Game 7
It’s been wonderful, hasn’t it? This World Series, and the playoff rounds that preceded it. A parade of likeable teams and players, exciting games, and a World Series going the distance that features some of the best young players in baseball. It’s a shame it has to end tonight, and in disappointment if not outright heartbreak for long-suffering fans of one of the pennant winners.
If you’re just tuning in, the Chicago Cubs — owners of the best record in baseball and an embarrassment of riches in young, all-star players — have won the past two games to force a Game 7 on the road in Cleveland. The Indians, with a talented young core of players second to few if none besides the Cubs — came into the playoffs battered and bruised — missing their star outfield for nearly the entire season, as well as their starting catcher and two electric young arms in their rotation (one of those arms and the catcher returned in reserve roles for the World Series, as did the Cubs’ prodigious young slugger, who tore up his knee in the first week of the regular season).
The two teams also have the longest World Series title droughts in the sport — the Cubs last won in 1908 (this is their first World Series appearance since 1945) and the Indians in 1948 (Cleveland has fallen short in 3 World Series appearances since — 1954, 1995, and 1997).
Prior to winning the NBA title in June, Cleveland as a city as suffered a litany of sports heartbreak. The Cubs aside, Chicago doesn’t particularly rate in that category.
As I said at the start, it’s been a playoff field of largely likeable teams, and these two are no exceptions. These teams are similar in many ways, with a sage, veteran manager (Joe Maddon/Terry Francona), workman-like ace (Jon Lester/Corey Kluber), dazzling young Latino infielder (Javier Baez/Francisco Lindor), and an overpowering reliever who can seem to be a man amongst boys (Aroldis Chapman and his 100+mph fastballs, and the untouchable 6'7" leviathan, Andrew Miller). And we haven’t even mentioned the Cubs’ best players — the boy wonder at third base, Kris Bryant, the infallible first baseman, Anthony Rizzo, and 22 year old shortstop Addison Russell, who has evoked more than one comparison to Hall of Famer Barry Larkin.
If I had to pick a favorite, I would lean slightly towards Cleveland. While the club’s name and logo are offensive, I find the politics of much of the Ricketts family who own the Cubs also so. The Cubs also have the only two players I dislike in this series — Chapman and John Lackey. On the positive side, I’ve developed an affinity for the wondrous Francisco Lindor while having him on my fantasy baseball team. And while it’s hard to predict the future, and many projected dynasties fall well short or never materialize, the Cubs appear to have a much longer championship window, with infinite financial resources, a whip-smart front office. and a batting order (in Game 6) that featured 7 starters 27 or younger — 5 of whom are between the ages of 22 to 24. Donald Trump’s bluster aside, if anyone is going to win so much in the next 4 to 8 years that we’re going to get sick of it, it will be the Cubs.
Given how this series has gone, I’d be delighted if these two teams made it back next year — hopefully healthy, where we can see what Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar can do against the Cubs bat, and what Kyle Schwarber can do when fully recovered from knee surgery. And that both of them end the decade with at least one championship to their name.
As for tonight’s game, I’m picking the Cubs to win. It’s hard to find a flaw (unless you think Aroldis Chapman is gassed after his workload the past two games), while Cleveland has been pushing their undermanned team to its limits for weeks now (Corey Kluber starts on short rest again tonight).
One thing this series has not produced yet, and 7 game series almost always do (2002 being the exception), is a signature moment or two. Think of Kirby Puckett’s Game 6 home run and Jack Morris’ 10-inning complete game in ’91, Arizona’s comeback off of Mariano Rivera in 2001, David Freese’s game-tying triple in the 9th and game-winning homer in the 11th in 2011, and Madison Bumgarner’s 5 inning relief appearance in 2014. Tyler Naquin’s misplayed ball that opened up a 3–0 Cubs lead in the first last night figured to potentially be that moment, before Addison Russell blasted the lead into blowout territory. What might that moment be tonight? It could be Russell or Bryant with another home run, cementing their breakout status. Or one of the pitchers, Corey Kluber heroically pitching another gem on short rest, or the Cubs’ underrated starter Kyle Hendricks — who outdueled Clayton Kershaw to clinch the NL pennant — taking down another ace. It could also be one of the invincible relievers, Miller of Chapman, slipping up at the worst possible moment. Or an error or misplayed ball that turns the tide (like Boston’s Bill Buckner in Game 6 of ’86, or Tony Fernandez in Game 7 of ’97 — which Cleveland lost to Florida).
Four and a half months ago, Cleveland’s basketball team faced a 3–1 deficit, coming back to win (and taking Games 6 and 7 on the road). Now, the Cubs might turn the tables on that city, and deal Cleveland’s baseball team a similar loss. The history, and lore, of these two clubs figures so much in their respective city’s stories. Whatever happens tonight, each will close a chapter on another memorable part.
