Cleveland OH – The Chicago Cubs, one of baseball’s perennial losing teams, won game 7 of a historical World Series against the Cleveland Indians to put a 108 year losing streak to bed. With an 8-7 victory in the 10^th inning of a final game which, like the series that lead up to it, had many scares and frights, the Chicago franchise and fans, who had woken up that morning as nerve wrecked losers, went to bed as exalted Champions.

A Game 7 of the World Series has a majesty all of its own. It means that after a grueling 162 game regular season, followed by a possible nail biter in the Wild Card, followed by a five game division playoff and seven game conference championship series respectively, followed by six gut wrenching World Series games, that there is just one game, 9 innings and 28 outs, between the players and the pinnacle of their professional careers. This was the Game 7 to end all Game 7’s.

Starting in explosive fashion, Dexter Fowler temporarily calmed the nerves of Cubs fans across the world when he slugged the Cubs into an instantaneous lead with a home run in the first at bat. Cleveland answered back in the third inning when Carlos Santana, the ball player not the world renowned guitar player, singled a line drive for team mate Coco Crisp to score. Chicago then took a strangle hold on the game scoring two in the 4^th inning and two more in the 5^th to take a 5-1 lead. A wild pitch let the Indians back into the game with two runs in the bottom of the 5^th. In the top of the 6^th David Ross, the 39 year old veteran featuring in his final career game, smashed a fly ball over the center field fence to reestablish dominance for the Cubs 6-3.

The bottom of the 8^th inning with their team up by three, many teams’ fans would be forgiven for starting to dream of lifting the trophy. Not the Cubs. After 108 years of hurt, heartbreak, ghosts, and cursed goats, the Cubs faithful know better than that. They were right to be pensive. In the 8^th inning Cleveland pulled the game back to 6-4 on a Brandon Guyer double that allowed Jose Ramirez to score and a solid two run homer to left field by Rajai Davis got himself and Guyer home to tie it up 6-6 . It was heart in the throat time for both sets of fans when a scoreless 9^th led to a nail biting rain delay. With a possible game postponement looming and the pendulum of momentum swinging firmly in the direction of the Indians it was time for extra innings.

Step up Ben Zobrist. The soon to be World Series MVP hammered a ground ball double to allow Albert Almora to score. This was closely followed by a Miguel Montero single that sent Anthony Rizzo home to give the Cubs an 8-6 lead. Cleveland were not done yet though. Adding another twist to this topsy-turvy contest Rajai Davis, a competitor for the MVP spot himself, hit a single on a line drive for Guyer to score. The bottom of the 10^th was a myriad of pitching changes with a number of the Cubs’ Bullpen and closers switching in to get the final outs. Carl Edwards replaced Aroldis Chapman who eventually made way for Mike Montgomery who got the final out when Michael Martinez grounded to third baseman Kris Bryant who made the awkward off balance throw to Rizzo at first to secure the Cubs victory.

Having chewed their fingernails down to the nubs the Chicago Cubs fans could finally cast off the haunted mantle of losers and celebrate their first World Series victory in 108 years in style. And celebrate they did. Famous Cubs fan “Ghostbuster” Bill Murray, who famously hyped up the team during the 7^th inning stretch at Wrigley Field, could be seen drowning in champagne with a grin likened to that of a Cheshire cat and the victory parade attracted more than 5 million people making it the 7^th largest gathering in human history and the largest gathering to ever happen on US soil.

If ever a team deserved to end a curse it was this one. But to end it the way they did, with grit, determination, and style, while baseball fans, historians, and the whole of America watched on, was the real way to exorcise their 108 years of demons.