CLEVELAND — Following a 108-year wait for a World Series championship, the Cubs needed to wait just a bit longer and the short rain delay came at precisely the ideal time for Jason Heyward to give the players a pep talk.
A 17-minute delay followed the ninth inning, then Ben Zobrist smacked a tiebreaking RBI double in a two-run 10th that lifted the Cubs to a 8-7 victory over the Indians on Wednesday night in Game 7.
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“It was like a heavyweight fight, man,” explained Zobrist, who was named World Series MVP. “Only blow for blow, everyone playing their heart out. The Indians never gave up either, and I can’t believe we’re finally standing, after 108 decades, eventually able to hoist the trophy.”
Game 7 of a series in any sport is significant, but that was more than a baseball match to Cubs fans. This win ended more than a century of frustration since the Cubs won their first championship since 1908, ending the longest drought in professional sports. This was for Ernie and Ronnie and Billy and a Lot More.
“It’s really great for our whole Cub-dom to get beyond that instant and continue to proceed,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said,”because now, based on the young players we have in this business, we’ve got an chance to be great for a long time, and with no constraints, without any of the negative dialogue.”
Dexter Fowler, Javier Baez and David Ross each homered, and the Cubs had leads of 5-1 and 6-3, but the Indians rallied against Aroldis Chapman from the eighth, tying the match at 6 on Rajai Davis’ two-run homer.
The Cubs are the first team to come back from a three-games-to-one deficit and win Games 6 and 7 on the street since the 1979 Pirates.
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