Chicago Cubs keep the World Series dream alive

It must be an incredible feeling to be a Chicago Cubs player today. You walk around town and everyone is talking about you, cheering you, thanking you, loving you, telling you how fantastic you are, naming breakfast cereals after you.

They fly white flags with a blue W all over this town, maybe paint them on the backs of trucks or hang them from apartment windows. The W flag is what the Cubs traditionally fly at Wrigley Field after they win so workers coming home after a long day will see what happened when they go past the stadium on the elevated train.

The W flag went up Sunday night when the Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians 3-2 in the World Series. It was actually a surreal thing to see the Cubs win a World Series game at Wrigley. It’s the first time they’ve done that since 1945. And the fans sat in this park afterward and waved Ws and sang “Sweet Home Chicago” at a place where almost every Cubs fan has never seen this.

The Indians still lead three games to two and need just one win to be champions. But this just became a great World Series.

Cleveland are scrapping for every last thing despite lacking enough starting pitchers. And the Cubs? Well, they haven’t been lacking players, only the “scrapping” part. Their young players have been partly overwhelmed, looking to make too much of a major statement with every swing of the bat. But partly, too, maybe they forgot that everything they touch doesn’t automatically turn to gold.

That changed Sunday, as the Cubs – mostly – stopped swinging as hard as they could with their eyes closed. They made diving plays in the field and got their uniforms dirty again. They challenged the Indians with great, hustling baseball and not with a cherished entitlement.

The Cubs are learning

"You're up 3-1 (in games), it's different," Cubs pitcher Jon Lester said. "You're down 3-1 and you've got to – it's a grind. ... You're just grinding from pitch one. You're trying to make the perfect pitch every time, and at the same time still be aggressive. I know, 'Hey, I've got to be locked in.'"

Somehow, the Indians already knew. And while they have complained that the Cubs get all the attention, maybe that has kept the Indians hungry.

Maybe it has kept them grounded. They look for any opening and see if it’s possible to earn one run. Then, they try to eke out enough innings from their starting pitchers so that their overworked, talented relievers can come in one-by-one until they get to the end of a game. It might not be beautiful, but it is something you can respect

On Sunday, the Cubs figured it out. The Indians scored first, on Jose Ramirez' homer in the second inning. But the Cubs got all three of their runs in the fourth: Kris Bryant homered. Addison Russell beat out a hit that never left the infield, but knocked Anthony Rizzo home. David Ross executed a sacrifice fly to left field.

They were doing the little things. They were remembering the little things.

And the rest of the game was spent with the Indians trying to find any way to get that one needed run and the Cubs making plays to stop them. Bryant made a diving stop at third and Rizzo made one at first. Russell charged in on a ground ball and had no time to raise his arm over his to make a throw, so he shoveled it ahead for a close out. Right fielder Jason Heyward sprinted to a side wall and jumped to make a catch.

Even Javier Baez, who has been the poster child of believing in his own celebrity, managed to lay down a bunt for a hit once, when he usually is trying to hit the buildings across the street. He still had his wild strikeouts, though.

In the seventh inning, the Cubs brought in closer Aroldis Chapman, who usually pitches only in the ninth, and told him to do something he has never done before:

Get eight outs and win the game.

He did.

And the crucial moment came in the eighth, when Cleveland’s Rajai Davis reached first base. Rizzo made a diving stop on Davis’ hit, but Chapman forgot to cover first base, so Rizzo had no one to throw to. Davis then stole second base, then third.

See how the Indians do it? They were running on Chapman, stepping out of the batter's box when he was about to pitch. They were trying to disrupt him. They were so close to manufacturing that one run. And then Chapman struck out Francisco Lindor to end the inning.

"Sometimes you've got to respect what the other team can do, too," Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. "Sometimes they beat you. I didn't think we beat ourselves."

Francona kept making comparisons between what Chapman did and what his own relievers usually do. Yes, for the first time, the Cubs played like the Indians. And, while everyone thinks the Indians are now likely to go back to Cleveland Tuesday and finish off the Series, the truth is that they really needed to win Sunday.

The Cubs have last year's Cy Young Award winner, Jake Arrieta, pitching Tuesday and their lineup is much deeper than Cleveland's. But that depth willing to get its hands dirty? That will be too much for the Indians. In a long series like this, the truth tends to work itself out.

Hardly anyone comes back from three games to one down, so the Cubs had become an underdog in this Series. Maybe that became a mindset.

“Why not us?” Bryant asked.

So they grinded out a W. And it was worthy of the workers going past on the L train.

(Guardian service)