It was 108 years in the making. It was a comeback story. It was stressful. It was exciting. It was a once in a lifetime experience. And it was a beautiful thing. The 2016 Chicago Cubs won the World Series and they are my favorite team ever.
I was born and raised in Chicago and grew up in the 1980's. I was raised as a huge Chicago sports fan by my dad who had great passion for the Chicago Bears, Bulls and of course, the Cubs. In 1985 I was 7 years old and the Bears were the best team in the NFL. My dad actually went to the Super Bowl when they blew out the New England Patriots. Walter Payton was one of my heroes.
The Chicago Bulls had this exciting young player named Michael Jordan. I was mesmerized watching him fly through the air and dunk on everyone in the NBA. Basketball has always been my true love, thanks to MJ.
But when it came to what team I loved the most, it would be the Chicago Cubs. And the reason why is because of Andre Dawson. I actually had this poster in my bedroom growing up.
Andre Dawson was a phenomenal player. He would destroy the baseball and lead the league in home runs. He would win an MVP. And he had a cannon for an arm. Dawson played right field in spectacular fashion. He is the reason I fell in love with the Cubs.
But the Cubs never won. The phrase "Wait till next year" was mumbled at the end of each season. It was disappointment after disappointment. But I still watched every game I could. I still begged my dad to take me to Wrigley Field, even when they stunk. I loved Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace. And every season that started, I had hope.
As those players got older and retired, the Cubs had some fresh new faces that would get the fan base excited. Sammy Sosa joined the team after he was traded across town by the Chicago White Sox. Sosa would explode on to the scene. He was crushing home runs at a historic pace. Sosa was the face of the franchise and every at bat was must see television as he battled for the home run race with St. Louis Cardinals slugger, Mark McGwire.
But even with the offensive success of Sammy Sosa, he could not get the Cubs to the World Series. Pitchers Mark Prior and Kerry Wood were the next players to wear the pinstripes and get the Cubs fans hopes up. But injury after injury kept happening to both of their golden arms.
Finally, the Cubs ownership went out and got the perfect man to fix this team. They hired Theo Epstein away from the Boston Red Sox. Epstein was the architect of the Red Sox teams that won multiple World Series titles after having a horrific losing streak, similar to the Cubs drought.
Epstein would get rid of all of the talent on the team and start from scratch. The Cubs would lose on purpose. They wanted high draft picks and do a complete and full rebuild of their roster. The first big piece that Epstein would trade for would be Anthony Rizzo. He had always liked Rizzo's game and picked him up from the San Diego Padres. Epstein would also trade for Addison Russell who was a young infielder with lightning quick movements on the field and a ton of upside. Russell was on the Oakland A's, who were trying to make a playoff run and were desperate for starting pitching. They made the Russell trade for Jeff Samardzija. This would turn out to be a fantastic trade for the Cubs and a terrible one for the A's.
Theo Epstein though built the bulk of the 2016 team through his phenomenal draft picks. Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and Kyle Schwarber were all Epstein picks. Cubs fans have always heard about the great talent in the minor leagues that were going to be super stars soon like Corey Patterson was supposed to in the 90's. Patterson was going to be the next Ken Griffey Jr. Oops.
But these picks were different. They were done by the most talented front office person the Chicago Cubs franchise had ever had. They were done by Theo Epstein.
The 2016 Chicago Cubs won 103 games. They were by FAR the best team I had ever seen in person. They also had the perfect manager, Joe Maddon. He was an outside the box thinker and was highly sought after from his success in Tampa Bay with the Rays.
The Cubs ran away with the National League Central Division by 17.5 games. They would face the San Francisco Giants in the NL Division Series and then took care of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.
But the World Series would be the ultimate challenge as they would face the Cleveland Indians. The atmosphere around Wrigley Field was electric, not only for the 3 home games, but also the 4 away games. The bars were full and the streets were packed. We had the ultimate roller coaster of emotions as our ups and downs hung on every pitch.
The Cleveland Indians took a 3-1 lead in the best of 7 series. No one had come back from a deficit like that since the Kansas City Royals did it back in 1985. But the Cubs did the impossible. They won 3 straight games including games 6 and 7 that were in Cleveland. When the final out happened, we were screaming, we were jumping, we were hugging and we were crying. We had waited our entire life for this moment.
They did it. It finally happened. I lived through the 1985 Bears Super Bowl. I watched Michael Jordan win 6 NBA Titles. But this was different. This was historic. It was and is the best sports moment of my life. Congrats to the 2016 Chicago Cubs. You are my favorite team.
Cheers!
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