2016 Chicago Cubs: Finally

2016 Chicago Cubs: Finally

2016 Chicago Cubs: Finally

For years die hard fans of the Chicago Cubs heard much criticism from detractors, ranging from reminders of the “Lovable Losers” nickname to the various ways that team management handled developing players. There was also the selection of managers and how they immediately fizzled out after being hired, as was the case after Lou Pineilla. However, many things occurred in the early 2010’s that gave Cubs fans reason to be optimistic again as they hired Theo Epstein to be the President of Baseball Operations in 2011 and then hired Joe Maddon to be the manager of the club in 2015.

In 2016 the Chicago Cubs went 103-58, winning the National League Central division by a whopping 17.5 games over their bitter rivals the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs went 10-9 against the Cardinals in head-to-head play. The Cubs went 57-24 at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field and 46-34 on the road. With the exception of July the Cubs played solid baseball throughout each month, going 17-5 in April, 18-10 in May, 16-12 in June, 22-6 in August and 17-10 in September. The Cubs consistently crushed opponents by 5 or more runs in blowout games as they went 42-13 in those games.

Leading the way on offense was the young sensation in third baseman Kris Bryant, who batted .292 with 39 home runs and 102 RBI’s off 176 hits, 35 doubles and 8 stolen bases. First baseman Anthony Rizzo came into his own, batting .292 with 32 home runs and 109 RBI’s off 170 hits, 43 doubles and 4 triples. Center fielder Dexter Fowler batted .276 with 13 home runs, 126 hits, 25 doubles, 7 triples and 13 stolen bases. Second baseman and utility player Ben Zobrist signed with the Cubs out of free agency in December 2015. Zobrist batted .272 with 18 home runs and 76 RBI’s off 142 hits, 31 doubles and 6 stolen bases.

Infielder Javier Baez batted .273 with 14 home runs, 115 hits, 19 doubles and 12 stolen bases. Utility player Wilson Contreras batted .282 with 12 home runs, 71 hits and 14 doubles in 76 games. Shortstop Addison Russell had 21 home runs and 95 RBI’s off 125 hits, 25 doubles and 5 stolen bases. Left fielder Jorge Soler had 12 home runs, 54 hits and 9 doubles in 86 games. Right fielder Jason Heyward signed the Cubs out of free agency in December 2015 and had 7 home runs, 122 hits, 27 doubles and 11 stolen bases. Catcher Miguel Montero had 8 home runs, 52 hits and 8 doubles in 86 games. At the age of 39 catcher David Ross would play his final MLB season, and he would have 10 home runs, 38 hits and 6 doubles.

Starting pitcher Jon Lester went 19-5 with 197 strikeouts and a 2.44 ERA, recording 2 complete games.  Jake Arrieta went 18-8 with 190 strikeouts and a 3.10 ERA, recording 1 complete game and 1 shutout. Kyle Hendricks went 16-8 with 170 strikeouts and a 2.13 ERA, recording 2 complete games and 1 shutout. Jason Hammel went 15-10 with 144 strikeouts and a 3.83 ERA. John Lackey signed with the Cubs out of free agency in December 2015 and went 11-8 with 180 strikeouts and a 3.35 ERA.

The Cubs ended up with 2 reliable closers in the bullpen. Their original closer was Hector Rondon who had 18 saves and a 3.53 ERA. On July 25 the Cubs traded minor league players to the New York Yankees to acquire Aroldis Chapman, a closer who had a cannon for an arm. Chapman went 1-1 with 16 saves and a tiny 1.01 ERA.

Relief pitcher Trevor Cahill went 4-4 with a 2.74 ERA. Travis Wood went 4-0 with a 2.95 ERA. Adam Warren went 3-2. Justin Grimm went 2-1. Pedro Strop went 2-2 with a 2.85 ERA. Though it was a more subtle trade on July 20 with the Seattle Mariners where the Cubs gave up first baseman Dan Vogelbach and pitcher Paul Blackburn, relief pitcher Mike Montgomery proved to be a very critical piece of the puzzle as he went 1-1 with a 2.82 ERA.

The story of Chicago’s interesting campaign began on a sour note as left fielder and catcher Kyle Schwarber went down to an ACL injury in his left knee after colliding with Dexter Fowler on an outfield play on April 7. Schwarber would miss the remainder of the regular season. On a sweet note the Cubs would go on an 11-game winning streak, which began with a 7-6 win over the Seattle Mariners on July 31, and it ended with a 13-2 demolishing of the St. Louis Cardinals on August 12.

