CLEVELAND – It was nearly 18 months ago that many of the Cubs players, coaches and front office personnel were wrapping up Halloween festivities with their families and joining the rest of their team to head out to Cleveland to get ready for Game 6 of the World Series.



On Sunday evening, many of those same Cubs made a much-anticipated return to Cleveland as they get ready for a two-game set against their World Series opponents for the first time since that November.



“I have not been back,” manager Joe Maddon recently said. “But it seems like I was there yesterday.”



None of the Cubs I spoke to have been back since either. As Joakim Noah once said, no one goes to Cleveland for vacation.



“I don’t really think Cleveland’s a hot spot to visit in the offseason,” Jon Lester said with a laugh.



So the flight from Denver to Cleveland on Sunday likely marked the first time any of the players and...