As we move into the last act of our story, we come back to our first meeting at BWW a few years ago. One memorable part of our discussion was about where we were when the Cubs won the World Series. All Cubs’ fans have their version of this story. Here’s mine, as Mike and I had discussed over wings that day.
1.
It’s October 29, 2016. Game 4 of the World Series. The Chicago Cubs vs. the Cleveland Indians. The Cubs had won the first game but then dropped two straight after that. They need this game. It’s in Chicago at Wrigley Field and John Lackey, a very large angry horse of a man takes the mound. The look on his face suggests that if he can’t strike you out, he will walk over to 1st base and beat the piss out of you when you get there. Man, they need this game!
I’m watching Lackey start his warm-up pitches, but I am not at the game. Nor am I at home. My wife and I are at a friend’s house for a Halloween get together. I am watching on a small tv in a garage with children running and screaming everywhere. I am surrounded by a crowd of people who are not baseball fans. I am focusing on the commentary of an announcer that I do not care for over the repeated blaring of a horn from a John Deere lawnmower that a 5 year-old child has found. He keeps showing it off to all of his new friends. In short, I am miserable.
I am more miserable than I have ever been watching a baseball game. But I am not the biggest misery of the night. That misery belongs to the Cubs. The loss of that game comes as slow, inevitable doom. I start counting the outs and how much they need to score in the 5th inning. That’s not a good sign.
Lackey gets yanked and 3 other pitchers give up runs too. It’s a loss that puts the Cubs down in the series 1-3 and hurts so bad that I don’t even want to look anyone in the eye.
The Cubs were never even in that game and now they were pretty much out of the series. Yet children kept running and screaming. Non-baseball fans at the party kept saying things like, “It’s just a game,” or “Are you ok?” or for god’s sake, “There’s always next year.”
I was not a fun member of the party that night.
2.
November 2, 2016. Game 7. The Cubs have done a very Cubs thing. They have come back from the depths of despair to give their fans a sense of hope. They have shown moments in the last two games that make you believe that “This is the Year!” But it’s never the year. When you’re a Cubs’ fan, it’s never the year.
This game is in Cleveland, so the Cubs will bat first. Dexter Fowler steps to the plate for the first at-bat of the game while I am driving home from parent teacher conferences. I enter my neighborhood driving a little faster than I should because I want to see everything. I mean, it’s Game 7. Let’s go Cubs! I turn right from the main road into our subdivision and I hear the call on the car radio, “That ball is well hit…it’s way back…it’s got a chance……….GONE! Dexter Fowler has led off the game with a home run!”
I almost drive off the road into a culvert, pumping my fist. I think I might have yelled a little, but I don’t remember. I drive faster to get home.
Then I’m home watching the game. It’s going as well as possible. My wife is watching, my dogs are around us and they have some extra energy because we have extra energy. We are four animals pacing in our living room. In the bottom of the fifth, the Cubs’ starter Kyle Hendricks, who had been in a groove the entire game, gives up a walk. Manager Joe Maddon takes out Hendricks for the walk and I pace a little harder. Why?!?! Why take him out so soon?!?! My dog Archer jumps up at me and then grabs a toy because he doesn’t understand my energy.
Maddon brings in ace starter Jon Lester and the Cubs kick the ball around like a little league team to give up two runs. The feeling sets in. It’s happening. An inevitable feeling that Cubs’ fans have developed…they’re going to lose the big game. If there’s one thing the Cubs know how to do, it’s lose in a dramatic fashion, crushing the hopes and dreams of their fans. The lead has slipped to 5-3.
But Lester gets his shit together and gets out of the inning. Catcher David Ross then hits a solo home run to bump the lead up to 6-3. Like Hendricks before, Lester is now in a groove. It’s starting to look like they might pull it off. I’m pacing a little more. Archer is running all over the living room with his toy. Our other dog Leo is sleeping on the couch. He must be more of a hockey guy.
