When the fall classic starts at around 8pm on Tuesday who do you have winning that game? Who do you have winning the series? What adds to the allure of baseball is the grandness of the sport the name of the final championship by itself adds to the magnitude of this final bout between teams. However this year we have a team that has had one of the longest droughts in professional sports history, and another that has never won the championship. It's the Cubs verses the Indians, Chicago verses, Cleveland, but what we do know is no matter what team wins history will be made.
Neither of these teams just happened to waltz into the championship either. Chicago had won 103 games this year better than any other major league team. The Cubs had established themselves before the start of the playoffs that they were the team to beat. Boasting a rotation of two potential Cy young candidates, and the winner from 2015. The Cubs strangely enough had a different hero. The pitching was as good as advertised, but what set them apart was the play of Javier Baez. Baez still a very young and developing player proved to everybody who watches baseball that he is ready to take that starting second base spot. From clutch hitting and spectacular defense the only other cub that is as valuable right now is Jon Lester. This championship caliber type team did not happen solely on the genius coaching of Joe Madden. A lot of credit is due to the Cubs front office namely Theo Epstein. The way the Cubs have accumulated talent to go well with their signings, and draft picks have led to a super powered and young force that we see on the field today. Going through their starting line-up David Ross, Miguel Montero, Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist, Addisson Russel, Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Aroldis Chapman, Dexter Fowler and Anthony Rizzo were all brought in by trades and free agent signings. The guys like Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Kyle Hendricks, and Wilson Contreras were drafted by the Organization. The Cubs fielded an array of all stars, and have the most well rounded team in all facets of the game it should not be a surprise they made it this far.
On the other hand I am surprised that Cleveland has made it this far. Yes, as a Boston fan I am surprised they knocked out the powerhouse that is the Red Sox, but you have to remember the Indians are missing two out of their three starting pitchers, and their overall best hitter in Michael Brantley. The Cleveland Indians were the underdogs coming into the postseason, but now represent some type of fortitude to be matched this October. The Indians have lost one post season game, and have dominated the others hurling multiple shutouts. The front office deserves a lot of credit for their midseason trades for Coco Crips, Brandon Guyer, and the unstoppable pitching machine Andrew Miller. What is so great about this team is the team first attitude they seem like one of the greatest clubhouses in sports right now. That type of mentality is due to their manager Terry Franconia, who not only has proven to do things unorthodox with his pitching. He has found a formula for winning without any 20 million dollar players. The Indians payroll actually only consist of two players that are making over 10 million dollars for the year.
Both teams have had a memorable season, and had very different roads to the world series, but without a doubt this will be a World Series that either stops the curse of the Billy Goat, or give Cleveland a second professional sports championship in the same year.
