Kuzul

For 20 years, David Ortiz was locked in a love affair with the Boston faithful and the rest of baseball fans across the country.

Relive some of the top moments from his Hall of Fame career.

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The 2016 World Series is set, and no matter who wins, it will be a celebration a long time in the making.

The Chicago Cubs are considered the team of destiny as they try to win their first championship since 1908. On the other hand, the Cleveland Indians haven’t won a title since 1948, and their fans will be just as excited about the possibility of a win.

Both teams will come out with a lot of energy to provide fans with the best possible matchup on the sport’s biggest stage. Here is what you need to know about the upcoming battle. 

Preview

When it comes to the Cubs, it’s hard not to talk about history. Not only has it been more than 100 years since the last World Series win, but the organization hadn’t even won the pennant since 1945.

After the Cubs clinched the National League Championship Series, that was just about all anyone could talk about.

“To stand on that platform afterwards,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, “and you’re looking at the ballpark and the fans and the ‘W’ flags everywhere. I think about the fans, and their parents, and their grandparents, and great-grandparents, and everything else that’s been going on here for a while.”

However, it’s important to remember that the current squad stands on its own as an elite team. The players aren’t necessarily carrying history with them; they won 103 games with a lot of talent in just about every part of the roster.

The starting pitching has been great all year, especially Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks. The duo has allowed just five earned runs in 37.1 innings this postseason, including just three runs total in four starts in the NLCS.

Jake Arrieta hasn’t been quite as dominant, but he is the reigning NL Cy Young winner and has good enough stuff to be a shutdown pitcher in the upcoming round.

Meanwhile, the lineup is even more dangerous, as so many different players can carry the offense on a given night. Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Javier Baez and others can get hot at any time, and they have shown it throughout the season and playoffs. If this team is clicking, there aren’t too many holes.

Of course, the Indians aren’t in this spot by luck, either.

The bullpen is the real story of the team’s success, featuring the lights-out combo of Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. While Allen is usually considered the “closer” on the team, the reality is that either pitcher can come in any inning and shut down any part of the lineup.

Manager Terry Francona has been creative in his use of the bullpen this postseason, and it has led to opponents having seemingly no chance of coming back late in games.

Although the starting rotation has been a mess because of a handful of injuries, the team still has Corey Kluber leading the way as one of the top pitchers in baseball. It’s tough to know what to expect from either Josh Tomlin or rookie Ryan Merritt, but you can’t count either out.

The real question mark is the lineup, which has loads of talent but struggled last series against the Toronto Blue Jays, as ESPN Stats & Info noted:

Cleveland is batting only .208 in the postseason, which is impressive for a team that has won two series already. With Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez and Jason Kipnis capable of racking up hits and Carlos Santana and Mike Napoli adding power, this unit can be quite dangerous if it gets going.

In any case, these two teams should create a memorable World Series that could go the distance.

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter.

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The Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians have both earned adoration by punching their tickets to the World Series. Only one long-suffering MLB franchise can obtain a happy ending.

Some people might have heard that the Cubs haven’t won a championship in a while. Cleveland can’t match the century-long misery, but it hasn’t captured a title since 1948. 

Both droughts, further illuminated by ESPN’s Buster Olney, explain why so many fans dreamed of this final matchup once the regular season concluded:

While Cleveland has already exceeded expectations by overcoming significant injuries, Chicago comes in as the juggernaut favored all along to win the Fall Classic. But Cubs fans know better than anyone that nothing is a done deal, and Cleveland dubiously receives home-field advantage thanks to the worst rule in sports.

Here’s a look at the World Series schedule along with predictions leading to a championship pick.

Don’t Count on Comebacks

Heading into Tuesday’s opening game, each squad harbors hope of a notable contributor returning from a lengthy absence.

Danny Salazar has not pitched since Sept. 9, and he followed a stellar first half by surrendering 29 runs over 32.2 innings after the All-Star break. Nevertheless, Cleveland can’t feel confident in getting another storybook outing from Ryan Merritt, who baffled the Toronto Blue Jays in his second career start to help clinch the American League pennant.

The team also must be careful with Trevor Bauer, whose bloody finger forced him out of his American League Championship Series start after he recorded two outs. According to MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian, he is currently slated to pitch either Game 2 or Game 3.

Because of his rotation’s uncertainty, manager Terry Francona will turn to Salazar if he’s ready, which is looking like a realistic possibility. Per Bastian, the 26-year-old righty could make the roster and even start a game depending on the team’s impression of his Sunday simulated outing.

“If Danny pitches and he pitches healthy,” Francona said, “and he’s throwing the ball over the plate, we have a really good pitcher for however amount of innings he’s built up for, which can potentially help us.”

According to Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller, the team attempted to prepare him for a frenzied playoff atmosphere:

Salazar hasn’t lasted six innings in a start since July 19, so don’t anticipate anything more than three or four innings. In those frames, Chicago would wait out the erratic hurler, who issued 4.12 walks per nine this season. The Cubs’ 10.4 walk percentage, per FanGraphs, led the majors

An even bigger long shot to help, the Cubs have surprisingly left the door open for Kyle Schwarber‘s return. The 23-year-old tore his ACL two games into the season, but he took swings in the Arizona Fall League while the Cubs clinched the National League pennant.