Then Maddon does it again!!!! Lester gives up one single and Maddon yanks him. I’m pretty sure I said several F-words. I was mad when Lester came into the game and now I’m mad that he’s being taken out. Maddon’s losing it.
But he brings in Aroldis Chapman who throws 103 mph. The issue is that Maddon has used him a lot over the last few days. A LOT. I pour another beer and get back to pacing. Chapman quickly gives up a run. The score is now 6-4. I should check my breathing. Or blood pressure. Or something. Archer has laid down on the couch with Leo. He has figured out that I’m never going to play with that damn toy.
Then the Indians’ short stop Rajai Davis hits a two-run homer to tie the game. The stadium is shaking. The TV keeps showing Cleveland sports legend LeBron James flexing in the stands like an idiot. I put the beer down, put my hands on my knees and let out a sharp, frustrated exhale. It’s happening. The Cubs are about to collapse again.
I watch the rest of that 8th inning and the 9th curled up in a ball on my couch with hands covering my face like a 4-year old watching a scary movie. I can’t help it. It’s the Inevitable Cubs’ Doom. It’s the Steve Bartmann ball all over again. It’s the Curse of the Billy Goat, it’s the Lovable Losers losing in spectacular fashion. The Cubs somehow get out of the 9th inning with a tied score, but the Indians look to have all of the momentum. Let’s just go to the 10th inning and watch the demise.
But a rain cloud rolls through the Cleveland area and delays the game. This would be a good time to check my blood pressure. Archer and Leo are both sleeping as we wait for the 10th inning to begin. Unbeknownst to all of us watching though, something has happened in the locker room. The Cubs have regrouped.
The 10th inning begins. Nikki and I are both back to pacing. Each at-bat is a thrill ride. Like a lightning bolt of hope, Cubs’ 2nd baseman Ben Zobrist hits a double and drives in a run. Put your depression on hold, the Cubs have a chance.
The Cubs score one more run in the top of the tenth and the Indians’ backs are against the wall. We’re on to the bottom of the 10th inning. We only need three outs. I can’t believe it.
Cleveland doesn’t go down easy, though. They quickly score a run. But with two outs, the Indians hit a slow grounder to 3rd baseman Kris Bryant. Smiling, he throws to 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo and the Cubs win the World Series! I jump up and down in the living room. Might have spilled my beer, I’m not sure. Nikki and I shout in celebration. Archer jumps off the couch and grabs his toy. Leo keeps on sleeping. We just witnessed what many will call the next day, “The Greatest Game 7 in World Series History.”
As we had stayed late for parent teacher conferences that night, we didn’t have school the next day. I watched everything available on ESPN and breathed in the best feeling a baseball fan can have. The people outside of Wrigley Field in Chicago celebrating the night before. Fans celebrating the morning after. Interviews with the players. Highlights of the game. Maddon explaining his pitching choices. Man, if they had lost, he would have been better off buying a new house in the Bermuda Triangle than showing up to manage the Cubs the next season. But they didn’t lose. The Cubs were World Champions. And as a long-time fan, I reveled in watching every recap, social media post, and commentary. What an amazing feeling.
Like I said, all Cubs’ fans have their own versions of where they were and how they watched that game. Five years later, Mike and I were catching up and sharing stories about high school, stand-up comedy, playing in a band, family backgrounds, careers, and just about everything else.
We both paused to watch on the big screen when the Cubs hit a double and the conversation turned to baseball. We stumbled onto the coincidence that we were both on baseball stadium tours. Mike and I shared our versions of how we experienced Game 7 and a mutual respect formed.
We came up with ideas to push each other with some of our passions and accepted some challenges. One of them was to write this blog. To have Mike see my band play. To watch Mike do stand-up. We even floated the idea that perhaps Mike would go along when I got to my last baseball stadium.
And to think, we’ve come this far with this story and it may all be due to the fact that we paused to watch a double, then reminisced with great joy the thrill of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
15 Years Later 
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