CLEVELAND _ With a century's worth of emotional wreckage in their wake, the Cubs had to figure Wednesday night's Game 7 would feature more of the same, win or lose, because it's woven into the fabric of the franchise.
But nothing could have adequately prepared us for what unfolded at Progressive Field, where boisterous fans for both teams tried to drown out the other well past midnight local time, and the Indians _ a team also tormented by futility _ refused to let their 3-1 advantage in this World Series completely dissolve without a fight.
Eventually, the Cubs would not be denied. After wasting a four-run lead, they overcame a blown save by Aroldis Chapman, shook off a brief 17-minute rain delay, then scored a pair of runs in the 10th inning for an 8-7 victory that finally delivered their first World Series title since 1908.
Kyle Schwarber, back from supposedly season-ending knee surgery, led off the 10th with a single and was replaced by Albert Almora, who scored the go-ahead run on a double by Series MVP Ben Zobrist, which sneaked inside the third-base line. Miguel Montero provided the eventual winning run with a bases-loaded single. Despite wearing the label of World Series favorites since Opening Day, the Cubs repeatedly said how difficult ending their epic drought would be, and it was every inch of that, from taking all seven games, and 10 innings on the final day.
The Cubs were four outs away when Joe Maddon called on Chapman to protect a 6-3 lead, and all that seemed to be left was spraying each other with Champagne. But the Indians, referred to outside of Cleveland as the "other team" in this World Series, felt like they still had history of their own to make. By adding another sad chapter to the Cubs' century of despair.
Much of the conversation in the 24-hour gap between Games 6 and 7 centered around Chapman's usage in the 9-3 win, a 20-pitch exercise made necessary because Maddon evidently didn't trust any of his lesser relievers. And it was just one more game, right?
"Whatever he asks me to do," Chapman said. "I'm going to keep going until I can't."
Or until the Indians stopped him. Lonnie Chisenhall ripped a 3-2 fastball, clocked at 98, for an RBI-double and Rajai Davis, whose sketchy outfield play led to two earlier runs for the Cubs, reached down to hook a 97-mph fastball off the railing above the left-field wall for a tying two-run homer.
Maybe Chapman's workload, compounded by his 42-pitch effort in Sunday's Game 5 win, finally caught up with him. Or the Indians simply refused to roll over. It's what they did the entire game in going through Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester and Chapman, before Davis' shocking home run.
That stunned the thousands of Cubs' fans who flocked to Progressive Field to bear witness to history, to be able to tell the future generations what it looked like. And after such a long, excruciating wait, the Cubs acted quickly Wednesday night to reward that patience, starting with Dexter Fowler's leadoff home run, a feat never seen before in a World Series Game 7. The roar inside Progressive Field was shocking at first, until whole sections of Cubbie blue, waving white W flags, revealed themselves.
It was a surprising takeover by the Chicago invaders, but just another indication of the larger forces at work, a dream whose time had come. As for the Clevelanders who forked over their tickets to make it possible, maybe they'll be wintering in Hawaii as a consolation prize.
The decibel-level produced by the visiting Cubs' faction was unlike anything we've heard from a traveling crowd at a playoff game, but that didn't derail the Indians' pursuit of their first title since 1948. The Cubs were just a slightly better team in the end. The mojo valued so much by their bespectacled hipster manager eventually took hold.
"An absolutely wonderful year," Maddon said before Game 7. "Tonight we need to cap it off. We want to cap it off. I feel like we will."
The Cubs did. Barely. And now 1908 is a harmless part of the franchise's folklore. The year to remember, from this day forward in Wrigleyville, is 2016.
