Silver City, N.M. – The curse has finally been lifted after 108 years as the Chicago Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in Game 7, making them the 2016 World Series Champions.
Some Cubs fans blame the “Billy Goat” curse for never winning a World Series since 1908. This curse came about in 1945, when the Cubs and Detroit Tigers met in the World Series. In Game 4 of the series, with Chicago up 2 games to 1, William “Billy Goat” Sianis bought to two tickets to attend the game. Sianis at that time was an owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, located in Chicago, and a Cubs fan. The other ticket was for Murphy, a pet goat and mascot for the tavern.
Legend has it that while at Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cub’s stadium, the goat smelled so bad that fans complained to eject Sianis and his goat. While leaving the stadium, Sianis yelled out “The Cubs ain’t gonna win no more. The Cubs will never win a World Series so long as the goat is not allowed in Wrigley Field.” The Tigers went on to win the World Series that year against the Cubs in Game 7, 9-3. So the curse began.
Since 1945, the Chicago Cubs have failed to reach the World Series. A few times they came close as they reached the National League Championship Series four times – 1984, 1989, 2004, and 2015.
The curse looked to continue into this year for the Cubs as the Indians were up 3 games to 1, only one game shy of winning the World Series. However, Chicago bounced back in the next two games, winning Game 5, 3-2, and Game 6, 9-3.
In Game 7, the Cubs held a comfortable 6-3 lead in the sixth inning. The lead disappeared in the eighth inning as the Indians tied the score up 6-6, thanks to a Brandon Guyer RBI and Rajai Davis 2-run home run. Heading into tenth inning, the Cubs scored two runs to push themselves into the lead, 8-6. Now only one out away from winning the World Series, the Indians cut the deficit to just one run, 8-7. Carl Edwards entered as the Cubs pitcher and that was all they needed. Indian’s Michael Martinez grounded out to third base for the final out, making the Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series Champions.
This is the Cubs third World Series title as they previously won the first two in 1907 and 1908.
Addiontal Reporting:
Photo – “Cubs End 108-Year Wait for World Series Title, After a Little More Torment” Witz, B. (November 2016) New York Times
Other – “1945 World Series” Baseball-Reference
and “Post Season Result” mlb.com
