There is no disputing the fact that this season has been a memorable season for the Cleveland Indians. That being said, any sports season in which a Cleveland team makes it to the championship is a memorable season.
Cleveland fought through the injuries of starting pitchers Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco, yet stayed on top of their division for the better part of the summer. Salazar would return as a relief pitcher in the World Series. At the August 1st regular season trade deadline, they supplemented their pitching rotation by signing veteran relief pitcher Andrew Miller, a move that would prove to be extremely useful in the postseason. They defeated the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays to earn themselves a trip to the World Series, where they lost the Chicago Cubs through seven games.
The Cubs got on the board first with a solo home run by center fielder Dexter Fowler during the first at bat of the game, and it took until the third inning for the Indians for the Indians to tie the score at one run apiece. The Cubs would score in the fourth and fifth innings, making the score 5-1, but the Indians would score two runs on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth to make it 5-3. David Ross, the Cubs catcher and the oldest player in the game, hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth to put the Cubs further ahead, 6-3.
In the bottom of the 8th, Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez scored on a RBI double by outfielder Brandon Guyer. With Guyer on base, center fielder Rajai David hit a home run, tying the game at six. Soon enough, the ninth inning passed scoreless and Game 7 was sent into extra innings.
Between the ninth and tenth innings, the rain began to fall. Eventually, the grounds crew brought the tarp over the field and the game was postponed. When the game resumed, the Cubs got right back on top with RBIs by Ben Zobrist and Miguel Montero. An RBI in the bottom of the tenth inning was not enough to save Cleveland, and they lost the final game of the World Series by a score of 8-7. If anything, it was proven that the Epstein family (who own the Cubs) got quite a return on their investment in the 2016 Cubs team.
With this loss by Cleveland, the Cubs ended a 108-year stretch without a World Series win. This leaves Cleveland with the longest deficit of this manner in Major League Baseball, with their last Series win dating back to 1948. It is almost a certainty that the Chicago Cubs will have a larger fan base next season, while Cleveland fans will remain loyal to a team that nearly brought the World Series back to their city only to lose it in front of wistful spectators. However disappointing for Cleveland the loss may be, seven well-played games of baseball proved that nobody worked harder for second place than the 2016 Indians.