Preparing to play as many as four games under AL rules, the Cubs wouldn’t mind retrieving the slugger, who belted five home runs last postseason. Per USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale, manager Joe Maddon said the circumstances keep his comeback alive:

It makes sense from a “leave no stone unturned” perspective, but Schwarber hasn’t faced major league pitching since early April. The Wall Street Journal‘s Jared Diamond approached the thought with skepticism:

Chicago has plenty of other options, most notably Jorge Soler. Maddon can keep catcher Willson Contreras in the lineup when David Ross starts with Jon Lester, who will likely take the mound in Game 1 or 2 at Progressive Field.

Predictions: If Salazar is available, Cleveland thinks better of the situation and limits him to a bullpen role with uninspiring results. The Cubs don’t include Schwarber on their World Series roster.

Chicago Cracks Cleveland’s Pitching

Despite facing two prolific lineups in the Boston Red Sox and Blue Jays, Cleveland enters the World Series wielding a 1.77 postseason ERA and 81 strikeouts in 71 innings. Corey Kluber, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen should give Francona valuable innings, but the Cubs can mitigate their value by attacking everyone else.

The same Josh Tomlin who allowed 36 home runs over 174 regular-season innings kept Boston and Toronto in the park. Righties registered an .845 OPS against the strike-tossing veteran, and the Cubs have a good one in MVP favorite Kris Bryant.

If healthy, Bauer is a shaky bet because of his 3.32 BB/9. Polar opposites in style, neither Salazar nor Merritt is a comfortable bet for a playoff start against an offense that upended the Los Angeles Dodgers with 23 runs over three straight victories.

“You knew it was going to happen,” Cubs outfielder Dexter Fowler said after Game 4’s 10-run outburst, per MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch. “It was just a matter of when.”

Observers are well aware of Miller’s playoff brilliance. The dominant reliever has compiled 21 strikeouts over 11.2 scoreless innings. Cleveland won all six of his appearances, all by three runs or fewer.

Even with Francona optimizing his value in high-leverage situations, the Cubs can diminish his impact by jumping out to early leads. Look at Saturday’s victory over the Dodgers, in which Kenley Jansen threw three perfect innings in vain.

Predictions: Cleveland’s pitching staff falls down to earth against a surging Chicago lineup. Kluber, Miller and Allen keep the series interesting, but the Cubs counter with a deeper staff and more offensive firepower. As a result, the Cubs win their first title since 1908 in a six-game series.

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There’s a growing conundrum plaguing the minds of baseball’s best executives. To a man, each is searching for the sport’s most elusive prize: a shutdown bullpen.

See, hundreds of pitchers are drafted and signed by all 30 organizations every year. But none enters the sport’s professional ranks wanting to pitch in relief. Each has intentions on being a starter, as is evident by the oft-used phrase “he was sent to the bullpen,” which has an inherently negative connotation.

Baseball’s best all-time reliever, Mariano Rivera, began his MLB career as a starter. Such was the case for prized closers Kenley Jansen of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Aroldis Chapman of the NL champion Chicago Cubs, as both dabbled with starting staffs in the minor leagues.

The difficulty in evaluating which young pitcher may be an effective reliever is difficult because nearly every player is initially being judged as a starter. So when players like Jansen, a right-hander, and Chapman, a lefty, have perfected the art of late-inning relief, they become invaluable to teams.

And both will command huge contracts when they enter free agency this winter. Given the lack of starting pitching available in the upcoming free-agent class, those teams looking to bolster their pitching staffs will have to do so by improving the back end.

It’s Jansen, though, that should be given the most consideration by those teams.

The two pitchers are this close—Chapman would be the best of consolation prizes. Jansen’s 47 saves, though, were more than Chapman’s 36. The former did blow six saves to the southpaw’s three, but Jansen was put into 14 more save situations than Chapman.

Chapman’s measurables are eye-popping. His fastball tops 100 miles per hour as frequently as a stock car, while Jansen’s hovers in the mid-90s. But as one MLB executive talked about the evaluation of pitchers—both starters and relievers—earlier this season, he said it’s important to try to find people who can get outs.

In that case, Jansen wins in a photo finish.

Chapman had a WHIP of 0.862 this season, and Jansen’s was 0.670. Jansen’s 3.2 WAR led all relievers this season and was 0.5 better than Chapman, according to FanGraphs.

Sure, the difference is minuscule, but teams won’t look to sign both. As they decide which player to make the priority, it’s these kind of finite details executives will work through.

It’s like being the judge of the Miss America pageant. You’re deciding between All-Star-caliber players. They’re two of the top five relievers in the game.

But the value of a reliever is never greater than in the playoffs, where Jansen provides a team with more versatility.

That was evident by the flurry of deadline deals for relievers, including one that sent Chapman to the Cubs and ALCS MVP Andrew Miller to the Cleveland Indians.

