Ten Years Ago Monday: The Cubs Beat Cleveland 8-7 in Game 7, in the Rain, in the 10th, to End a 108-Year Wait
November 2, 2016 gave Chicago the game of its sporting lifetime: a blown lead, a tying homer, a 17-minute rain delay, and then Ben Zobrist's double. Monday marks a decade since the night the wait ended.
Monday marks ten years since the night Chicago stopped waiting. On November 2, 2016, the Cubs beat Cleveland 8-7 in 10 innings in Game 7 of the World Series, winning the franchise's first championship in 108 years — the longest drought in American professional sports — at the end of the most dramatic game most of this city has ever watched.
The Cubs had trailed the series three games to one. They forced Game 7 behind Addison Russell's grand slam in a 9-3 Game 6 win, then built a 6-3 lead in the finale, only to watch it vanish in the eighth inning when Rajai Davis hit a two-run, game-tying home run off Aroldis Chapman. The game sat tied 6-6 through nine innings.
Then came the rain — a 17-minute delay that Cubs lore has never let go of. During the pause, Jason Heyward gathered the players for a brief players-only talk. When play resumed, Kyle Schwarber singled, and Ben Zobrist — who would be named World Series MVP — drove in the go-ahead run with a double in a two-run 10th. Miguel Montero added an RBI single that turned out to be essential, because Davis drove in one more run in the bottom of the inning.
The final out came on a slow grounder off the bat of Michael Martinez: Kris Bryant fielded it on the slick grass and threw to Anthony Rizzo, who tucked the ball into his back pocket as the celebration began. Mike Montgomery, who had never recorded a save, had closed the World Series.
The 2016 Cubs won 103 games, the best record in baseball, as the culmination of a full rebuild. Ten years on, the facts of that night have not faded in Chicago: 8-7, in 10 innings, after 108 years — and, fittingly, after one last rain delay.
