Page 4 November 17, 2016 A Windy City Wish Come True By Adam Serrao When the Cleveland Indians took a 3-1 series lead in the World Series over the Chicago Cubs, most people thought, “Ah, that’s just the Cubs, squandering another chance at a title.” What happened after that, however, was a series of events for the record books. When all was said and done, the Cubs that everyone loved to give up on came back in the series, rattled off three straight wins and took a championship back home from Cleveland to Chicago. Most people thought that they would never see the day when the Cubs won the World Series. But 108 years later, it was written in the Major League Baseball history books. No Billy Goat, Bartman, or black cat could stop the history that this year’s Chicago Cubs were destined to write after a season in which the team won 103 regular season games--good enough for best in all of the MLB. The next best team in the entire league won eight less games than the Cubs, so you might even say that Chicago deserved its recently acquired championship ring. After 39,466 days of waiting, who wouldn’t deserve it? Of course, when you beat the likes of the San Francisco Giants and Madison Bumgarner, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw, and the Cleveland Indians and Corey Kluber, there is certainly something to be said for a team that can now comfortably call itself the best in the world. “Nothing’s been easy, nothing’s been given to us,” Cubs ace Jon Lester explained of his team’s heroics in this year’s postseason. “Every series has been a battle and been a grind for us. We played three really good opponents to get here, and here we stand. It’s an unbelievable feeling to be a part of this. You wouldn’t expect it any other way.” One might expect Lester to be the team’s playoff MVP. The Cubs constantly leaned on him, even out of the bullpen, to pick them up on defense and get the team pointed back in the right direction. On offense, it happened to be a rather unlikely hero in Ben Zobrist. Zobrist hit the go-ahead double in the 10th inning of Game 7 to break the tie and ultimately give his team the 8-7 victory over Cleveland in the deciding game. “I know he threw a pretty hard cutter,” explained the player who was later named World Series MVP. “I just barely hung in there, and fortunately he put one just close enough to the plate where I could slap it down the line.” With that slap down the line, the curse of the Cubs was officially broken. Even though the team tried to add a bit more drama by giving a run back to the Indians in the bottom of the 10th, it was too little too late for Cleveland. The superior team battled back time and time again, and beyond simply the offense--or even simply the defense--it was the Cubs’ team as a whole that won the World Series. For that reason, Chicago President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein should be viewed as the real catalyst and most valuable person in the entire organization. Epstein arrived in Chicago in 2011 after a 71-win season. He had just assisted in replenishing the Boston Red Sox’s 86-year World Series drought. The Red Sox hadn’t won the championship since 1918. With the help of Epstein, the team won in 2004 and 2007. Theo then brought his magical mind to Chicago to try to erase the league’s longest-standing curse. After trading for Anthony Rizzo from the San Diego Padres and acquiring Kyle Hendricks from the Texas Rangers in 2012, Epstein traded with the Baltimore Orioles for Jake Arrieta and drafted Kris Bryant in 2013. He then acquired Addison Russell from the Oakland A’s, hired Joe Madden as the manager and signed Jon Lester all in 2014, before acquiring Dexter Fowler and signing John Lackey, Zobrist and Jason Heyward in 2015. Finally, closer Aroldis Chapman was acquired from the New York Yankees in 2016. The result? A 2016 MLB championship. With their victory, the Cubs became the first team to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the World Series to win Games 6 and 7 on the road since the 1979 Pirates. For once, there will be no more talk of the 1945 team that lost the World Series to the Tigers. There won’t be any more talk of the ’84 team that lost in the NLCS to the Padres, or even the 2003 team that tragically lost it all in the NLCS to the Florida Marlins because of the infamous “Bartman game” (okay, people may still talk about that one). Now, the Cubs and their fans can talk about what they did do. “There’s no curses – there never was a curse,” said Cubs General Manager Jed Hoyer. “It’s about having the best team and playing well over seven games in a World Series, and we did that. Enjoy it. The Cubs are no different than any other team. When we’re the best team, we can win, and we were the best team.” There certainly is something to be said about a team that had gone over a century without a championship. Almost everyone you know who enjoys and loves the game of baseball has a story about someone or maybe even knows someone who has been waiting their entire lifetime for a Cubs championship victory. Maybe that someone is even you. The team has been mocked, displayed in television shows and movies…and despite not winning, the Chicago Cubs have been one of the most popular and recognizable teams in the nation. Well, they are not the loveable losers any longer. The Chicago Cubs are the 2016 champions of Major League Baseball and with such a young group of core players, don’t expect them to go anywhere any time soon. • CLASSIFIED ADS The deadline for classified copy and payment is NOON on Tuesday. We reserve the right to reject, edit, and determine proper classification of classified ads. Email ad copy to: class@heraldpublications.com. 1x 2x 3x 4x 3 Lines $40 $50 $60 $70 4 Lines $45 $55 $65 $75 Need more lines? Additional line charge of $5 per line ALL SIX NEWSPAPERS – FOR ONE PRICE! Herald Publications newspapers: El Segundo Herald, Hawthorne Press Tribune, Inglewood Daily News, Lawndale Tribune, Manhattan Beach Sun and Torrance Tribune. We take Visa and MasterCard. Please always include your phone number with your submission. Payment must be received before ad is published. Lawndale Defeats West Torrance in CIF Varsity First Round Match-Up Photos Courtesy of Dirk Dewachter www.dewachter.net Sophomore Jordan Wilmore (Lawndale #1) found room to run in West Torrance’s secondary and ended up with 24 rushes for 209 yards and two touchdowns. West Torrance and Lawndale captains meet at midfield for the coin toss. EJ Hatter (West Torrance #5) in action during the first quarter of play. Naki Fahina (Lawndale #44) tackles Shige Kato (West Torrance #18) after he eluded Hunter Williams (Lawndale #5).
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