It seemed like it might not happen. Their bats went silent early in the playoffs, and they faced a 3-1 deficit in the World Series. They blew a 6-3 eighth-inning lead in Game 7 because of a home run from the unlikeliest of sources. Then the rain came. It seemed like forever to wait, but when your franchise has waited 108 years for a World Series, a few more minutes really isn’t all that bad. For the first time since 1908, the Chicago Cubs are champions of the baseball world.
Some called the series between the Cubs and Indians one of the greatest seven-game sets in baseball history, but it was groundbreaking for more reasons than one.
First, the way that Cleveland manager Terry Francona managed his bullpen throughout the playoffs likely changed the way playoff series will be played for the foreseeable future. Closers and set-up men probably won’t have defined roles in big games like we have seen in years past. Most managers will only manage games one way; that is, most won’t bring in their closers unless a save situation presents itself, and most won’t call their set-up men into the game unless a save situation is on the horizon.
The baseball world saw the potential downside to this strategy early in this postseason when the Baltimore Orioles were eliminated by the Toronto Blue Jays because of a questionable decision by O’s manager Buck Showalter. The game, which was being played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, was tied at two entering extra innings. Instead of bringing in undoubtedly his best pitcher, Zach Britton, who had just completed a historic regular season by posting a 0.54 ERA and who just recently was named the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year, Showalter decided to hold Britton back until a save situation presented itself. That never happened, and the Blue Jays walked off thanks to an Edwin Encarnacion home run while the AL’s best reliever, statistically speaking, sat and watched.
Contrast that decision, which has been criticized far and wide since the beginning of October, with the way Francona used Andrew Miller and Cody Allen in important spots, regardless of inning, throughout the playoffs, and you more than likely have several managers re-thinking the way they traditionally deploy their bullpens. It will be interesting to see what adjustments are made in terms of in-game management moving forward.
Second, trade-deadline deals during the 2016 season, namely Cleveland’s acquisition of Andrew Miller and Chicago’s acquisition of Aroldis Chapman, further solidified the mantra that good pitching beats good hitting. Oftentimes fans will hear about how their favorite team needs to land an impact bat at the deadline, and frequently those deals pay off, but not to the extent to which adding an impact arm in the bullpen did for the two World Series contenders in 2016. Both Miller and Chapman were deployed in high-leverage spots throughout the playoffs, and both were impressive, giving viewers a sort of this-game-might-be-over feeling when either Cleveland or Chicago grabbed a lead, regardless of inning.
But the remarkable success that the Cubs and Indians experienced by grabbing relievers at the trade deadline will likely have non-contenders eager to sell in 2017 and beyond. The Yankees, who rostered both Miller and Chapman, received a substantial return for both players, including the addition of now 22-year-old Clint Frazier, a Loganville (Georgia) High School grad who is projected to be a future star. Teams are often hesitant to get rid of big-name players at any point in time, but the Yankees rapidly accelerated their rebuilding process by ridding themselves of Miller and Chapman, although New York has so much money they never truly rebuild, and other teams should be eager to do so in the coming years.
Finally, there was a purely historical element to the Cubs breaking the franchise’s 108-year run of futility. Much like pro football is just better when the Dallas Cowboys are good and like the NBA seems to be a little more fun when the LA Lakers have a good team, there’s just something special about the MLB when the north side of Chicago has a good team.
The Cubs (and Indians, too) did several remarkable things in breaking the curse that spanned over one century, but here are a few:
- David Ross, born in Bainbridge, Georgia, became the oldest player in baseball history to hit a homer in Game 7 of the World Series.
- Chicago was the first team to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win Games 6 and 7 on the road since the 1979 Pirates.
- Joe Maddon’s squad was just the third team in the Wild Card era to have the best regular-season record and also win the World Series.
- The Cubs won eight more games than any other team and had a +252 run differential, the highest since the 2001 Seattle Mariners.
- The Cubs and Indians both scored 27 runs in the 2016 World Series, the first time that has happened in a World Series since 1984, which was the last time Cleveland won a title.
- General manager Theo Epstein also broke another epic curse, as he worked for the Red Sox in 2004 when Boston won its first baseball championship in 86 years. Maybe he should be the Indians’ general manager next?
Regardless of which aspect of the game you’re talking about, the 2016 World Series was groundbreaking for the sport of baseball, and its tales will be told for years to come. Congratulations to the Chicago Cubs, who are finally on top of the baseball world again.
The Impact of the 2016 World Series
ITG Web
Written by: Jacob Dennis
Photo courtesy of www.nytimes.com