The value of a shutdown inning in a five- or seven-game series is far greater than in a regular season when a team needs 90-plus wins to earn a division title. A reliever would never win the MVP award, but Miller was able to win the ALCS MVP because he was called upon to pitch in the series’ critical moments.

A reliever can separate himself as a postseason stalwart with the ability to pitch in different situations, or pitch longer than he may have otherwise been used to in the regular season.

Both Chapman and Jansen were, generally, ninth-inning players this year.

But Jansen proved he has the ability to earn six-out saves and pitch in non-save situations. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts used Jansen during critical middle-inning situations and for six-out saves.

In the NLCS, Chapman pitched in four games and Jansen appeared in three. But Jansen threw 6.1 innings and didn’t allow an earned run. Chapman pitched 4.2 innings and gave up two earned runs.

Twice in the series Chapman looked uncomfortable throwing in the eighth inning.

He was inserted into the eighth frame of Game 1 with no outs and the bases loaded. Manager Joe Maddon thought Chapman was the Cubs’ best chance at getting out of the jam and into the ninth inning with the lead.

But after striking out the first two batters, Chapman gave up a two-run single, which tied the game at three. The two runs Chapman gave up came in a non-save situation in a Game 5 win.

Chapman only has one postseason outing in which he pitched more than an inning. That came in Saturday’s Game 6 win when he recorded five outs in a non-save situation.

Jansen did it three times this year, including throwing 2.1 innings in Game 5 of the NLDS and three on Saturday where he faced the minimum nine batters.

That kind of versatility is important because, in theory, a team’s worst pitchers are its middle relievers. In an ideal scenario, a starting pitcher would hand the ball to the team’s closer.

Jansen’s ability to pitch longer outings bridges that gap, whereas a team on which Chapman plays is more likely to have to rely on other relievers to get him the ball.

That’s among the reasons Rivera was so good: In 96 postseason appearances, he pitched 141 innings.

Of course, any team would love to have Chapman. He can throw harder than anyone who has ever stepped onto the rubber. But remember: It’s about getting outs.

He just gets fewer than Jansen, which means that Jansen answers more of the questions that surround baseball’s elusive prize.

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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Thirteen-year MLB pitcher Brian Anderson grew up in Northeast Ohio, living the history and living the heartache.

The local sports teams never won, and the losses could be excruciating. He was a 15-year-old kid watching what Clevelanders will always call The Fumble, the Earnest Byner fumble that cost the Cleveland Browns a chance at the Super Bowl in 1988.

“I was kicked out of the living room because my mom didn’t want my negativity,” Anderson said. “When it was over, through my tears, I told her, ‘I will play on the first Cleveland team that wins a championship.'”

Nine-and-a-half years later, it was coming true. The Cleveland Indians were in the 1997 World Series, Anderson was on the team, and the morning of Game 7 he reminded his mother of his long-ago promise.

“This is happening,” he said. “We’re going to win the World Series tonight.”

They didn’t win. They haven’t won. Since that night in Miami, when Jose Mesa couldn’t hold a ninth-inning lead and Edgar Renteria’s 11th-inning single off Charles Nagy made the Florida Marlins champions, the Indians haven’t been back to the World Series.

Not until now.

They begin the 2016 World Series Tuesday night at home, carrying a title drought that has reached 68 years. It shouldn’t have, but it has.

It should have ended two decades ago, when the Indians were among the best teams baseball has seen. They averaged 94 wins a year and nearly six runs a game over a five-year span. They had 44 players who made All-Star teams at some point in their career.

Three of them are already in the Hall of Fame (Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield and Roberto Alomar), at least two more will likely get there (Omar Vizquel and Jim Thome), and at least two were headed there but got sidetracked by health or other issues (Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez).

They had future managers (Dave Roberts, John Farrell, Bud Black and Torey Lovullo), others who could be managers (Vizquel and Sandy Alomar) and a future general manager (Ruben Amaro). The front office spun off executives who would make it big elsewhere (Dan O’Dowd, Josh Byrnes, Paul DePodesta, Ben Cherington and Neal Huntington), and the coaching staff spun off future managers (Buddy Bell and Charlie Manuel).

They sold out 455 consecutive games, a major league record later eclipsed by the Boston Red Sox. They had such a following on the road that security people would usher them through the back door of hotels, like a rock band or a president. They had a celebratory parade after a World Series they lost.

They had big numbers and big personalities.

“That was magical,” Vizquel said. “It was amazing. Every time you came to the park, it was electrifying.”

The Indians of the late ’90s had everything—everything except the ring you get when you win it all.

“It doesn’t take anything away from what we did,” Vizquel said. “But it left a deep pain inside.”

**

That pain has never left. Even as the players, coaches and executives from those teams prepare to root for the Indians to win this World Series, they can’t bear to watch the last one they competed in.

“When the outcome changes, I’ll watch it,” Sandy Alomar said. “I’ve watched it seven times, and the outcome never changes. I’m really proud of what we accomplished, but you’re going to be scarred forever.”

