.
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