Chicago Cubs are World Series Champions!

The Chicago Cubs are finally World Series Champions! Just saying it is quite surreal since it hasn't happened since 1908. I myself have been a loyal Cubs fan since I was a kid in love with baseball, and in those days they were always the worse team in baseball. They hadn't even been to a World Series since 1948 (which is when the infamous curse began which I'll write about in another post) Well now that long history of losing has come to an end!

In this series they were faced up against the Cleveland Indians, who also had a long history of losing, having not won a championship since 1948 (2nd longest drought behind the Cubs). The stage was set for an exciting story, both teams hungry for their first championship in a very long time. Last night's game 7 was perhaps one of the most dramatic ball games I have ever witnessed. After nearly 4 hours of tension, a rain delay, and extra innings the Cubs secured the victory at last. In this post I'm going to re-visit how the Cubs got to this point.

New Ownership

In the late 1990s, the Cubs had emerged as contenders led by superstars Sammy Sosa and Kerry Wood. In 1998 they made it to the playoffs for the first time in nearly 10 years. 4 years later the team went even further into the playoffs all the way to the NLCS. It was this game against the Marlins in 2003, that the infamous Steve Bartman incident happened and the Cubs lost their momentum. It seemed the Billy Goat curse was true and the Cubs were never meant to win a title.

Yet in 2009, perhaps one of the key turning points in the Chicago Cubs trajectory, was when the organization was purchased by the Ricketts family. The Ricketts family were enthusiastic Cubs fans and wanted nothing more than to bring a championship to their team and especially the fans. Thomas S Ricketts can be mostly credited for acquiring perhaps one of the best general managers in the business, Theo Epstein. 

New General Manager: Theo Epstein

At a young age, Epstein had proven himself as a skillful manager. He was considered the key architect of the Boston Red Sox's title in 2004. At that time the Red Sox had a drought of their own, for over 85 years without a championship in what was known as the Curse of the Bambino. The Red Sox later went on to win again in 2007 still to the credit of Epstein's management. In 2011 Ricketts was able to lure Esptein with a new position to manage the Cubs and break yet another curse. Epstein accepted the position and requested the fans be patient with him. And so began a new era of upward progress.

New Manager: Joe Maddon

Epstein's plan was to incorporate statistics into his business management and build around a youthful team, such as Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, and Jorge Soler. His first season as general manager ended with a terrible record of 61 wins and 101 losses. It was the Cub's worst record since 1966). However Epstein insisted this was part of his plan and it would take time for his team to grow. After two more unsuccessful seasons he hired Joe Maddon from the Tampa Bay Rays to manage the Cubs. 

The 2015 Regular Season

Leading up to the 2015 season, Epstein had changed his manager and brought on a slay of new players. This included three rookies Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, and Kyle Schwarber to be added to the starting lineup. As well as the acquisitions of vets such as David Ross, Dexter Fowler and pitchers Jake Arietta and Jon Lester. That season the Cubs made it to the playoffs as a wild-card team for the first time since 2008. They went on to beat the Pirates in the wild card match, beat the Cardinals in NLDS, yet got swept to the Mets in the NLCS. Nonetheless the season proved to be the Cub's announcement that they had finally arrived as contenders. Jake Arietta went on to win the Cy Young award that season. 

The 2016 Regular Season

In the following offseason, Epstein traded Starlin Castro and signed vets John Lackey, Ben Zobrist, and Jason Heyward. The team began with an unlucky break when their power hitter, Kyle Schwarber broke his ACL and would have to be out for the season. However the Cubs still got off to a very hot start lead by their power hitting and sharp pitching. By May 8th after 30 games, they had the achieved the best record in the league and their best start since 1907. Their was no question now that the Cubs were a very good team. 