Mike Hargrove, the manager then and an Indians adviser now, feels the same way.

“Why would I want to see it?” he said. “I lived it. A fan asked me in spring training the next year how long it took me to get over that game. I said as soon as it happens, I’ll let you know. Just a few weeks ago, someone came up to me and asked the same thing. I said as soon as it happens, I’ll let you know.”

To a man, they feel they should have won, at least in ’97 and maybe in other years too. To a man, they look back and believe they were as good as any team they met, including the New York Yankees teams that won four World Series in the span where the Indians won none.

“I loved those guys,” said John Hart, the Indians general manager who later ran the Texas Rangers and now is president of baseball operations of the Atlanta Braves. “I wish I had a team like that all the time. I still do feel the scar of ’97, but I am at peace.”

**

To fully understand what the 1990s Indians were, you have to remember what the franchise and the city were like before they came around.

The franchise had gone 41 years without playing in the postseason, and from 1969-93 the Indians won more than 81 games in a season just once—84 during the 1986 season. Most years, they didn’t come close to that.

“In 39 of those years, they were out of the race by the Fourth of July,” longtime Indians announcer Tom Hamilton said, exaggerating only slightly.

They played in a cavernous, mostly empty rat-infested stadium, in a city known for a polluted river that once caught fire. The city and the stadium were alternately derided as the Mistake by the Lake.

It all changed in the mid-1990s. Jacobs Field opened in 1994, a beautiful ballpark in a city finally showing life. The NFL’s Browns departed for Baltimore a year later, leaving a rabid fanbase to embrace the rapidly improving Indians.

They had a winning team, one that embodied everything Cleveland wanted to be.

“They knew they were good, they weren’t afraid to tell you they were good and then they’d go out and prove it,” Hamilton said. “I think that’s why Cleveland loved that team. It was the first time Cleveland was the big bad bully.”

**

Even in 1992 and 1993, the Indians spoke among themselves about walking and talking and running the bases like champions. When they did start winning, it didn’t take long for other teams to resent the talk and the look.

“I think the team was despised by everyone else in the game,” said O’Dowd, the assistant general manager. “No one likes a bully. But it was so much fun from my standpoint.”

“Other teams may not have liked us,” Hargrove said. “But I guarantee you a lot of those guys wanted to play for us.”

Bob Tewksbury, then pitching for the Rangers, said something about the Indians lacking discipline. A few days later when it came time to take the team picture, the Indians took one the regular way and another with players in every stage of dress and undress.

Hargrove has both versions on his office wall.

“They talk about those Oakland A’s teams of the 1970s that fought among each other and went out and won,” Hargrove said. “I think our team was a little like that. It was their world up until about 6:30, and then it was mine. They were grown men, and they acted like grown men—most of the time.”

When they didn’t, Hargrove took care of it in his own way.

Sometimes, he did it with humor, like the time the clubhouse manager told him Belle was breaking too many dinner plates.

“Get paper plates,” Hargrove responded.

Sometimes it took more.

“John Hart paid me the ultimate compliment when he said, ‘Mike Hargrove had the ability to walk into a clubhouse in total chaos and 15 minutes later have everyone singing ‘Kumbaya,'” Hargrove said.

“I don’t think Grover ever gets the credit he deserves,” said Buddy Bell, Hargrove‘s bench coach in 1994-95. “There were some egos in that clubhouse. But those guys came to play every night.”

They were better defensively than many people remember, and they weren’t just power hitters. In 1999, the year the Indians became the first team in 50 years to score 1,000 runs, they led the league in stolen bases and sacrifice bunts.

They could create runs, but they could also bludgeon their opponents. From 1995-99, the Indians won a major league-high 62 games by at least eight runs.

“It wasn’t even the varsity against the JV,” said Bell, who was 7-24 against the Indians in his two-plus seasons managing the Detroit Tigers. “It was the varsity against the junior high.”

**

There were big egos and big names—”lots of energy, lots of testosterone,” as Bell puts it—but two of them stand out.

There was Belle, the intense competitor who scared even his own teammates. And there was Ramirez, the kid who could really hit but was just as liable to leave teammates shaking their heads.

Both were high draft picks, Belle in 1987 and Ramirez four years later. Belle got into trouble in college at LSU and also in the minor leagues with the Indians, twice disappearing during games.

“[General manager] Hank Peters called me in and said we’ve got to release Albert,” O’Dowd said, remembering the fallout from one incident. “I said, ‘Hank, we can’t do that. He’s the only prospect in the system.'”

They kept him, they knew him, and when he snapped they learned to deal with it.

“I remember one time we had a new guy on the team,” said Mark Wiley, the pitching coach. “Albert struck out, and when he went down the tunnel [to the clubhouse] there was an explosion. He threw bats through walls. The new guy looked stunned and said, ‘What’s that?’ The other guys said, ‘That’s just Albert.’ And they went back to watching the game.”

They saw quite a show. Belle’s numbers in 1995 were ridiculous: 52 doubles and 50 home runs in a lockout-shortened season that ran just 144 games. Even more ridiculous: He didn’t win the Most Valuable Player award that year, finishing second to Boston’s Mo Vaughn.

