It has been said that baseball is America’s national pastime, and this was proven as over 20 million fans tuned in to the 2016 World Series matchup between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians. While the Cubs have been known for their talented lineup, the Indians have had a great pitching staff, especially in relief this season which made for an interesting matchup between the two teams. Both were playing to end World Series championship droughts of 108 years and 68 years, respectively, so baseball watchers world-wide knew that they were in for an exciting series.

Game 1 started out with a bang on Tuesday, Oct. 25 when Cleveland won big at home 6-0. Right-handed pitcher Corey Kluber threw six shutout innings, striking out nine and only allowing four hits. On the other hand, Chicago was forced to go through five pitchers and starter Jon Lester lasted 5.2 innings. Game 2 tied the series at 1-1 when the Cubs’ bats showed up, the final scoreline being 5-1. Pitcher Jake Arrieta allowed only 2 hits on the night, and this time the Indians had their turn to blow through pitchers, seven to be exact.

Game 3 went through six tight, scoreless innings until Cleveland finally put the game away 1-0 at Chicago. One day later in Game 4, Cleveland made the series 3-1 by winning big 7-2 in Chicago with Kluber on the mound again, throwing only 81 pitches in six innings of work and allowing one lone run. The triple-digit throwing closer for the Cubs, Aroldis Chapman, was called upon in Game 5 to get eight outs, the most of his career, and even though he ran into a bit of trouble in the 8th, he came out unscathed with another save under his belt. With Cleveland up in the series 3-2, Chicago made a statement by winning 9-3 in Game 6, forcing a final Game 7 and keeping their championship hopes alive.

Game 7 was by far the craziest and most nerve-wracking game of the series, as a championship should be. Chicago’s Dexter Fowler lead off the game with a homerun, and from then on the game was back and forth. The Indians never let the game get too far ahead of them, and continued to chip away at the Cubs’ leads. Toward the middle of the game, the Cubs started to pull away, when 39-year-old veteran David Ross of the Cubs hit a solo homerun to put the score up 6-3 in the final game of his career. Chapman came in to close for the Cubs, and it turned downhill from there. A runner was put on and cashed in, then Rajai Davis of the Indians hit a two-run bomb to tie the game 6-6.

A scoreless ninth inning led to extra innings, and just as the 10th inning was about to start, the game was paused due to a rain delay. Once the game started up again and the Cubs were up to bat, they had a runner on base and Anthony Rizzo was intentionally walked, and then Ben Zobrist got an RBI double on the go-ahead run. Chicago put two on the board altogether in the 10th and the Indians got one more run as well but could not make it happen. The final score was 8-7 after 10 innings Chicago, and Chapman got the win.

Some names to take from the 2016 World Series are Kyle Schwarber of the Cubs, who proved to be a tremendous hitter after only having five plate appearances during the season due to a torn ACL and hit very well in the World Series. He went 3-5 in Game 7. Corey Kluber for the Indians may have looked a bit lackluster in Game 7 but in his first two appearances during the World Series was electric, earning a 2-0 record and a crazy ERA of only 0.75 as a starter on short rest. Another is relief pitcher Andrew Miller of the Indians, who before Game 7 had only allowed one run in 25.1 career postseason innings, 17 of those innings which he threw this year. Cubs player Ben Zobrist was named World Series MVP after his heroic RBI to put Chicago on top.

Overall, the 2016 MLB World Series was one for the books. No longer can Chicago Cubs fans worry about a 108 year championship drought because they won one of the best World Series finals ever. Coming back from behind in a 1-3 series to take it all 4-3, the Chicago Cubs are now the 2016 World Champions.