They continued their success throughout the months of May and June, sitting at top of the Central Division over the Pirates and Cardinals by multiple games. Five of their players were chosen to start in the All Star game; Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell, and Dexter Fowler. Pitchers Jake Arietta and Jon Lester were also chosen to the roster. Following the All Star break the Cubs continued to win. By the end of August they were 15 games ahead of the 2nd place Cardinals. On Sept 14th they clinched a spot in the playoffs. On Sept 23rd they clinched home field advantage in the playoffs. They finished with a record of 103-58 their best since regular season record since 1910. 

The Division Series matched them up against the San Francisco Giants. The Cubs won their first two home games in the series under the pitching of Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks. They lost the 3rd game in San Francisco yet went on to win the 4th game and advance to the NLCS. In The National Championship Series they were matched with the Los Angeles Dodgers. They won their first game, yet lost their 2nd and 3rd ones. The Cubs were however able to regain momentum in the 4th, 5th, and 6th match-ups to clinch their first trip to the World Series since 1948. I watched Game 6 with my dad and was very excited to see that the Cubs would be in the World Series.

World Series

Game 1: The Cubs were matched up against the Cleveland Indians. I watched Game 1 at Adam's house with Rich and we were excited to see the series kick-off. One of the exciting developments was that Kyle Shwarber was going to return as a DH for this series. However the Indians had different plans with their home field advantage. Their starting pitcher Corey Kluber was unbreakable and backed by an equally masterful reliever in Andrew Miller. Indians catcher Roberto Perez went on to hit two homeruns. Cubs pitcher Jon Lester did not have such a good night and the Cubs batters were unable to score. I remember the mood was disappointment leaving Adam's house and knowing that the Indians were not going to make this easy. The final score was 6-0. 

Game 2: That night I went over to Philip's to help with yard work and drop Cochie off. Dad was also there and we streamed the game for a while on my laptop. This time Jake Arietta was pitching and the Cubs got off to an early start in the 1st inning with a base hit from Kris Bryant and a RBI from Rizzo. In the third inning they got another score when Kyle Schwarber batted in Anthony Rizzo. They extended their lead by three more runs in the 5th inning. And finished with a cushy victory of 5-1. The series was tied and was now going back to Wrigley Field. I remember feeling good and had high hopes that the series would end in Wrigley. 

Game 3: I got to Bowling Green, Friday night to visit Marc and Laura and was excited to watch game 3 that night. Especially since it would be the first World Series game at Wrigley field since 1945. The game was however a pitching chess match between Cleveland pitcher Josh Tomlin and Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks. In the 7th inning the stalemate was finally broken when Coco Crisp batted in Michael Martinez in what would become the only run of the game. The finaly score was 1-0. It was a disappointing loss yet I felt we would still be okay.

Game 4: That Saturday night Marc and I went out to the Nashville bars and I was excited to take on the music and celebrate a Cubs victory. However Corey Kluber was pitching once again and yet again had different plans in mind. The Cubs got off to a good start in the 1st inning when Fowler was batted in by Rizzo. However in the next two innings the Indians knocked in 3 runs, including a homerun by Carlos Santana. Jon Lackey held on until the 5th inning when he was relieved by Mike Montgomery. However in the 7th inning the Indians brought down the hammer when Jason Kipnis knocked out a three run homer. The Indians went on to comfortably win the game 7-2. I got very drunk that night and it began to appear that the Indians were going to crush the Cubs' dreams. 

Game 5: It was an elimination game for the Cubs, and I got home from Kentucky just in time to watch it. This time Jon Lester was pitching again and was eager to redeem himself from the 1st game. The Indians struck first in the 2nd inning with a homerun by Jose Ramirez. However the Cubs finally answered in the 3rd inning with a 3 run rally. The game got very tight in the 6th inning when the Indians got another run. However closing pitcher Aroldis Chapman was able to pitch for three innings to close the game out and save the Cubs from elimination. The series was now at 3-2 and would finish back at Cleveland. 

