Things stayed that way for a while, as Lester battled and got the ball to closer Aroldis Chapman in the 8th inning, departing after a 2-out single to Ramírez. Ross immediately rebounded by hammering a 2-strike fastball from Indians relief ace Andrew Miller over the center field fence to recoup 1 of the runs given up the previous half-inning. On another night, that moment might’ve been classified as a “Cubbie Occurrence,” but this was not one of those nights. Lester proceeded to give up a single to Kipnis and then threw a wild pitch that caromed off David Ross’ mask and allowed 2 runs to score. Maddon opted to go against his pregame plan and brought Lester in from the bullpen in a “dirty” inning with a runner on base in the 5th. They tacked on from there with 2 more runs in the 5th (a Javy homer and a Rizzo RBI single) before the wheels started to come off a bit as the Indians were hitting Hendricks hard, but right at Cubs defenders. The Cubs responded immediately when Russell hit a sacrifice fly to plate Bryant and Contreras followed with an RBI double in the top of the 4th. The Indians tied the game in the bottom of the 3rd when Santana drove Crisp in with a single. Kluber was operating on short rest and making his third start of the World Series after winning Game 4 just four nights earlier. Maddon kept his lineup exactly the same as Game 6, while Francona only switched up his centerfielders, inserting Davis to replace Naquin, whose miscommunication led to a pair of 1st-inning runs the night before.įour pitches into the game, the Cubs already had a lead as Fowler sent Kluber’s 94 mph fastball into the bleachers. Luckily for the Cubs, there was no off-day between Games 6 and 7, allowing them to carry the momentum from one night to the next.Īs managers Joe Maddon and Terry Francona got ready for the pressure-packed, winner-take-all game, here’s how they set their lineups: Game 6 proved that, as the Indians fell victim to the pressure immediately and the Cubs lineup suddenly reemerged as the same relentless group that won 103 games in the regular season. With the off-day, the bullpen was rested and it gave Lester another chance to catch his breath after a gutsy performance.īetween all that and the warm, hitter-friendly weather, it was playing perfectly into the Cubs’ favor. The Cubs had just used their battle-tested veteran Jon Lester to win Game 5, but they also had Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks lined up for Games 6 and 7. But Kris Bryant’s homer to lead off the 4th inning in Game 5 woke the offense up and – with a day off in between Games 5 and 6 – the Cubs were carrying some momentum into Cleveland.Īll the pressure was off the Cubs and had been placed squarely on the Indians. The Indians had jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the series while the Cubs’ bats once again went into one of their October silent spells. The Cubs hadn’t even earned a trip to the World Series since 1945, while the Indians lost both the 19 Fall Classics.

These were the teams with the two longest current championship droughts – the Cubs at 108 years, the Indians at 68 years.

The Cubs and Indians were set for the most high-stakes Major League Baseball game the world has ever seen. In other words: Absolutely perfect baseball conditions, though that obviously changed as the night wore on. local time, it was still 73 degrees with only a slight breeze. By the time the game started at 8:02 p.m. It was unseasonably warm in Cleveland, reaching a high of 77 degrees with sunny conditions earlier in the day on Nov. Heck, the game even ended with a player carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates, a la Rudy. The most important four-and-a-half hours in Cubs history.Ī game with so many twists and turns, so many unbelievable moments that everybody would scoff and chalk it up as “unrealistic” if they saw the same sequence of events play out in a movie.

Watch 2016 world series game 7