“I’m convinced Mo Vaughn won the MVP because he had a better personality,” Amaro said. “I mean, c’mon.”

Belle was a force, a physical force.

“Albert was our Lawrence Taylor, the linebacker who destroys the quarterback,” O’Dowd said.

Too often, he would destroy other things, and his personality landed him in trouble. Hart remembers spending much of the 1995 World Series answering questions about Belle’s pregame confrontation with NBC reporter Hannah Storm, a tirade that MLB eventually punished with a $50,000 fine. Teammates would look on in wonder, but many would keep their distance.

“The one guy who could say something to him without getting his brains beat in was Kenny Lofton,” Amaro said. “The rest of us were scared of him.”

That’s not completely true. A few others describe warm relationships with Belle and say he could be a different person altogether away from the park.

“I played golf with Albert, and the only person throwing a club was me,” Hamilton said.

Belle batted cleanup for the 1995 Indians, in a lineup so deep that Ramirez regularly batted seventh (and still drove in 107 runs). Two years later, after Belle left for the Chicago White Sox via free agency, Ramirez was batting third or fourth.

Ramirez would eventually leave as a free agent too. He would have disciplinary issues of his own.

His issues in Cleveland were more innocent, more amusing. He was the “Baby Bull,” the kid who showed up in the big leagues just after his 21st birthday seemingly born to hit. He worked at it and studied it and was as good at it as anyone.

“Best hitter I’ve ever seen, bar none,” said Hart, who has been in professional baseball since 1982. “I’ll tell you where he had a Ph.D. He had a Ph.D. from MIT in the batter’s box.”

He would do funny things, like asking two Indians beat writers if he could borrow $60,000 to buy a motorcycle or walking through the clubhouse, grabbing teammates’ clothes and putting them on. He once carried a broken bat up to the plate and hit a home run with it.

“I asked him why he used it if he knew it was broken,” said Sheldon Ocker, who covered the Indians for the Akron Beacon-Journal. “He said, ‘I liked that bat.'”

Other times, Ramirez would amaze his teammates by hitting a home run with one bat, then discarding it and choosing another one for his next at-bat.

“It was like raising a kid,” said Manuel, the Indians hitting coach.

It was, and the Indians were like a family—a wild and also wildly talented family.

They had Murray, the older brother who could keep everyone in line with just a look and a finger wave. They had Thome, the cousin everyone likes (“Arguably the nicest guy on the planet,” Matt Williams said). They had Carlos Baerga, the mischievous younger brother who kept everyone loose.

“We had so many guys who had things a perfect ballplayer should have,” Vizquel said. “If you won or if you lost, you were always happy.”

**

For the most part, the Indians won.

They were American League Central champions five consecutive years. They beat Randy Johnson in Game 6 to go to the 1995 World Series and survived draining playoff series with the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles to get back to the World Series in 1997.

The ’95 team lost to the Atlanta Braves in six games, batting just .179 as a team against a Braves pitching staff that matched up with them particularly well. The ’97 team had that ninth-inning lead against the Marlins, but the Indians will always believe they should have had a bigger lead with all their hard-hit balls early in the game.

They’ll always wonder if they could have done more with a true No. 1 starting pitcher. They had Orel Hershiser and Dennis Martinez at the end of their careers, and Bartolo Colon just at the beginning of his. CC Sabathia, who would go on to win the Indians’ first Cy Young since 1972, was drafted in 1998 but didn’t debut in the big leagues until 2001.

“We had really good pitchers, but we didn’t have a big monster,” said Wiley, the pitching coach.

They tried. The Indians lost out to the Toronto Blue Jays when they pursued Roger Clemens as a free agent after 1996. They made offers for Pedro Martinez when he went from the Montreal Expos to the Boston Red Sox in a trade a year later. The Expos wanted both Colon and Jaret Wright (who had just started Game 7 of the World Series), and as Hart said, “I just couldn’t do it.”

The following summer, they went right to the July deadline trying to get Johnson from the Mariners but again balked at the asking price (Colon, Brian Giles and one other player).

**

They still should have won. They were still just two outs away on that Sunday night in South Florida 19 years ago this week, when Craig Counsell’s sacrifice fly off Mesa tied the game and Renteria’s 11th-inning single won it.

Sandy Alomar was catching that night. Soaked in sweat from the Florida heat, he went to the clubhouse late in the game to change jerseys.

“They had the trophy there and the plastic over the lockers,” he said. “I was so disappointed to see that. The game’s not over yet.”

Hamilton had gone to the clubhouse to prepare for postgame interviews, while his partner Herb Score called the ninth-inning play-by-play.

“They were wheeling in the stage, and I turned to [PR man Bob DiBiasio] and I said, ‘Bobby, this doesn’t feel right.’ He said they do this every year. They have to. I’ll tell you one thing, that plastic comes down a lot quicker than it goes up.”

It was all set. Indians starter Chad Ogea was going to be the unlikeliest of World Series MVPs for his two wins over Kevin Brown. The wait for a championship was going to end at 49 years.

