Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs was filled with huge crowds of fans this year. Could it be because the Cubs were the best team in all of baseball this year, or is it because fans were hopeful that the curse would finally end?
Back in 2003, the Cubs were facing off against the Florida Marlins. During Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series, a fan by the name of Steve Bartman reached over the wall in the foul ground territory of left-field and interfered with the ball that Cubs left-fielder Moisés Alou had a chance to make a play on. Wrigley Field erupted and began to harass Bartman and boo him.
The fans got so bad and out of control with Bartman that he had to be escorted out for his own safety, and he was even put on police protection due to the exposure of his name and address all across the country. Cubs fans were hysterical about this whole situation. The Cubs were eliminated by the Marlins the next day in Game 7, thus furthering “The Curse.”
That curse did end after 108 years on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. Indians fans believed that the series was over after Game 3 in Chicago, but Cubs fans stayed loyal and hopeful that their Cubbies would bring a championship back to Wrigley. This past Wednesday, the Cubs defeated the Indians in a winner-take-all Game 7 as they won the game 8-7 in 10 innings. Kyle Hendricks pitched the most important games of his career as he went 4 and 2/3 innings, giving up four hits, two runs, and only one of the runs scored was earned. But why was this World Series so significant to the Cub’s franchise?
The fact that the Chicago Cubs hadn’t won a World Series since the year 1908 made fans happy that their team finally earned another championship. It had been so long since the Cubs had won that women didn’t even have voting rights and there wasn’t even a National Football League. This year’s champions of baseball brings not only joy and relief to the fans, but so much significance to the city of Chicago. Everybody has waited so long for the Cubs to break their streak, and they have finally done exactly that!
Congrats to the Chicago Cubs on claiming the trophy and being the best team in Major League Baseball.