The Chicago Cubs are 2016 World Series Champions. It is pretty surreal to type that out. It only took 108 years.
First off, the series with the Cleveland Indians and the drama of Game 7 was fantastic. It was postseason baseball at its best. Game 7 was a roller coaster. I think Joe Maddon and Terry Francona both had bad nights, which is a surprise because they are two of the top managers in baseball.
Maddon's decision to pull Hendricks and bring in Lester in the middle of an inning was bad. It looked even worse after the game when Cubs President Theo Epstein said that him and Maddon agreed before the game that Lester would come into the game on a clean inning.
Francona had his own share of interesting decisions, too. Leaving starting pitcher Corey Kluber in to face Javier Baez to lead off the fifth inning when Andrew Miller was ready to go was bad. Kluber clearly was not on the top of his game. Miller is one of the best pitchers in baseball. Not bringing him to start the inning was a big mistake.
Anyway, Game 7 was awesome. Even non-baseball fans thought that. The party in Chicago as a result of the win was one for the ages. The videos of bars in Chicago during the final out were nuts. The party went all night until the players returned to Wrigley Field when fans greeted them big time.
Then, there was the parade and rally at Grant Park that had an estimated five million people in attendance. The rally was the largest gathering in the history of the United States and seventh largest ever in the world. People always wondered how crazy and big the celebration would be, and now we know. I think this actually beat people’s expectation on it. The people climbing street lights and doing trust falls into the massive crowds was something else, too.
Attending the festivities was a blast. Not only was the parade and stuff fun, but the bars at night in Wrigleyville were something else. Just a bunch of people in the best moods of their life because the Cubs finally did it. There were fireworks at Wrigley and seeing those in person really made it feel real to me that the Cubs broke through.
It’s amazing how much the Cubs ending the curse meant to so many people. So many people were in tears of joy. So many people were going to cemeteries to celebrate with their deceased loved ones that unfortunately could not be alive to experience this. This year is a year no Cubs fans will ever forget. What this team did is so special. These guys are now all legends in Chicago forever. I hope to thank them throughout my life by buying them a beer or two.
Mike Smith is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. How did you react to the Cubs winning the World Series? Let Mike know by emailing him at ms983012@ohio.edu.
