The Chicago Cubs ended the longest championship drought of professional sports after going 108 years without winning the World Series.
The last time the Cubs won the World Series was in 1908 against the Detroit Tigers. They lost to the Tigers in 1945, which was the last time until 2016 to make a World Series appearance. The curse of the Billy Goat originated during game four of the 1945 World Series. This curse was placed upon the Cubs by a William Sianis. Sianis cursed the Cubs because he was forced to leave the game due to fans complaints of his pet goat being too smelly. “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more,” Sianis said. 71 years later the curse ended.
The 2016 World Series between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs was one for the history books. Being down 3-1 in the series created many challenges for the Cubs. Getting past Corey Kluber, arguably the Indians best pitcher, and the rest of the Indians bullpen was the biggest obstacle. That wasn’t enough as the Cubs are now only the sixth team to come back from a 3-1 deficit in a World Series.
Game 7 was played at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH. Starting pitchers were Cleveland’s Corey Kluber and Chicago’s Kyle Hendricks.
The game kicked off to a early 1-0 Cubs lead in the top of the first inning due to a Dexter Fowler solo home run. In the bottom of the third, Cleveland tied the game up 1-1 with Carlos Santana hitting a RBI single, scoring Coco Crisp.
In the top of the fourth inning, Addison Russell hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield scoring Kris Bryant improving the score to 2-1. Wilson Contreras later doubled to centerfield scoring Ben Zobrist making the score 3-1.
In the top of the fifth, Javier Baez hit a solo home run making the score 4-1, and Anthony Rizzo singled to right field scoring Kris Bryant making the score now 5-1.
In the bottom of the fifth inning after a wild pitch by Jon Lester, two runs were scored by Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis making the score 5-3.
David Ross later hit a solo home run making the score 6-3.
In the bottom of the eighth Brandon Guyer doubled to centerfield scoring Jose Ramirez making the score 6-4. Soon after, Rajai Davis hit a two run home run scoring Guyer and tying the game 6-6.
Going into extra innings and after a short rain delay, Ben Zobrist doubled to left field scoring Albert Almora Jr. and the score was 7-6. Miguel Montero singles to left field scoring Rizzo giving the Cubs a 8-6 lead going into the bottom of the tenth inning.
Needing two runs to keep their hopes alive the Cleveland Indians lost after only scoring one run on a Rajai Davis single to centerfield scoring Brandon Guyer.
The final score to game seven was 8-7 Chicago with their first World Series win since 1908. Ben Zobrist was crowned World Series MVP after his clutch go ahead RBI double to put the Cubs ahead 7-6.
With the drought finally over, the Cubs can now relax and celebrate their World Series win against the Cleveland Indians. As young as the Cubs roster is, hopefully the team will not have to wait another 108 years to win again.