Then came the sacrifice fly. The trophy was wheeled out of the clubhouse, right in front of the Cleveland television reporters waiting to cover the celebration.

“There was a sinking pit in my stomach,” said Matt Underwood, an Ohio native who then worked at Cleveland’s Channel 5 and is now the Indians’ television voice.

Hart had grudgingly left his seat in the stadium, summoned downstairs to join owner Dick Jacobs for the trophy presentation. He and Jacobs watched the ninth inning in the bowels of Pro Player Stadium, staying right there until the Renteria single that ended their best chance at a championship.

“You talk about a bad hour,” Hart said. “But when we lost, Dick just shook my hand and said, ‘Another great year.’ We went in the clubhouse and watched the players walk in. They were all in tears. Dick shook everyone’s hand and thanked them. I did too.”

The run of great years would continue, but those Indians would never win a World Series. Most of them would move on, to retirement or to other teams, but they would always hope another group of Indians could finish what they never could.

“Even to this day, I want Cleveland to win,” Manuel said last week. “I like the coaching staff there, but I want them to win for Cleveland. I want it for the city. I always thought we should have won 2-3 World Series. It’s absolutely unreal that we didn’t win a World Series.”

They didn’t win in 1995 or 1997, and the Indians lost in the playoffs in 2001, 2007 and 2013. For 19 years after 1997, the franchise never did make it to another World Series.

Not until now.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Danny Salazar hasn’t pitched since suffering an arm injury on Sept. 9 but has recovered enough to be part of the World Series roster.

Continue for updates.

Salazar Added to World Series Roster

Tuesday, Oct. 25

Jordan Bastian of MLB.com noted that Cody Anderson was moved off the roster to make room for Salazar on Tuesday.

“I don’t know if I’m a starter or reliever, but I’m ready,” Salazar told reporters Monday after revealing that Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway told him that he’ll be on the roster for the series against the Chicago Cubs.

Callaway said Salazar could throw 65-70 pitches, via Bastian.

Salazar Throws Simulated Game

Sunday, Oct. 23

Chris Assenheimer of the Chronicle-Telegram provided the latest info on the 26-year-old:

Salazar Provides Indians with Electric Arm When Healthy

Salazar landed on the disabled list in early August with right elbow inflammation that bothered him after the All-Star break, and he returned to the mound on Aug. 18 following 16 days away from the diamond. However, he lasted just five more starts. 

Prior to hitting the shelf, Salazar was one of the American League‘s most imposing forces on the bump. In 17 first-half starts, Salazar posted a 10-3 record, 2.75 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings as Cleveland morphed into a title contender.

However, he faltered in July with a 6.14 ERA in 22 innings, struggling to harness the first-half form that earned him an All-Star nod. He was even worse in August with a 12.41 ERA.

All told, Salazar went 11-6 with a 3.87 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 161 strikeouts and 63 walks as he helped the Indians win the AL Central. 

Cleveland has a depleted stable of arms heading into the World Series, as Carlos Carrasco is out for the season and Trevor Bauer is dealing with hand trouble. Corey Kluber, Josh Tomlin and rookie Ryan Merritt are expected to earn starts, although the addition of a healthy Salazar is a huge boost for the Indians.

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At long last, the 2016 World Series is set. 

While the Cleveland Indians punched their ticket on Wednesday—which feels like an eternity ago—the Chicago Cubs broke through and captured their first National League pennant since 1945 on Saturday with a 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field. 

And now that the matchup is official, we can start to pore over the initial odds for this year’s Fall Classic, which have been provided by OddsShark.com: 

Although the Cubs needed six games to put away the Dodgers, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they’re solid favorites to take home their first World Series title in 108 years.

Chicago was a -130 (bet $130 to win $100) favorite to win the World Series following its Game 5 win in Los Angeles, with the Indians holding firm at +160 (bet $100 to win $160).

But now that it’s a sure thing that the Cubs will be representing the NL in the Fall Classic, it makes sense that their odds would increase in a way that reflects their recent play and season-long trends. 

Chicago was the class of MLB all season long and won a league-best 103 games, and the postseason has offered the Cubs a chance to sustain their success despite a few brief hiccups. 

While they once trailed L.A. 2-1, the Cubs mounted a fierce charge and rattled off three straight wins that saw them outscore the Dodgers 23-6 with a couple of strong pitching performances from some of their most dynamic arms. 

Jon Lester was sensational in Game 5, scattering five hits, striking out six and allowing one earned run in seven innings. Then, Kyle Hendricks pitched the game of his life on Saturday, with 7.1 scoreless innings of two-hit ball. 

So while the Indians have wielded the postseason’s most dangerous pitching staff (1.77 ERA, .206 opponent average), the Cubs’ stable of aces can’t be overlooked. 

And if Chicago’s bats get hot, Cleveland could be in real trouble. 

Through nine postseason games, the Cubs have scored a playoff-best 43 runs. Comparatively, the Indians have scored 27 runs in eight games. 

With Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo and Dexter Fowler all ready to strike at a moment’s notice, the Cubs have the firepower to supplement one of MLB’s strongest starting staffs and take home a title. 

Based on the way things have played out over the past week, the smart money should be on Chicago to snap the most famous drought in sports. 

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For the baseball fan who appreciates the historical aspect of the game, the Chicago Cubs clinching the National League Championship Series on Saturday night with a 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers set up a dream World Series against the Cleveland Indians.

Before we get into the final teams remaining, here’s a look at the postseason bracket:

Odds To Win World Series

Odds relayed by Odds Shark

Cleveland Indians: 163-100

Chicago Cubs: 50-59

Predictions

Cubs defeat Indians in seven games for World Series title

These will be two teams with conflicting amounts of rest heading into the World Series. Come Tuesday, the Indians will have had over five days of rest while the Cubs will have had two. 

There are opposite views that come up about rest. Some believe a break is good for a weary team that has played over 170 games in a season. Others will say it quells the momentum gained through a busy October schedule. 

One thing that is certain is the dominant Indians pitching is coming into the Fall Classic fresh off resounding performances in the American League Division Series and American League Championship Series. 

In eight games, they went 7-1 with with a 1.77 ERA while allowing just 15 runs. Though it’s been a makeshift rotation of sorts behind Corey Kluber, Cleveland’s bullpen has been stellar behind Andrew Miller, who struck out 14 batters in 7.2 innings in the ALCS:

However, Cleveland’s offense has struggled in the postseason, batting just .208. They’ve relied on the long ball during October, launching 11 home runs compared to their 26 RBI. 

They’re going to be meeting a Cubs team that has allowed just four home runs in 10 postseason games, so that option could be in jeopardy in the World Series. 

On top of that, the Chicago offense has ignited to look like the one that led the majors with 4.99 runs per game during the regular season.

After being shut out twice in a row by the Dodgers in Games 2 and 3 of the NLCS, the Cubs scored 23 runs on 33 hits over their last three games. 

They’ve also scored 21 more runs than the Indians have this postseason, although the Cubs have played three more games.

But with their ability to get after Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw on Saturday, Cubs bats look unstoppable:

Heading into the Fall Classic, the Chicago Cubs are playing a more well-rounded brand of baseball, which is why they’ll squeak out their first World Series title in 108 years in seven games. 

Stats courtesy of MLB.com.

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I went looking to see how Bleacher Report covered things the last time the Chicago Cubs went to the World Series. No luck.

I couldn’t find any of our stories about the last Cleveland Indians‘ World Series title, either.

We weren’t around in 1945 (the last time the Cubs made it) or in 1948 (the last time the Indians won it) or even in 1997 (the last time the Indians played in it).

So yeah, you’re going to be watching history when the 2016 World Series opens Tuesday night at Progressive Field. Cubs vs. Indians: Two teams that have been around forever; two teams that haven’t won in forever; two teams that won something pretty important this week.

Tuesday night will get here soon enough. First, let’s take a quick look back on how all of this happened, how and why the Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS and the Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS.

Catch your breath and enjoy the first Bleacher Report League Championship Series Awards to feature the Cubs and Indians.

Begin Slideshow

CHICAGO — So, 71 years later, this is what it looks like when the Chicago Cubs storm into the World Series…

Anthony Rizzo hitting everything Clayton Kershaw threw him on the screws: a double, a long ball, a fly ball in the first inning that Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Andrew Toles plumb dropped. Was that a goat impeding his vision?

Kris Bryant hungrily taking a seven-decades-sized bite into Kershaw’s 95 mph cheese and looping an RBI single to right field just two batters into the bottom of the first, immediately flipping the switch from anxiety to anticipation.

Javier Baez alertly doing it again, letting a line drive skip in order to short-hop it, starting another double play and stamping another exclamation mark onto his postseason wizardry.

Kyle Hendricks, a 26-year-old right-hander acquired from Texas for Ryan Dempster four years ago, handling the Dodgers with the touch of a jeweler and the heart of a lion, mowing through 17 in a row after a rare error on Baez in the second.

Wrigley Field, stuffed with 42,386 for the game of their lives, those fans leaning into this 5-0 World Series-punching ticket like few other games in the park’s 102-year history, inhaling nervously, exhaling in relief, screaming, singing, dancing, pleading and, in many cases, shedding tears of joy.

No fear. No goats. No errors.

The Chicago Cubs, lovable winners.

“Perception,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said when this historical event was finished, standing near the pitcher’s mound, thousands of fans still in their seats, hundreds of people on the field, addressing how life had permanently changed by evening’s end. “That’s the big part of it.

“The thing I was always hearing was that the Cubs are lovable losers. I never quite understood that. That’s not the way I was raised.”

It’s not the way he’s raising these young Cubbies, clearly.

“Listening to talk about superstition and all that nonsense, that dragged a lot of people down,” Maddon continued. “I think the perception changes.”

These Cubs are so cool, display so much grace under pressure, that Steve Bartman could have tossed out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 6 and it wouldn’t have fazed them one iota.

