CLEVELAND – The wait ’til next year is finally over. The Chicago Cubs are World Series champions.
Ending more than a century of flops, futility and frustration, the Cubs won their first title since 1908, outlasting the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in 10 innings of a Game 7 thriller early Thursday.
Lovable losers for generations, the Cubs nearly let this one get away, too. All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman blew a three-run lead with two outs in the eighth when Rajai Davis hit a tying homer.
But the Cubs, after tormenting their fans one more time, came right back after a 17-minute rain delay before the top of the 10th.
Ben Zobrist hit an RBI double and Miguel Montero singled home a run to make it 8-6. Davis delivered an RBI single with two outs in the bottom half, but Mike Montgomery closed it out, and the celebration was on.
Blue-clad Cubs fans filled nearly the entire lower deck behind the Chicago dugout at Progressive Field, singing “Go! Cubs! Go!”
Manager Joe Maddon’s team halted the longest title drought in baseball, becoming the first club to overcome a 3-1 Series deficit since the 1985 Kansas City Royals.
Cleveland was trying to win its first crown since 1948, but lost the last two games at home.
World Series favorites since spring training, Chicago led the majors with 103 wins this season.
The Cubs then ended more than a century of misery for their loyal fans – barely.
This one hurts for Cleveland fans, but not as much as 1997, when the Indians blew a late lead in Game 7 on a humid night in Florida and lost in extra innings to the Marlins.
The 2016 Indians weren’t expected to win the AL Central or beat Boston in the Division Series or take out Toronto in the AL Championship Series or push Chicago up against the wall.
And yet, that’s what the Indians did, which is why it will sting all winter.
It was right there for them. After winning two of three at Wrigley Field, the Indians came home to Progressive Field with two chances to close out the Cubs, but couldn’t get it done. Cleveland is first Series team since the 1979 Baltimore Orioles to lose Games 6 and 7 in their own ballpark.
Kluber, magnificent throughout Cleveland’s dash through October, ran out of gas on a warm November night.
Taking on the Cubs for the third time in nine days was too much to ask of the right-hander, who won his first two starts in the Series.
He gave up a homer to Dexter Fowler on his fourth pitch and was pulled in the fifth by manager Terry Francona, who had no choice but to start the 30-year-old on short rest if the Indians were going to have any chance against Chicago’s loaded lineup.
And while Kluber wasn’t as sharp in Game 7 as he had been, neither was Miller.
The lights-out left-hander, whose acquisition at the trade deadline vaulted the Indians from competitive to contenders, allowed two runs – one a homer to 39-year-old Cubs catcher David Ross – and didn’t dominate. Entering Game 7, he had allowed just one run in 17 innings over nine appearances in this postseason.
As it turned out, a second title for a Cleveland team in four months was too much to ask.
