Wow! I am not sure anyone could have asked for a better way to end the 2016 baseball season. It took me a day to digest everything that happened, and here are my takeaways:
THE CURSE IS NO MORE!
People have probably heard it a million times throughout the postseason and after their World Series victory, but the Cubs have broken the 108 year curse. The longest championship drought in the history of sports is finally over! Chicago has every right to celebrate this one.
Why was it high-scoring?
Game 7 of this year’s fall classic featured Corey Kluber (sub 1.00 ERA and 4 wins before last night) and Kyle Hendricks (ERA just over 1.00) as the opposing starters. After they were taken out, Indians hitters had to face Jon Lester, one of the better postseason pitchers in recent memory, and Aroldis Chapman, the nearly unhittable flamethrower. Cubs hitters, once they finally got to Kluber, were tasked with putting up runs off three of baseball’s most effective relievers in Andrew Miller, Cody Allen, and Brian Shaw. And yet, the final score of the game was 8-7. Whether the pitchers ran out of gas or the hitters figured it out, the overall offensive output made this game 7 one of the craziest (if not THE craziest) in baseball history.
Rajai Davis
He was 3 for 20 before that homerun. If nothing else, he was due, and he certainly made up for the few fly balls he misread or the ineffective throws he made throughout the game. Another thing, the Cubs brought Aroldis Chapman on in the eighth with a 6-3 lead, a margin almost no one predicted would be erased after two batters. But Rajai Davis, the last person many would expect to go yard at that specific moment, came up huge, regardless of the fact that it was all for nothing.
Rain Delay
Are you kidding me? The game was just about to enter extra innings after an unbelievable Cleveland comeback and the skies opened up. I don’t think there’s any doubt that the hiatus benefitted the Cubs in so many ways. All the momentum favored the Indians, but if Mother Nature chose that time to bring a downpour, maybe it really was destiny for this year’s Chicago Cubs.
Absolutely Wild
Probably the most entertaining baseball game I have ever watched, Game 7 did not disappoint. Not only were two of baseball’s longest World Series droughts on the line, but also there were momentum swings, improbable heroes, and the prospect of the Cubs overcoming a 3-1 series deficit. I (and I am certain that I am not alone) was glued to the TV for the entirety of this game, hanging on every play from the Cubs early lead, to the Indians battling back, to Davis’s homerun, to the Cubs’ dagger in the tenth. Baseball fans everywhere will be hard-pressed to find another game that matches the excitement of this year’s World Series decider.
