1908. Oklahoma had just been recognized as a state. Alaska and Hawaii were still not considered states. Other notable things that had not been invented yet: sliced bread, canned beer, band-aids, traffic signals, the ABA, NBA, NFL, and NHL. And most notably to me, 1908 was the last time that the Chicago Cubs had won the World Series, until early Thursday morning.
Throughout the first 19 years of my life, when someone would ask me what baseball team I rooted for I would begrudgingly say “the Cubs.” That would almost always be met with a sympathetic sigh. I thought that this trend would follow for most of my life... until this year. The Cubs were the undisputed favorites to win the league at the start of the year. They carried that optimism throughout the year finishing with the best regular-season record in baseball. However, there were still a lot of doubts about whether or not they could get the job done. The biggest question mark came with their age. The Cubs had an average age of 27.9 years, the third youngest in baseball. With this young age comes a presumable lack of experience. However, the Cubs had made it to the National League Championship (the series right before the World Series Final) in 2015 so the players had some experience with big games. Yet people still doubted them going into the playoffs. They proceeded to prove them wrong, making quick work of the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The only thing between them and their first World Series in 108 years was the Cleveland Indians. Ironically, the Cleveland Indians had the second longest world series drought in MLB history, their last win coming in 1948. The combined 176 years without a championship culminated in a series that did not disappoint.
The Indians took a quick 3-1 series lead. The odds were now heavily in their favor, especially considering that after game five the rest of the series would be played in Cleveland. The Cubs relied on their home-field advantage, holding on to win game five with a final score of 3-2. Any remaining games were to be played in Cleveland. The Cubs came out swinging in game six of the series winning handily 9-3. The series was now improbably tied at three games a piece. All of the hype and anticipation had led up to this. Game seven of the 2016 World Series. The first 7.5 innings went off without a hitch. The Cubs had a cool 6-3 lead and were bringing in their ace closing pitcher, Aroldis Chapman. The results of the following inning were demoralizing for the Cubs's players and fans. Chapman gave up three runs including a two-run home-run, his first home-run allowed since June 18. I think I can speak for the city of Chicago when I say that the ensuing 30 minutes were some of the most nerve-wracking minutes of my life. The ninth inning was relatively uneventful, sending the game into extra innings. As if the anxiety wasn't high enough already, there was a rain delay before the tenth inning. The Cubs' desire to win was clear in the tenth inning as they scored twp runs, making the game 8-6. All they had to do was hold off the Indians for one more inning. They accomplished this, allowing one run in the process. They had done it. The Cubs were World Series champions for the first time since 1908.
The Cubs had become the first MLB team to come back from a 3-1 series deficit since 1985. There is no denying the heart of the Cubs organization or their fans. That is evident by the five million fans that showed up for the post-game parade on Friday. That ranks as the ninth largest gathering of people ever. If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that the Cubs deserve this, and so does the city of Chicago.