Game 6: After a days rest, both teams were eager to get back at it. The Cubs were still facing an elimination game while the Indians were ready to close it at home. Arietta was matched up against Josh Tomlin in what seemed like it would be another chess-mate. However that was not the case as the Cubs got off to an incredible start in the top of the 1st. It began with a solo homerun from Kris Bryant, a base hit from Rizzo, a base hit from Zobrist, and a flyball from Russell that was dropped and brought in two runs. In the top of the 3rd the Cubs continued their offensive attack which was highlighted by an incredible grand slam by At that point I began to believe that they would actually do this. They easily won the game 9-2 and had now tied up the series. The momentum was clearly now with the Cubs as they headed into game 7. This would shape up to be the most dramatic game and perhaps the most dramatic world series in history.

Game 7: Knowing history was at stake I was extremely excited for the game that night. I chose to watch it at home, rather than the bars, to save money and not drink on the week of my big race. The whole game however I was texting with my friends and family in what became one of the most tense baseball games I had ever witnessed. The Indians ace Kluber was facing Hendricks. I knew it would take some early scores for us to shut down the Indians. And I got my wish when in the 1st at-bat Dexter Fowler hit a solo homerun off of Kluber. Following that each inning was extremely tense and finally in the bottom of the 3rd the Indians tied it up with an RBI from Carlos Santana. In the top of the 4th the Cubs rallied back when Russell hit a sac fly to bring in Bryant, and a double from Wilson Contreras that brought in Zobrist. In the top of the 5th the Cubs extended their lead by 2 more runs when Baez hit a solo homerun and Rizzo batted in Bryant. At that point it was 5-1 and Cubs manager John Maddon questionably decided to relieve Hendricks with Jon Lester. This turned out to be a poor decision as Lester threw several wild pitches that resulted in two scores.

The score was now 5-3 and the tension was back. However in the top of the 6th David Ross released some of that tension with a solo home-run to bring the score to 6-3. From that point on in seemed like a matter of just counting outs. The Cubs got through the 6th and 7th inning without runs. In the 8th inning Maddon decided to bring in his closer Chapman, who had already pitched numerous innings the past two games. This also turned out to be a poor decision as the Indians were able to score 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th against Chapman. One of which was a 2 run homerun from Rajai Davis. At that shocking point it seemed like the curse was reappearing for the Cubs. In the 9th inning it began to rain and the drama of each pitch only intensified.

The game was set to go into extra innings and at that point came the rain delay. I could not believe the situation. What a dramatic game it had been, yet still I had hope for the Cubs. Perhaps maybe they could squash the Indians' momentum with the delay. And in the top of the 10th, they did just that with a 2 run rally. This came from a Zobrist RBI and a Miguel Montero RBI. The score was now 8-6. In the bottom of the 10th the Indians were able to get a run back, and were in position to either tie it or take the go-ahead with a home-run. Yet Cubs clo
sing pitchers Carl Edwards and Mike Montgomery were called upon to finish it out. Which is exactly what they did. The Cubs had avoided a heartbreaking lost, and were now officially world champions. 

The curse was finally over! And I felt instant jubilation! I shared it with all my friends and family and did not go to bed until 2am. This is the first time I have felt the joy as a fan of a major sports championship. I hope the Cubs will continue to win and someday the Hoosiers and even the Lions can emulate their success. Nonetheless its reasons like this, the poetic beauty of an underdog story, that I love sports. And I believe this series and the Cubs in general are one of the most amazing stories in the history of sports. 

2016 Chicago Cubs Roster

PITCHERS (11)

Jake Arrieta

Aroldis Chapman

Carl Edwards Jr.

Justin Grimm

Kyle Hendricks

John Lackey

Jon Lester

Mike Montgomery

Hector Rondon

Pedro Strop

Travis Wood

CATCHERS (3)

Willson Contreras

Miguel Montero

David Ross

INFIELDERS (5)

Javier Baez

Kris Bryant

Anthony Rizzo

Addison Russell

Ben Zobrist

OUTFIELDERS (6)

Albert Almora Jr.

Chris Coghlan

Dexter Fowler

Jason Heyward

Kyle Schwarber

Jorge Soler