So this, too, is what it looks like when the Cubs charge into the World Series: Hall of Famer Billy Williams standing on the field amid the celebration, nearly swallowed by the roaring wall of sound in the minutes after the final out and practically being overcome with emotion.

“I think of all the fellas I played with like Ernie [Banks] and Ron Santo,” Williams said of his two departed teammates. “They’re not here to see it, but I’m thinking about them. Like Jackie Gleason said, ‘How sweet it is!’”

Williams continued: “They’re up there celebrating, too. This is similar to what I thought it would be. I look out at the fans, the full house, the people on the street. You might have 100,000 or 200,000 people out there.

“Everywhere I go in Chicago, people come up to me and say, ‘This is the year! This is the year!’…

“This is really, really great. I can’t hardly explain the feeling I have.”

On Tuesday in Cleveland, the Cubs will play in their first World Series game since Oct. 10, 1945. A Cubs lineup featuring Stan Hack and Peanuts Lowrey was beaten by Hal Newhouser and the Detroit Tigers in Game 7 that day. Two weeks later, the United Nations was founded. Shortly after that, the first ballpoint pens went on sale in New York.

Ballpoint pens?

“This is only the beginning, you know, for myself and for this squad,” shortstop Addison Russell promised. “I’m excited. I’m excited to see what more we can do and what limits we can push. If we can do this in two seasons…”

After winning 97 games last year before running into the wood chipper that was the New York Mets’ pitching staff in the NLCS, they blasted back this year with 103 more wins and raced to baseball’s best overall record.

They took to heart Maddon’s message from day one of spring training: Embrace the target, win every pitch, win every inning, buy into the team.

So this, too, is what it looks like when the Cubs crash the World Series after 71 years: Jason Heyward, who signed an eight-year, $184 million deal last winter, taking his place on the bench for Game 6 Saturday night as Maddon inserted into right field Albert Almora Jr., the first first-round draft pick (sixth overall) of president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer after they took over in late 2011.

Heyward’s reaction?

“It’s about the team all season, but even more so in the postseason,” the outfielder said after what seemed like thousands of bottles of Blanc de Blancs champagne had been sprayed, poured, drank and saved. “It’s been that way all year, so many different players helping.

“Joe told us in spring training, if everyone on the roster does one thing positive every night, that’s 25 positive things every night. That’s a lot of positives.”

All of those positives over six weeks of spring training plus 162 regular-season games, then another four more against the San Francisco Giants in the Division Series and, well, six more against the Dodgers in this NLCS…hey, that’s a ton of positives. And at every turn when the Cubs had the chance to hit the skids, they turned it around.

There was the two-week slump just before the All-Star break. The nerves of Game 4 in San Francisco. Maddon reiterated late Saturday night how much he really, really wanted to avoid a Game 5 with the Giants because, even though it would have been in Wrigley Field, he was extremely angst-ridden about the prospect of what Johnny Cueto could do to them.

Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson always said that 1984 was his toughest season because of the way the Detroit Tigers raced out to the record-setting 35-5 start. By June, expectations were so high that all that was left for the Tigers to accomplish was to win the World Series. Sparky always said after that, the rest of that summer he feared being the manager to screw it all up.

If Maddon or the Cubs ever had any of that trepidation, they never let on. But when Dodgers pinch hitter Yasiel Puig bounced to into a 6-4-3 double play, Russell to Baez to Rizzo, with closer Aroldis Chapman on the mound, it was as if the lid popped straight off a pressure cooker.

Unleashed, Wrigley Field sent an emotional howl up to the heavens. Couples took selfies in the stands with the mob of celebrating Cubs on the field behind them. Sons high-fived fathers.

Catcher Willson Contreras hurled his glove up toward the stars, then raced to embrace Chapman.

“One more time!” Contreras shrieked to Chapman, referring to Cleveland and the World Series. “One more time! We’ve got to do this one more time!”

Thirty minutes after the game, Contreras, 24, and his glove had yet to be reunited.

“I don’t know where it’s at,” he said. “That was my first reaction when I saw the double play. It’s amazing.”

Everything about this night, this day, this summer in Wrigley Field was and is amazing.

So this, too, is what it looks like when the Chicago Cubs and the World Series meet again, 71 years later: Epstein walking his dog, a mutt named Winston, earlier in the day, through his Wrigleyville neighborhood, encountering all sorts of well-wishers.

“Yeah, walking the dog, people are very into it, as they should be,” said Epstein, who lives seven blocks from Wrigley Field, in those final, jittery hours before the night that will be remembered forever.

“I love being in a city that’s playing October baseball where you can just feel everyone captivated by the ballclub, everyone walking around tired from staying up late, prioritizing baseball above all else. It’s a great phenomenon.”

So, too, is Baez, and Rizzo, and Bryant. And Hendricks, and Russell, and Maddon.

“A lot of them are in their early 20s, and they’re not burdened by that stuff,” Epstein said of the curse.

Nor will they be, ever again.

No fear. No goats. No errors.

The Chicago Cubs, lovable winners.

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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