The Secret Weapon to a World Series Winner…

There’s a secret? You bet there is. We believed.

Photo by Kevin Irvine via Flickr

It was the best day of my life. Game four of the World Series.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined being at a World Series game. Let alone a World Series game at Wrigley Field.

My emotions heading into the game were off the charts.

I was sitting next to my dad, the biggest Cub fan I know and the person responsible for my love of the Cubs. I couldn’t help but think about my late grandfather and uncle that never got a chance to see the Cubs make it to the World Series.

And here I am, seeing them get there and having the opportunity to go to a pivotal game in the series. It felt to me, and every single fan in blue, we weren’t going to lose that night.

The Wrigley Field Marquee before World Series Game 4 begins.

The Cubs were down 2–1 in the series and were in desperate need of a win. We struck first as Dexter Fowler got on and Anthony Rizzo drove him in to put the Cubs on the board first.

I was in a state of euphoria that I had never been in before.

Wrigley Field was shaking. It was the first time in my life that a World Series championship felt like a reality, and not just a myth.

All the years of believing… were they starting to pay off?

Well, then the collapse happened. The Cubs gave up seven unanswered runs and wound up losing 7–2.

They were now down 3–1 in the series. I sat in my seat next to my dad wondering how this could be happening.

How could the best team in baseball could be down 3–1 to a team missing two ace starting pitchers, their best hitter, and were in a 70 year World Series drought of their own?

I just sat there in my seat looking at the grounds crew begin to work on the field with a blank stare.

I remember my dad leaning over to me and saying something like “no matter how much you love them, they still find a way to break your heart.”

I’ve heard him say that so many times and in the past I agreed, but for the first time in my life they hadn’t broken my heart. They finally made it to the World Series. They weren’t expected to even be contenders until next year.

And here they are in the World Series, with the best team in baseball. The young Cubs fan I am, I felt confident that they could still pull it out. Somehow, someway.

After the game four loss, deep down we were all unnerved. A potential season changing loss has the ability to demoralize a fan base, especially one that has been waiting over 100 years for a World Series title.

Over the years, Cub fans mourned playoff sweeps and frustrating seasons for a while, but by time Spring Training rolled around, our fan base was optimistic and hopeful that this would be the year it would happen. It’s always been “the year.” Our confidence had become numbing.

I was expecting to leave Wrigley Field that night and be among a fan base in depression and denial. But it wasn’t.

I remember walking down towards the player parking lot where fans waited for the players to come out. The players walked through and all had tears running down their faces.

It was devastating to see them like that. Everyone recognized it. Fans kept yelling players names and cheering whenever they got a wave from one of the boys. I couldn’t believe it.

All my life, I imagined what it would be like to win the World Series. But at the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if they were down or lost the series. How would we react? It’s a scary thought.

Centuries of hurt and disappointment couldn’t stop us. Cub fans were coming together not to mourn, but to rally the fan base. We believed that this series was not over. People were climbing on light posts, singing, and chanting. Three one leads? Forget those. We got this.

It wasn’t until my father and I walked back towards the Wrigley Marquee and there was a small group of fans that were sitting on top of each other’s shoulders holding big signs and yelling “CUBS IN SEVEN!” that I felt chills running through my body.

In that moment, all that had happened the last four hours was just gone. I got this feeling that was indescribable, that we weren’t going to lose this series. It all ends here. They will do it.

From that moment on, I never stopped believing. Not even in Game 7 when everything was slipping away. They couldn’t lose because that wasn’t how it was supposed to end.

Cubs fans everywhere didn’t wait over 70 years for them to get to the World Series to have them lose. The baseball Gods couldn’t possibly punish us any more.

And they didn’t punish us. They rained mercy on us. (I mean, literally, they did.) They made us the driving force behind a comeback World Series winning team.

The players played the game and ultimately won the series, but it was the Cubs’ fan base that helped give the players the willpower to get it done. The fans behind them, making Wrigley Field the loudest spot in Chicago is one of the most overlooked things that changed the complexion of the 2016 World Series.

In the next two games, the biggest in the history of both the Cubs and Indians franchises, Cub fans traveled to Cleveland and essentially turned two road games into home games.

Cubs fans did what they do best. They follow their team anywhere. They never stop believing.

We are relentless and resilient after everything that they have been through and they don’t let that affect what they feel in their heart.

We live and die by the Chicago Cubs.

This fan base helped change the course of Cubs history, baseball history, just by being there when our team needed us most.

And the rest is history. We believed.

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