Thought It Was A Drought

Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians Punch Tickets To World Series

by Reid Bayliss, Staff Writer

For years, the Chicago Cubs have been the butt of everyone’s joke in terms of mediocrity in baseball. From the Curse of the Billy Goat in 1945 to the Steve Bartman incident in 2003, they truly are the “bad luck bears” of the MLB. But with an appearance in October last season, knocking off the Cardinals only to get swept by the New York Mets the next series, the Cubs wanted to show the league that they meant business. Finishing the 2016 regular season with the best record in the league of 103-58, they took care of business against the San Francisco Giants and beat out the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the pennant.

“This is history in the making,” freshman Johnny Alsup said. Alsup is a Cubs fan who said he couldn’t believe it when he watched them win game 6 against Los Angeles.

Many Cardinals fans are suspect on whether or not to root for their divisional rival Chicago Cubs. History teacher Katie Kilker is one the biggest Cardinal fans in the school but she’s siding with the Cubs during this year’s fall classic.

“I’m having a really hard time,” Kilker said. “But [I’m rooting for] the Cubs since my grandmother was a die-hard Cubs fan. I like to think she’s their angel in the outfield.”

But many of the St. Louis faithful like sophomore Johnny Wehmeyer refuse to give an inch and root for the Cardinals’ division rivals.

“The [Billy] Goat will come through,” Wehmeyer said.

This is the first chance the Cubs have had to win the World Series since 1945. The last time they won the Fall Classic was over 100 years ago in 1908. It seemed like a miracle, but many still don’t have hope that the Cubbies can pull it off.
“It was amazing,” sophomore and Cubs fan John Rupe. “I didn’t believe it at first, but the next morning I just thought ‘wow, we’re heading to the World Series.’”

Cleveland turned into “Believeland” this year after LeBron James lead the Cavaliers to its city’s first championship since the Browns won the Super Bowl in 1949. Three months later, Cleveland’s baseball team, the Indians, may have a chance to add another championship to a historic year for their city. Sweeping the Boston Red Sox in three and knocking off the Toronto Blue Jays the next series, it’s the first time the Indians have been in the World Series since 1997. Cleveland’s last World Series championship was in 1948, three years after the Cubs’ last World Series appearance.

“CLEVELAND!” senior Jordan Dowdall said in reference to a postgame interview LeBron James had after winning the 2016 NBA Championship.

Seeing how these teams haven’t been the a World Series in quite some time, it’s not surprising to see a majority of outside fans root for either team With a fairly young roster on both sides, it’s a Fall Classic just waiting to be one for the books.