Individual awards and honors for the regular season came aplenty to the Cubs, though they would be named the Baseball America Organization of the Year. Theo Epstein was named the Sporting News Executive of the Year. Kris Bryant was named the MLB Most Valuable Player while he also won the Hank Aaron Award. Anthony Rizzo would win a Gold Glove, Platinum Glove and a Silver Slugger. Jason Heyward won a Gold Glove and Jake Arrieta won a Silver Slugger. Along with Jon Lester Arrieta also made the 2016 MLB All-Star Game as a reserve while Rizzo, Zobrist, Russell, Bryant and Fowler all started for the National League.

Right away the Cubs would be tested in the National League Division Series as they took on the San Francisco Giants, a team that had won the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014, and were looking to repeat their “every other year run” in 2016. In Game 1 on October 7 at Wrigley Field the Cubs blanked the Giants 1-0. Jon Lester pitched 8 innings and gave up 5 hits while recording 5 strikeouts. Javier Baez hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 8th inning, and that was all Chicago needed.

The Cubs then won Game 2 on October 8 by the score of 5-2. In the bottom of the 1st inning Ben Zobrist had an RBI single. In the bottom of the 2nd Kyle Hendricks had a 2-run single, and Kris Bryant followed with an RBI single. In the top of the 3rd pinch hitting outfielder Gregor Blanco had an RBI double, and then first baseman Brandon Belt followed with a sacrifice fly to score Blanco. In the bottom of the 4th Travis Wood hit a solo home run.

In Game 3 on October 10 at AT&T Park the Giants beat the Cubs 6-5. However, the Cubs passed their first test by eliminating the Giants with a 6-5 victory in Game 4 on October 11. In the bottom of the 1st inning catcher Buster Posey had a sacrifice fly to score center fielder Denard Span. In the top of the 3rd David Ross hit a solo home run. In the bottom of the 4th pitcher Matt Moore had an RBI single, and then Span grounded into a forceout at second base to score second baseman Joe Panik.

In the top of the 5th Ross had a sacrifice fly to score Baez. In the bottom of the 5th third baseman Conor Gillaspie had an RBI single, and then Panik had a sacrifice fly to score shortstop Brandon Crawford. Heroics came for the Cubs in the top of the 9th as Zobrist had an RBI single, Contreras had a 2-run single, and then Baez finished the scoring with an RBI single.

In the National League Championship Series the Cubs prepared for another test in the Los Angeles Dodgers. In Game 1 on October 15 at Wrigley Field the Cubs won 8-4. Jon Lester pitched 6 innings and gave up 4 hits, 1 walk and 1 run while recording 3 strikeouts. In the bottom of the 1st inning Bryant had an RBI double, and in the bottom of the 2nd Baez had his own RBI double. Baez would then successfully steal home plate to score another run.

In the top of the 5th pinch hitting outfielder Andre Ethier hit a solo home run, and in the top of the 8th first baseman Adrian Gonzalez had a 2-run single. In the bottom of the 8th Montero crushed a grand slam home run, and then Dexter Fowler followed by hitting a solo home run. In the top of the 9th pinch hitting left fielder Andrew Toles had an RBI double, but it wasn’t nearly enough for Los Angeles.

The Dodgers blanked the Cubs 1-0 in Game 2 on October 16, and then blanked the Cubs again 6-0 in Game 3 on October 18 at Dodger Stadium. The Cubs would respond with a powerful 10-2 win in Game 4 on October 19. In the top of the 4th Contreras had an RBI single, Jason Heyward followed with an RBI groundout, and then Addison Russell launched a 2-run home run. In the top of the 5th Anthony Rizzo hit a solo home run. In the bottom of the 5th third baseman Justin Turner had a 2-run single. In the top of the 6th Fowler had an RBI single, Rizzo followed with a 2-run single, and then Baez had a sacrifice fly to score Bryant.

The Cubs then won Game 5 on October 20 by the score of 8-4. Jon Lester pitched 7 innings and gave up 5 hits, 1 walk and 1 run while recording 6 strikeouts. In the top of 1st inning Rizzo had an RBI double. In the bottom of the 4th Gonzalez had an RBI groundout. In the top of the 6th Russell smacked a 2-run home run. In the top of the 8th Fowler and Bryant both had RBI singles, and Baez would clear the bases with a 3-run double. In the bottom of the 8th catcher Carlos Ruiz had an RBI single. In the bottom of the 9th pinch hitting right right fielder Josh Reddick had an RBI single, and Toles followed with a sacrifice fly to score center fielder Joc Pederson, but again Los Angeles fell far short.

