Never has that been more true.As I've grown older, my interest in baseball have diminished a bit: I still keep track of scores through fantasy baseball, but I don't watch games, I don't devote large chunks of time to checking out baseball stats, and I don't even hold myself out to others as a Cubs fan (deep in my heart, though, there's still a true blue, Cubbie-blue blood Cubs fan). Players often say titles are won when no one is watching, through the work they put in off the field and in the weight room. “That’s a testament to these guys in this clubhouse.” “We came back from 3-1 deficit against a really good pitching staff and a really good team,” ace Jon Lester said. But this was Chicago’s game to win, and they knew it.

The Cubs still had to close out the bottom of the 10th and Cleveland clawed back one of the runs. It kind of settled us down, got us regrouped.” “It was,” Rizzo said, “the best rain delay of all time. Cleveland walked Anthony Rizzo, only to have Ben Zobrist make the Indians pay by doubling in the go-ahead run.Īfter Russell was walked intentionally, Montero gave the Cubs an insurance run with a single. Almora was brought in to run, and he took second base on Kris Bryant's deep fly ball. Kyle Schwarber, who didn’t even know he’d be playing in the World Series two weeks ago after blowing out his knee in April, led off the 10th with a single. “We don’t know what’s going to happen but I knew we were ready to do what we did,” Heyward said. But it was long enough for the Cubs to get their minds right. The rain shower was brief, only causing a delay of 17 minutes. “Now we are here and we can do this,” Contreras said. There had to have been a reason for that. They had won two games just to get to Game 7, Willson Contreras said. Why Cubs, Indians just gave us greatest World Series Game 7 ever The fact we did it here in the World Series, I really respect everyone for that.”Īs Heyward looked around the room, he could see the mood shift and sense a new determination in his teammates. Grown men talking about that stuff, it doesn’t happen. We all felt we had to say things that were on our mind, just get it off our chest,” Russell said. Addison Russell freely admitted he was one of them, feeling a weight lift as Heyward encouraged the Cubs to be the team they’ve been all season rather than trying too hard to something new in the last game of the season. “It was a great message,” Ross said, “and well said.”īy the time Heyward was finished speaking, several of the Cubs were in tears.

We’ve been doing this all year so continue to be us.’ These are your brothers here, fight for your brothers, lift them up, continue to stay positive. Continue to play our game, support one another. “He just said, `We’re the best team in baseball for a reason.

“He spoke up and said this is about your teammates,” David Ross said. They had everything they needed to win, Heyward said, so long as they believed in each other and played for one another. Whether it was soon-to-be NL MVP Kris Bryant, rookie Albert Almora or veteran backup catcher Miguel Montero, Heyward reminded them, the Cubs had gotten this far as a team. Looking around the room, Heyward said that every single one of them had played a part in bringing the Cubs to this point.

2016 world series game 7 video