For all its managerial misfirings and ridiculous bullpen moves, Cubs-Indians was the best Game Seven I can recall seeing. There have been 38 deciding Game Sevens in the World Series. The crème de la crème begins with a Game Eight, due to a tie, in 1912 (Red Sox over Giants in extras), 1924 (Senators over Giants in extras), 1926 (Cardinals over Yankees), 1955 (Brooklyn over Yanks. At last.), 1960 (Mazeroski HR sends Bucs over Yanks), 1964 (Cards beat Yanks in their last WS for like ever—or 12 years for those of you who can only count rings), 1971 (Pirates over Orioles by a run in the Roberto Series), 1972 (Hairs 3, Squares 2), 1975 (Reds over Red Sox in my first World Series and still maybe best I have seen), 1982 (Keith comes through for Cardinals over Brewers), 1986 (Keith comes through again. Natch.), 1991 (Twins over Braves in maybe the best Game Seven pitching duel ever), 1997 (another really touch one, Cleveland), 2001 (Diamondbacks over Yankees with the best bloop ever), and 2014 (Bumgarner 3, Royals 2).
Just the idea of Cubs and Indians playing for all the marbles, that something’s got to give with the BS curses, should have had you tuning in. And Game Seven drew the most eyeballs for a World Series game since 1991 (though this could be be bad because it might only encourage Fox to keep carrying baseball and hiding the playoffs from large swaths of the country without top tier cable). But it was worth the exhaustion.
For all my Chicago friends, especially my Cubs by the Numbers co-authors, Al Yellon and Kasey Ignarski, who rarely miss a game at Wrigley, congratulations. They each have attended thousands of games there and have seen and put up with a lot crap through the years. As much as I think I know about baseball, I have no idea how good this feels for them. The one time I attended a Mets game with Al, in 2009 at Citi Field, he stopped me in my tracks when I complained about the lousy team the Mets had that year. “Listen, your team has two world championships in your lifetime. I just hope for one in mine.” Well earned.
Best stadium, best celebrity fan (Bill Murray), and now best team. That’s some hat trick. Hats off.