The Cubs blanked the Dodgers 5-0 in Game 6 at Wrigley Field on October 22 to win their first National League pennant since 1945, ending a 71-year drought. Kyle Hendricks pitched 7.1 innings and gave up just 2 hits while recording 6 strikeouts. In the bottom of the 1st inning Bryant had an RBI single, and Zobrist followed with a sacrifice fly to score Bryant. In the bottom of the 2nd Fowler had an RBI single, Contreras hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 4th, and Rizzo would hit his own solo home run in the bottom of the 5th. Most Valuable Player honors for the NLCS would be shared by Jon Lester and Javier Baez.

The final test for the Cubs would be a classic and rare encounter in the 2016 World Series, playing against a team that was looking to end its own long World Series championship drought. The American League Champion Cleveland Indians had not won a World Series since 1948, whereas the Cubs had waited much longer than that as their last World Series championship came in 1908.

In Game 1 on October 25 at Progressive Field the Indians struck first with a 6-0 shutout win. The Cubs came back to win Game 2 on October 26 by the score of 5-1. Jake Arrieta pitched 5.2 innings and gave up 2 hits, 3 walks and 1 run while recording 6 strikeouts. In the top of the 1st inning Rizzo had an RBI double. Successfully rehabilitating his left knee, Kyle Schwarber made the World Series roster for the Cubs and played as the designated hitter. In the top of the 3rd Schwarber had an RBI single. In the top of the 5th after Zobrist had an RBI triple, Schwarber would have another RBI single, and then Russell drew a bases loaded walk to score Schwarber. In the bottom of the 6th second baseman Jason Kipnis scored for Cleveland off a wild pitch, but that would be it.

The Indians then blanked the Cubs 1-0 in Game 3 on October 28 at Wrigley Field, and proceeded to win 7-2 in Game 4 on October 29. Now down 3 games to 1, the Cubs faced a tall mountain to climb, one that only the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates successfully climbed to topple the Baltimore Orioles in the Fall Classic. In Game 5 on October 30 the Cubs won 3-2.

In the top of the 2nd Cleveland scored first with a solo home run hit by third baseman Jose Ramirez. In the bottom of the 4th Bryant hit his own solo home run, Russell had an infield RBI single, and then a sacrifice fly hit by Ross scored Zobrist. In the top of the 6th shortstop Francisco Lindor had an RBI single, but the Indians fell short.

Going back to Progressive Field for Game 6 on November 1, the Cubs evened the series at 3 games apiece with a 9-3 win. In the top of the 1st Bryant hit a solo home run, and Russell followed with a 2-run double. Russell came back in the top of the 3rd to crush a grand slam home run. In the bottom of the 4th first baseman Mike Napoli had an RBI single, and in the bottom of the 5th Kipnis hit a solo home run. In the top of the 9th Rizzo smacked a 2-run home run. In the bottom of the 9th catcher Roberto Perez had an RBI single.

The deciding Game 7 on November 2 turned out to be what many baseball fans call one of the best Game 7’s ever played in World Series history. In the top of the 1st inning Fowler hit a solo home run, and in the bottom of the 3rd first baseman and left fielder Carlos Santana had an RBI single. In the top of the 4th Russell had a sacrifice fly to score Bryant, and Contreras followed with an RBI double. In the top of the 5th Baez hit a solo home run, and Rizzo followed with an RBI single. Down 5-1 the Indians caught a break in the bottom of the 5th when a wild pitch bounced off the catcher’s mask of David Ross, allowing both Santana and Kipnis to score, cutting the lead to 5-3. In the top of the 6th Ross left his stamp on his baseball career with a solo home run. In the bottom of the 8th outfielder Brandon Guyer had an RBI double, and then outfielder Rajai Davis hammered a 2-run home run to tie the game at 6-6.

In the top of the 10th Ben Zobrist would emerge as the World Series Most Valuable Player as he had an RBI double. For the World Series Zobrist led all players with 10 hits while batting .357. Montero followed with an RBI single.

The bottom of the 10th saw the Cubs turn to relief pitcher Carl Edwards for 0.2 innings. Edwards gave up 1 hit, 1 walk and 1 run and struck out 1 batter. Then came in Mike Montgomery for the final out of the series. Rajai Davis had an RBI single, but Cleveland fell 1 run short, which meant that the Chicago Cubs had finally achieved their ultimate goal for the first time in 108 years.

The drought was over. All the painful memories of the foul ball incident in the 2003 NLCS involving innocent fan Steve Bartman, the 1984 NLCS where a ground ball went past the legs of second baseman Leon Durham, a black cat walking around the Cubs dugout, and all the talk of a guy bringing a billy goat to the ballpark could finally rest in the past. Finally the Cubs and their fans in Northern Chicago could say that they were World Series Champions. Finally the Cubs could move forward and be just like the other MLB organizations.