Every Chicago Cubs fan on earth remembers 2016 fondly. And how could they not? That season saw their breakout young star win MVP and end their 108-year championship drought. The climax of that historic 2016 season was Game 7 of the World Series, in which the Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians in an all-time classic.
That game has been commonly referred to as “the greatest game ever played”. But not everyone agrees with its number one ranking.
In a recent article from The Athletic, Tim Britton ranked the 25 best games since 2000. In this article, he ranked the Cubs’ ultimate triumph as the second-best game during that span.
“It’s hard to say where this game would have ranked if we stripped away some of its context — if it had been a Game 3 instead of a Game 7, if it had not been played between the teams with the longest championship droughts in the sport,” Britton said. “But a Game 7 of the World Series is a rarer gift than it felt for a few years there in the middle of the last decade. A Game 7 of the World Series that lives up to and exceeds its hype is more precious still.”
As any Cubs fan would tell you, this game is not only the best game of the 21st century, but possibly of all time. The game that ranked above it was Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, which saw the scrappy Diamondbacks walk off the Evil Empire Yankees at the peak of their powers. While that game was undoubtedly a classic, I’m not sure it bests that fateful Wednesday night in Cleveland.
The incredible story leading up to the game.
The Cubs had clawed back from a near-fatal 3-1 series deficit against Cleveland. As impossible as it may have seemed, Chicago rallied to force a winner-take-all game seven on the road.
In my opinion, its impossible to separate the context from this game as Britton said. This game featured the two best teams from their respective leagues, stocked with young superstar talent. But most importantly, these two iconic teams featured the longest championship droughts of any Major League teams.
After an early onslaught of runs, including a lead-off homer from Dexter Fowler to begin the game, the Cubs began to slip. Jon Lester entered the game and surrendered a run before giving way to fireballer Aroldis Chapman. Chapman looked unusually off and allowed Rajai Davis to homer to tie the game at six a piece.
But the game would reach its apex in extra innings. Ben Zobrist broke up the 6-6 tie with a clutch two-out double to left. That was then followed up by a Miguel Montero single to give the Cubs another insurance run. While Cleveland would score in the bottom half of the inning, Mike Montgomery would enter and get the save.
The game winning play saw a choppy ground ball find Kris Bryant who threw to Anthony Rizzo for the dramatic finish. A fitting way to conclude a magical season, and game, for the Cubs.
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