Cubs Win!

The Chicago Cubs have won the World Series:

Finally.

The most epic drought in sports history is over, and the Cubs are world champions.

After 108 years of waiting, the Cubs won the 2016 World Series with a wild 8-7, 10-inning Game 7 victory over the Indians on Wednesday night at Progressive Field. The triumph completed their climb back from a 3-1 Series deficit to claim their first championship since 1908.

A roller-coaster of emotions spilled out in a game that lasted almost five hours, featuring some wacky plays, a blown four-run lead, a 17-minute rain delay and some 10th inning heroics that sealed the deal.

Some sportscasters have been calling last night’s game “the greatest game in the history of the World Series”. It was certainly exciting and a cliff hanger.

However, what stays with me was something from yesterday’s game—when Chicago shortstop Addison Russell hit a home run with the bases loaded:

Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell may not have the reputation as a power hitter that some of his teammates may enjoy, but he did something on Tuesday night that none of his teammates can say that they’ve done.
In the third inning of Game 6 of the World Series, Russell stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and one out against new Indians pitcher Dan Otero. On a 2-0 pitch, Russell unloaded on a swing and drilled a grand slam over the center field wall to give the Cubs a 7-0 lead.

With the grand slam, Russell became the first player to hit one in a World Series game in over a decade. Chicago baseball fans will certainly remember the last player to achieve the feat, as it was Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko, who hit a grand slam during Game 2 of the 2005 Fall Classic.
Russell also drove Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist home in the first inning, giving him a total of 6 RBI in Game 6 – tied for the most in a single game in World Series history.

And at just 22 years old, he’s now the youngest player to hit a grand slam in a World Series game since Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle accomplished the feat in 1953.

You can imagine him as a kid dreaming of that moment. And it came true.

And that’s the way last night’s victory must have seemed for generations of Cub fans. Something they’ve dreamed of for their entire lives has finally come true.