FINALLY! The @Cubs are WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!
The final out & celebration. #WorldSeries #Game7 t.co/33Wu67LSPX
A dramatic Game 7 on Wednesday night ended the longest championship drought in American professional sports, with the Cubs beating the Indians. It is the Cubs’ first World Series win since 1908. Mike Montgomery got his first career save by getting that last out. The highlight of that moment might just be Kris Bryant smiling as he throws to first.
The Chicago Cubs dragged the series out to seven games after making a comeback, winning Game 5 at Wrigley Field and Game 6 in Cleveland.
The Cubs started off hot, with Dexter Fowler’s lead-off home run, the first ever hit in Game 7 of a World Series. In the top of the sixth, 39-year-old catcher David Ross became the oldest player to hit a home run in a Game 7 of the World Series.
As for the Indians, two of their runs came in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a wild pitch from Jon Lester. Lester came in with two outs after Cubs manager Joe Maddon decided to pull Kyle Hendricks, who was throwing great in the first four and 2/3 innings and only gave up one run.
After that initial unease on the part of Lester, he settled in and kept the Indians from scoring at all in the sixth and seventh. Lester got the first two outs of the eighth. Aroldis Chapman came in, but Rajai Davis changed everything with one swing of the bat, tying the game after Brandon Guyer knocked in the Indians’ fourth run.
Chapman held the Indians scoreless in the bottom of the ninth, forcing the game into extra frames… although not before a 17-minute rain delay. Carl Edwards Jr. was given the ball to close out the game in the bottom of the 10th after the Cubs picked up two runs in the top half. However, after walking Guyer and giving up an RBI single to Davis, Edwards was pulled out. Mike Montgomery came in and got Michael Martinez to ground out softly to end the series.
Ben Zobrist was named World Series MVP after knocking in the two runs in the top of the 10th. Zobrist, who started his career in Tampa with Maddon as his manager, won a World Series with the Kansas city Royals last season.
“He’s just a different cat,” Maddon said of Zobrist after the game. “Everybody would like to have one of those on their team. We’re just very fortunate to have him. He probably exemplifies exactly how we want to play the game.”
While the Cubs get to celebrate, the Indians have to wait another year for their first championship since 1948.
Here’s the box score for the game:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | |
| Cubs | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 3 |
| Indians | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 1 |
Win: Champan, Loss: Shaw, Save: Montgomery
